Experimental and Numerical Modeling of Mechanical, Electrostatic, Tribological and Hydrodynamic Phenomena at Solid/Solid and Solid/Liquid Interfaces

The PPRIME Institute PPRIME has advanced expertise in three distinct areas:

– Experimental modeling of electro-hydro-dynamic phenomena (generation of electric charges at liquid-solid interface and during particulate flow)

-Mechanics of lubricated or non-lubricated contacts (friction and adhesion laws, Thermo-elastic behaviors of thin coatings,)

– Characterization of the mechanical properties of thin films, structures, and interfaces.

Based on this expertise, the aim of this thesis is to elaborate a multi-physics model that would reflect the mechanical, thermal, electrostatic and hydro-dynamic characteristics and phenomena of solid contacts in liquids or gases.

Such a general model might contribute to a better understanding of the following fundamental issues:

• What would be the behavior of thin liquid films (micro-, or Nano-metric) in the presence of severe mechanical, thermal and electric constraints?
• How the presence of particles would modify the behaviors of fluid flow, in the presence of thermal, pressure or electric potential gradients?

The domains of application of the acquired knowledge are very diverse:

• Microfluidics (« lab-on-a-chip », cooling of electronic circuits)
• Improuve the publication conditions
• Develop novel electrostatic separation methods for mixed granular materials

The approach should be:

• Experimental (design and engineering of two experimental installations for the study of mechanical, tribological and electrostatic phenomena at interfaces) ;
• Numerical (write the equations that describe the various phenomena and identify the best computational techniques for the multi-physics and multi-scales studies).

Technical means: Surface potential measurement system, tribo-meter, electrostatic voltmeters 10 and 20 kV; high-voltage supplies up to 100 kV and 3 mA; high-voltage amplifiers; data acquisition systems.