Chao Zhu

EDUCATION
Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering, 1991, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
M.S. Mechanical Engineering, 1989, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
B.E. Mechanical Engineering, 1984, Tsinghua University (Beijing, China)

RESEARCH INTERESTS
My research interests are in particulate multiphase flow and powder technology, which is concerned with the flow regime characteristics, mixing, separation or transport of granular solids and droplets, both in two-phase flow systems and in three-phase flows systems. Within this rather broad field, I have focused my efforts on experimental study as well as microstructural and macro-leveled modeling of (1) the transport and phase interactions of gas-solids-droplets flows in gas-solids fluidization systems with evaporating spray jets; (2) fluidization characteristics of nanoparticles with and without external field modulations; (3) non-uniform flow structure in the acceleration region of vertical dense-phase gas-solids transport; and (4) fibrous and granular filtration of aerosols, using randomly-packed fibrous filter filled with rectangular electrets or slightly-packed nanoparticle agglomerates. My research, while fundamental in nature, has broad applications to many industrial sectors (e.g., petroleum refinery, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, plastics, coal-gasification, and pollution controls of PM) concerned with the processing and transport of particulates with flow systems, which is evidenced by continued industrial support from ExxonMobil and strong interests shown by other industrial companies such as Sarnoff, Delysys pharmaceuticals, Boeing, and Dow Chemicals over the past five years.

CURRENT PROJECTS
Gas Fluidization of Nanoparticle Agglomerates
Effects of Acoustic and Magnetic Fields on Gas Fluidization of Nanoparticle Agglomerates
Numerical Simulation of Evaporating Sprays in Gas-Solids Circulating Fluidized Beds
Experimental Study on Evaporating Sprays in Gas-Solids Circulating Fluidized Beds
Modeling of Non-uniform Flow Structure in Acceleration Region of Vertical Dense-phase Gas-Solids Transport
Modeling of One-Dimensional Gas-Solids Flow in the Riser of Circulating Fluidized Bed
Modeling of Flow Field and Pressure Distributions across Granular Filters
Dynamic Interfacial Tension of Droplets near Critical Point of Solvent-Antisolvent Mixture
Drag Forces of a Pair of Interacting Spheres in Power-Law Fluid Flows
Modeling of Dispersion and Deposition of Charged Particles in a Gas-Solids Flow within a Confined Chamber
Numerical Simulation of Flows in a Crystal Growth Reactors with Double Impellers and with Magnet Stirring

EXTERNAL COLLABORATORS
Dr. Liang-Shih Fan, Chemical Engineering Department, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH (1992-present)
Dr. Rajesh Ahluwalia, Nuclear Engineering Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL (1994-present)
Dr. Chao-Hsin Lin, Boeing Commercial Airplane Group, Seattle, WA, (1998-present)
Dr. Chun-Shun Cheung, Mechanical Engineering Dept., Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong (1996-present)
Drs. Gui-hua Qian and Marty Kashef, Delsys Pharmaceuticals, Princeton, NJ (2002-2003)
Dr. Teh C. Ho, ExxonMobil R&E Company, Annadale, NJ (1999-present)

EXPERIENCE
New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ
6/03 - Present Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering Department
8/98 - 6/03 Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering Department

Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong
12/95 - 7/98 Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering Department

Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL
11/94 - 11/95 Post-Doctoral Research Associate, Technology Development Division

Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
1/92 - 10/94 Post-Doctoral Research Associate, Chemical Engineering Department

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL
10/91 - 12/91 Post-Doctoral Research Associate, Mechanical Engineering Department
9/86 - 9/91 Graduate Research Assistant, Mechanical Engineering Department

Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
9/84 - 8/86 Graduate Research Assistant, Mechanical Engineering Department

Dissertation and Thesis Project Supervision: September 1998 - PRESENT
Ph.D. Dissertation
Dawei Wang, Phase Entrainment and Mixing by Evaporating Sprays in Gas-Solids Suspension Flows (on-going dissertation study, starting from Fall 2005).
Jun You, Phase Transport in Heterogeneous and Accelerating Region of a Gas-Solids Circulation Fluidized Bed (on-going dissertation study, starting from Spring 2005).
Muhammad M. Rafique Qureshi, Heat and Mass Transfer by Spray Jets in Gas-Solids Flows (on-going dissertation study, starting from Fall 2001).
Tong H. Lee, Evaporating Cross Flow Spray Jets in Gas-Solid Circulating Fluidized Bed, Ph.D., May 2005.
Qun Yu, Gas Fluidization of Nanoparticles, Ph.D., May 2005.
Guangliang Liu, Evaporating Crossflow Spray in Gas-Solid Flows, Ph.D., January 2003.
Xiaohua Wang, Concurrent Evaporating Spray Jet in a Dilute Gas-Solid Pipe Flow, Ph.D., May 2002.

Masters Project
Krish Kammal, Ultrasonic Effect on Membrane Distillation, M.S., May 2001.
Anthony Johnson, Gas Filtration Using Wet Rotation Granular Filter, M.S., August 2002.

PROFESSIONAL PRESENTATIONS: CONFERENCES
Modeling on Core-Annulus-Wall Structure in Circulating Fluidized Bed Riser, The 8th International Conference on Circulating Fluidized Beds, May 2005, Hangzhou, China.
Modeling on Agglomerate Particulate Fluidization of Nano-particles: determination of agglomerates size and internal structure, The 8th International Conference on Circulating Fluidized Beds, May 2005, Hangzhou, China.
3-D Simulation of Crossflow Evaporating Sprays in Circulating Fluidized Beds, The 8th International Conference on Circulating Fluidized Beds, May 2005, Hangzhou, China.
Modeling on Core-Annulus-Wall Structure in Circulating Fluidized Bed Riser near Choking, The Ninth Asian Conference on Fluidized-Bed and Three-Phase Reactors, November, 2004, Wanli, Taiwan.
Fluidization Characteristics of Nanoparticle Agglomerates, The Ninth Asian Conference on Fluidized-Bed and Three-Phase Reactors, November, 2004, Wanli, Taiwan.
·3-D Simulation of an Evaporating Cross-flow spray in a Gas-Solids Circulating Fluidized Bed, The Ninth Asian Conference on Fluidized-Bed and Three-Phase Reactors, November, 2004, Wanli, Taiwan.
Axisymmetric Two-Phase Flows with Charged Particles in Confined Chambers, 2003 AIChE Annual Meeting, paper 292z, Nov. 2003, San Francisco, CA.
·Experimental Study of Evaporating Spray Jets in Cross Flow: Effect of Different Aspect Ratios of Rectangular Nozzles, 2003 AIChE Annual Meeting, Nov. 2003, San Francisco, CA.
Sound-Assisted Fluidization of Nanoparticles, 2003 AIChE Annual Meeting, Nov. 2003, San Francisco, CA.
Oblique Evaporating Sprays in Gas-Solid Suspensions, 2002 ASME FED Meeting, Montreal, Quebec, July 14-18, 2002.
Numerical Simulation of Coaxial Evaporating Spray in Nozzle Region of Circulating Fluidized Reactor, 2002 ASME FED Meeting, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, July 14-18, 2002.
Effect of Particle Loading on Liquid Nitrogen Jet Mixing in a FCC Riser, 7th International Conference on Circulating Fluidized Beds, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, May 5-8, 2002.
Evaporating Cross-flow Jets in Gas-Solid Suspension Flows, 4th International Conference on Multiphase Flows, New Orleans, LO, May 27-30, 2001.
Evaporative Liquid Jets in Concurrent Gas-solid Pipe Flows, 34th ASME Heat Transfer National Conference, Pittsburgh, PA, August 20-22, 2000.
Dynamic Behavior of Collinear Collision of Elastic Sphere in Viscous Fluids, 1998 AIChE Annual Meeting, Miami, FL, Nov. 15-20, 1998.
Wave Motions in Stratified Gas-Solid Pipe Flows, 1996 ASME Fluids Engineering Division Summer Meeting, San Diego, CA, July 7-11, 1996.
Particle Wake Effects on the Drag Force of an Interactive Particle, 1992 AIChE Annual Meeting, Miami, FL, November 15-20, 1992.
Numerical and Experimental Studies on Gas-Solid Jet, First National Symp. on Fluid Flow, Heat & Mass Transfer and Combustion, Quanzhou, Fujian, China, 1985.

INVITED PRESENTATIONS: SEMINARS
Slip Factors and Solids Acceleration in Circulating Fluidized Bed, ExxonMobil’s Group Visit to NJIT, Newark, NJ, July 18, 2005.
Understanding of Flow Regimes and Structures in FCC Risers, ExxonMobil, Fairfax, VA, November 12, 2004.
Flow Characteristics of Evaporating Liquid Sprays in Gas-Solids Suspensions, Mechanical Engineering Colloquium Seminar, Johns-Hopkins University, September 9, 2004.
Gas Entrainment by Evaporating Spray Jets, ExxonMobil, Fairfax, VA, July 8, 2004
3-D Numerical Simulation on LN2/N2 Cross-flow Jets in the Air-FCC Riser, ExxonMobil, Fairfax, VA, July 8, 2004
Model Development of Feed Penetration Index: Current Status and Approaches at NJIT, ExxonMobil, Fairfax, VA, March 27, 2003
Penetration Length of Oblique Sprays in Gas-Solid Flows: Model II: Effects of Droplet Size and Jet Velocity, ExxonMobil, Clinton, NJ, August 8, 2002
Penetration Length of Oblique Sprays in Gas-Solid Flows, ExxonMobil, Fairfax, VA, May 13, 2002
Recent Development on Evaporating Spray Jets in Gas-Solid Flows, ExxonMobil, Fairfax, VA, August 23, 2001
Evaporating Spray Jets in Gas-Solid Flows, ExxonMobil’s Group Visit to NJIT, Newark, NJ, December 15, 2000
Evaporating Spray Jets in Gas-Solid Flows, ExxonMobil’s Group Visit to NJIT, Newark, NJ, June 15, 2001
Evaporative liquid Jets in Gas-Solid Suspension Flows, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China, July 2000
Evaporative liquid Jets in Gas-Solid Suspension Flows, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, June 2000
Evaporative liquid Jets in Gas-Solid Suspension Flows, Beijing Polytechnic University, Beijing, China, June 2000
Evaporative liquid Jets in Gas-Solid Suspension Flows, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, June 2000
Evaporative Cross-flow Jets in Dense Gas-Solid Flows, ExxonMobil, Florham Park, NJ, May 2000.
Evaporative Cross-flow Jets in Dense Gas-Solid Flows, Union Carbide, Boundbrook, NJ, April 2000.
Experimental and Theoretical Investigation of Evaporative Jets in Gas-Solid Flows, ExxonMobil, Annandale, NJ, February 2000.
Investigation and Measurement Techniques of Evaporative Jets in Gas-Solid Flows, Union Carbide, Boundbrook, NJ, January 2000.
Particulate Pollution Control: Filtration of Dry/Wet Rotating Fluidized Bed, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, June 1999.
Modeling of Flow through Rotating Fluidized Bed, Symposium of Particle Technology, NJIT, March 1999.
Nonuniform and Unsteady Characteristics in Two-Phase Vertical Pipe Flows, NJIT, April 1997.
Measurements and Modeling of Gas-solid Flows, Shell Development, Westhollow, TX, September 1995.
Measurements and Modeling of Gas-solid Flows, University of Florida, March 1995.
Modeling, Computation and Measurements of Gas-Solid Flows, Argonne National Laboratory, IL, August 1994.
Measurements of Gas-solid Suspensions in Horizontal Pipe Flows, Rice University, TX, April 1994.
Experimental and Theoretical Studies of Gas-Solid Pipe Flows, NJIT, March 1993.
Experimental Study of Statistical Properties of Unsteady Gas-solid Suspensions in Horizontal Pipe Flows, Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, IL, April 1992.
Experimental Study of Statistical Properties of Unsteady Gas-solid Suspensions in Horizontal Pipe Flows, Ohio State University, OH, December 1991.

PATENTS
Co-Inventor (with R. Pfeffer, R. Dave, G. Liu, C. Nam), External-Field Assisted Nanoparticle Fluidized by Vibrational, Centrifugal, Maganetic and Acoustic Methods, submitted to NJIT patent office in 2003.

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
Guest co-editor (with Hamid Arastoopour) for the special issue (in memory of Professor S. L. Soo) of Powder Technology, Vol.112 Nos.1-2, 2000.

INDUSTRIAL CONSULTING
Sarnoff Corporation, April 2005 – present
Delsys Pharmaceuticals (Elan), May 2002 – December 2003
ExxonMobil Research & Engineering, 2001 - present

PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES AND ACTIVITIES
Workshop Co-chair of 8th International Conference on Circulating Fluidized Bed, Hangzhou, China, May 5-8, 2005.
Session Co-chair of 7th International Conference on Circulating Fluidized Bed, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, May 5-8, 2002.
Session Co-chair of 2000 AIChE Spring Meeting, Atlanta, GA, March 2000.
Co-chair of 6th Chinese-American Conference on Chemical Science and Technology, Newark, NJ, June 10, 2000.

HONORS / AWARDS
2003 NASA/ASEE Summer Faculty Fellow
2004 NASA/ASEE Summer Faculty Fellow

Dr. Zhu's Publications