Review Article
NASA FluidsLAB Workshop Discipline Area Report: Capillary and Interfacial Phenomena
S. Collicott and D. Jaekle
On October 24–25, 2014, NASA Headquarters and the NASA Glenn Research Center sponsored the FluidsLAB Workshop in Pasadena, CA as part of the 30th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Gravitational and Space Research. The two-day event brought together scientists and engineers from academia, industry, other government agencies, and international space agencies. The goal of the workshop was to identify key engineering drivers and research priorities, and to provide overall recommendations for the development of the next generation of fluids science experiments for the International Space Station (ISS). This article describes the recommendations from the Capillary and Interfacial Phenomena group at the workshop, which was co-chaired by Steven Collicott, Purdue University and Don Jaekle, PMD Technology. The paper assesses proposed new research directions from the perspectives of scientific merit, microgravity justification, terrestrial applications, benefits to NASA, and significance/ impact. Based on these assessments, recommended experimental microgravity capillary and interfacial phenomena research directions are summarized.
Keywords: FLuidsLAB, workshop, capillary, flow, interface, interfacial, instability, evaporation,heat transfer, thermophysics, two-phase, microgravity, reduced gravity, fluid physics experiments, International Space Station, NA SA, research priorities.