Development of Micro-Resolution PIV and Analysis of Microthrusters for Small-Scale Aircraft and Spacecraft

This research program consisted of two primary research objectives that were aimed at advancing the current understanding of microfluidic processes related to the development of small-scale aircraft and spacecraft. 1 Develop ultra-high resolution PIV instrumentation for measuring velocity vectors with spatial resolutions approaching one micron and temporal resolutions approaching five nanoseconds for use in measuring microfluidic devices. 2 Analyze and document the flow physics of several micronozzles with diameters ranging between 50 and 500 micrometers. The resulting information will be used to motivate, new, more efficient micronozzle designs and validate Navier-Stokes simulations of micronozzles. The instrumentation being developed in Objective 1 has had a broad impact on the microfluidics community. Specifically, the micro PIV technology can be extended ultimately to analyzing microfluidic devices for non-aerospace applications such as micromixing processes in BioMEMS devices or transient processes in inkjets heads. The results from Objective 2 will provide valuable information for designing many of the key elements required for small-scale aircraft and spacecraft. For example, micronozzles can be used for attitude control and thrust vectoring of small-scale aircraft.