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Professor S.V. Paras is the Director of the Laboratory of Chemical Process and Plant Design, which is active in the areas of equipment and plant design for the chemical industry, the study of multiphase flows, biomedical flows, utilization of alternative energy sources (geothermal energy, biomass) and management of natural resources. The Laboratory has developed activities in education and research, while maintaining strong ties with industry and establishing international contacts over the years. There are extensive research activities in the following fields:

Studies of two-phase flow
    gas/liquid flow in pipes and heat exchange equipment
    blood and other biomedical flows
    bubble columns
    liquid/liquid dispersions

Application of CFD codes in process equipment design and biomedical flow simulations

Technical and economic studies (application of process simulators)
    utilization of industrial by-products
    process design and development for geothermal energy exploitation
    pollution abatement
    production of new chemicals

 Spiros V. Paras  

 

 

The main Laboratory facilities and equipment are as follows:
Flow rigs
  • a pilot facility to study two-phase flow in horizontal pipes (50 mm ID), fully instrumented
  • a pilot facility to study two-phase flow in inclined pipes (25 mm ID), fully instrumented
  • a fully instrumented facility to study flooding in compact heat exchangers
  • a fully instrumented facility to study counter-current flow in small diameter tubes (6-9 mm)
  • a bubble column
CFD-devoted computer systems:
  • A grid of two parallel computer clusters: 
    hydra: 12 nodes, 16GB RAM - ladon: 24 nodes, 64GB RAM
  • Silicon Graphics O2 Workstation R10000
 
Measuring techniques/systems available for measurements in multiphase flows:
  • Laser Doppler Anemometer system for velocity measurements
  • μ-PIV system for velocity measurements in micro equipment
  • image acquisition/processing system (fast video camera, endoscope, special software)
  • measuring system for film thickness measurements (conductivity probes)
  • measuring system for wall shear stress measurements (electrochemical method)
  • tensiometer KSV