Turbulence occurs in most engineering and environmental fluid flows. In many cases of natural and industrial significance, the turbulent flow consists of multiple phases and includes suspended particles. These suspensions may take the form of aerosols of solid particles and/or fluid droplets. Dust storms in deserts, sediment transport in rivers, atmospheric pollution, pneumatic transport in pipes, and the formation of fuel sprays are a few examples. Multiphase particulate flows occur in coal combustors, pulverized coal boilers, filtration systems [indoor air, outdoor air] , glass furnaces, inhalation drug delivery devices, electrophotographic machines, chemical-mechanical polishing, and many other industrial processes. Control of microcontamination in microelectronic and imaging industries also requires knowledge of multiphase flows.

The Turbulence and Multiphase Flow Laboratory at Clarkson University has been working closely with both federal and industrial partners including DOE, NASA, NSF, Corning, Dura, Xerox, IBM, as well as a consortium of industries within the New York State CAT Center for Advanced Materials Processing (CAMP), and the newly established Center for Integrated Multidisciplinary Partnership for Research in Industrial Turbulence (IMPRINT).

The Turbulence and Multiphase Flow Laboratory is primarily concerned with providing a fundamental understanding of the mechanisms that control turbulent multiphase flows, including the transport, deposition and removal of particulate matter. The primary objective is to develop predictive models for the behavior of dilute and dense turbulent multiphase flows (including aerosols and granular flows). The other main goal is to provide a detailed understanding of the effect of particle shape and flexibility on particle deposition and removal, as well as the dynamics of multiphase systems.