The University of Brighton is offering 19 fully funded PhD studentships for 2015 entry.

The project

Drop impact onto surfaces has long been an important subject of experimental, numerical and theoretical studies to explain phenomena observed in nature and in many engineering applications.

Progress in understanding and describing the hydrodynamics involved in drop impacts has been rapid in recent years. Thus, for simple surfaces the outcome of a drop impact can be well predicted over a large range of impact parameters. However many practical applications involve impacts onto surfaces of higher complexity, either morphologically or chemically, involving for example elastic, soft or porous surfaces. This is particularly true for biological applications, such as for the impact of microscopic drops on skin for dermatological care, for the drops of antiseptic drugs impacting on the oesophageal mucosa. Conversely, the drop impact has an evident relevance in many other fields, such as the automotive engineering, both for internal disperse flows for external flows. Due to its complex multidisciplinary nature, the study of droplet impact on such complex surfaces is rare. Pharmaceutical studies emphasise the chemical and biological effects rather than the fluid-dynamics. This project aims to bridge these complementary fields to find a universal approach for understanding the underlying physics.

Using an approach from the least to the most complex case, the PhD thesis will be focused on the following physical questions:

1. What is the effect of porosity topology on the drop spreading and rupture? Here the porosity must be taken into account with both its thickness and its nanostructure, in order to overcome the simplicity of many previous studies revisiting the effects only in terms of mean surface roughness.
2. If the surface is partially wetted by a liquid film, what is the effect on spreading and imbibition? A film of given thickness will be deposited on the previous surfaces studied and the experiments will be repeated in order to visualize the impact characteristics.
3. If the nanoporous surface is elastic, what is the effect of Young’s Modulus on the flow patterns and the impact outcomes? This experiment will be performed only with water and with a single drop.
4. On the previous elastic surfaces, the experiments will be carried out with a downsizing of the diameter, using a micro-drop generator. What is the effect of impact frequency on the elastic surfaces?
5. What is the effect of liquid properties on the multiple drop impacts onto an elastic surface? Most spray reagents are 'water-like' and thus exhibit Newtonian flow and related mechanical properties.
6. What is the physics of drug drop impact onto the skin? Using a nanoporous, elastic, partially permeable surface, the experiments with single and multiple droplets will be carried on with different fluids, changing the surface tension.

Supervisors

Lead: Prof Marco Marengo

Second: Dr Dipak Sarker

Third: Dr Cyril Crua

Entry requirements

Applicants should have a minimum of a 2:1 undergraduate degree and desirably hold or expect to achieve excellent grades in a masters degree, in a relevant subject.

Applicants are also required to submit a 1,000-word research proposal.

Funding

For UK and EU students this studentship comprises £4,620 per year to cover annual tuition fees and a contribution towards living expenses of £15,480 per year.

For students from outside of the UK/EU the funding will comprise £14,130 per year to cover annual tuition fees and a contribution towards living expenses of £6,170 per.

How to apply

Find out more and apply online

Deadline for applications: 26 February 2015, 4pm

+44 (0)1273 761148
brighton-doctoral-college<στο>brighton.ac.uk