Research
- Transport of bubbles in square microchannels for micro Direct Methanol Fuel Cell (uDMFC)
(Work supported by DARPA/MTO, "Micro Power Generation" program)
The transport of gas bubbles in microchannels is a hydrodynamic problem with practical applications in enhanced oil recovery, heat pipes, and micro direct methanol fuel cells.
Interactions on the boundaries between gas, liquid, and solid introduce non-linearity and instabilities in micro fluidic devices. Since small channels dimensions, surface tension forces dominate over gravity forces. Different aspects of the 2-phase flow are studied:
- Flow pattern, void fraction and pressure drop
- Wetting transition: dynamic contact angles and wetting kinetics
- channels size and design
Education
- Ph. D. Paris XI University & ESPCI, France.
"Wetting and dewetting on heterogeneous surfaces" in french, December 2001, - M.S. (DEA) Fluid and Heat Transfers Mechanics, 1998.
Work Experience
2000 and 2001: Teaching assistant, Fluid Mechanics Experiments
Ecole Supérieure de Physique et Chimie Industrielles & Ecole
des Mines, Paris, France.
Publications
- T. Cubaud, C-M. Ho "Transport of bubbles in square micro channels",Physics of Fluids (2004) Vol 16, No 12 .
- M. Wu, T. Cubaud, and C-M. Ho, "Scaling law in liquid drop coalescence driven by surface tension", Physics of Fluids, (2004) Vol. 16, No 7.
- T. Cubaud, M. Fermigier, "Advancing contact lines on chemically patterned surfaces" Journal of Colloid and Interface Science 269 (2004) pp171-177.
- T. Cubaud, M. Fermigier, "Faceted drops on heterogeneous substrates" Europhys. Lett. (2001) 55 (2) pp. 239-245.
- T. Cubaud, M. Fermigier, and P. Jenffer, "Spreading of large drops on patterned surfaces", Oil & Gas Science and Technology - Rev IFP, Vol.56 (2001).
- T. Cubaud, U. Ulmanella, and C-M. Ho, "Multiphase flow in microchannels with surface modifications" 5th International Conference on Multiphase Flow, Yokohama, Japan, May 30-June 4, 2004.
- D-S. Meng, T. Cubaud, C-M. Ho, and C-J. Kim, "A membrane breather for micro fuel cells with high concentration methanol", Hilton Head 2004: A Solid State Sensor, Actuator and Microsystems Workshop, June 6-10, 2004, South Carolina.
- U. Ulmanella, T. Cubaud, P. K. Wong, T-H. Wang, Y-K Lee, C. Shih, C-M. Ho, "Visualizing heterogeneous flows in micro fluidic devices", Keynote Speech, The 7th Asian Symposium on Visualization, Singapore, Nov 2003.
- T. Cubaud, M. Fermigier and P. Jenffer, "Dewetting of patterned surfaces",4th European Coating Symposium 01 - J-M. Buchlin, M. DecrŽ, B. Leduc and J. Anthoine (Editors) (2001)
- T. Cubaud, M. Fermigier and P. Jenffer, "Spreading of large drops on patterned surfaces",3rd European Coating Symposium 99 - F. Durst, H. Raszillier (Editors) (1999)
Journals
Conferences
Contact Info
Mailing Address:
Thomas Cubaud, Ph.D.
UCLA Mechanical & Aerospace Eng. Department
420 Westwood Plaza, Eng IV Bldg, #18-111.
Los Angeles, California 90095-1597
Phone: 310-825-1350
Fax: 310-825-1350
Email: cubaud@seas.ucla.edu