A series of images, from the Complex Flow Lab, capturing the moments a liquid acts like a solid has recieved recognition from the Research As Art competition, hosted by Swansea University.
The competition is open to everybody, to convey the importance, emotion & beauty of their research through stories.
The beautiful, rare image, titled ‘When a fluid acts like a solid’, was part of Dr Deren Ozturk’s PhD thesis.
Dr Ozturk’s work looked at fluids that have a solid-like response to stress, a phenomenon called Discontinuous Shear Thickening (DST). This is when liquid (in this case, a corn starch mixture) abruptly thickens and becomes solid when disturbed.
How pressurised air escapes through the corn starch and water mixture is filmed using a high-speed camera to visualise invasion patterns – which either present as fluid-like fingers or solid-like fractures depending on the concentration of corn starch and the pressure in the air.
This novel visual indication of DST behaviour can now be used to calibrate future theoretical models and unique engineering applications such as soft body armour, “smart” speed bumps, and food production.
Dr Ozturk demonstrated his research at the Swansea Science Festival 2020:
Describing the winning image , Dr Ozturk comments:
“The beauty inherent in these rheological flow experiments is part of why I started my PhD. These images represent a new way of testing DST behaviour and are especially fascinating since they are made of such simple materials: air, water, and kitchen-ready cornstarch. I am thrilled to learn these images have been selected for the Award for Innovation and the wider audiences they will now reach.”
View all winners and runners up!
Legends of Avallen
“Since completing my PhD, I moved on to my other passion – tabletop roleplaying games (RPGs). Completing a PhD thesis didn’t seem much different to writing a 250-page game rulebook. So, after successfully securing funding on a crowdsourcing website, I’m about to publish my first RPG. It’s called Legends of Avallen, and is completely based on Welsh Celtic history and mythology. Moving to Wales for my PhD, I became really inspired by the efforts here to keep the Welsh language alive. Dechreuais i ddysgu Cymraeg! I started to study Welsh!”
To find out more about Legends of Avallen visit www.legendsofavallen.co.uk or follow Dr Ozturk at twitter.com/AvallenLegends.
