PARELS NL

Infrastructure and User Services

The large-scale infrastructure in the Panta Rhei Labs NL can be categorized into six types of experimental flow facilities: (I) flow of different fluids (including multiphase flows) in channels, (II) flow in porous media (III) micro- and nanofluidic flows that require cleanrooms, (IV) flow of fluids with complex mechanical properties (rheology), (V) flow of reacting fluids undergoing a phase change, and (VI) rotating flows. For each type, multiple experimental facilities exist across the member universities, each suited for certain circumstances. 

A total of 30 large experimental facilities make up PARELS NL, of which 20 exceed 2 MEUR in size. Most of these are globally unique. Examples include water and wave tanks for cavitation around objects and waves in the ocean for the environment or loading on marine structures, wind tunnels for objects in the atmospheric boundary layer, and cleanrooms to study labs on a chip. What makes each experimental facility unique, is not just its ability to create the right flow conditions, but also the different cutting-edge experimental techniques to measure the flow and its properties. 

Examples include world-leading Particle Image Velocimetry set-ups, X-ray tomography, radioactive particle tracking, tailored CT scanners, and synchrotron beams. PARELS NL will provide a detailed overview of all these existing fluid mechanics facilities and their measurement technologies and enable access. Making connections between distributed facilities will service existing and new users to allow defining and executing research plans for fluid flow integration and highest data quality. This will allow research solutions that have not been possible in the past.

Examples/description of the type of research

PARELS NL is a network of experimental facilities for both fundamental and applied fluid mechanics. Fluid flow is captured by physical laws of mass, momentum, and heat transfer, combined with the thermodynamic fluid and soft matter characterization and chemical conversions. A large variety of measurement techniques is available in PARELS NL for these.
Fluid mechanics is undergoing a rapid development, because of advances in computational power and digital high-speed imaging. This allows to resolve the milli- and even microsecond time scales, revealing new physics, and producing a huge amount of data. Advanced imaging techniques on the small scale and remote sensing on the large scale are used in combination with high-performance computing and machine learning. Herewith, the gap between what can be measured and what can be simulated is narrowing quickly. Closing it further will trigger a paradigm shift with potentially unprecedented breakthroughs in the following six application areas:

1. Climate: Cloud formation, global warming, melting of ice reservoirs, spreading of air pollution.
2. Environment: Microplastic in the ocean, water, flood management, sediments in rivers and tidal zones, cooling, heating and air management in cities. 
3. Energy Transition: Wind, thermo-solar, and tidal energy, electrolysis & hydrogen technology, catalysis and batteries. 
4. High-Tech: additive manufacturing, 3D and inkjet printing, immersion and X-EUV lithography.
5. Health: Aerosol generation and spreading, microfluidic-based diagnostics, drug production and delivery, ultrasound imaging, lab and organ on a chip. 
6. Food & Agriculture: food production and procession techniques, emulsions, watering of crops, vertical farming, pesticide development.

How to access the infrastructure?

PARELS NL will facilitate three categories of access: excellence-based (50%), fee-based (20%) and own research (30%). A scientific board will assess (free and open access) excellence-based access requests on an application basis and according to its Code of Conduct for Collaboration and a shared vision and set of principles and priorities. The latter will be agreed for a 5-year period by the JMBC management team with the JMBC board’s approval and in consultation with JMBC members and its industrial advisory board. Fee-based access will be possible for industrial users, and results may remain proprietary. To decide on priority, the scientific board will consult with the industrial advisory board. Own research should aim to develop or improve the experimental facility.