Speaker: Prof. Raffaella Ocone

Date and Time: 14:00-15:40 pm, Feb.23, 2017

Venue: Meeting Room 223, IPE Mansion

Abstract:

Existing theories for particulate flow lack the robustness, predictability and flexibility required to handle the totality of phenomena that such flow may exhibit. Some unwanted industrial issues (such as particle agglomeration) and their management still remain an “art”. Current practice is based mainly on ad-hoc models for each specific flow condition and on operator experience. The talk will describe the journey from the first rigorous effort to model granular flow to recent theories and models to explain the vagaries observed in practical applications. Open problems, in need of a solution, will be presented and the search for a“unifying” theory will be discussed.

About the Speaker:

Raffaella Ocone has a degree in Chemical Engineering (MEng) from the Università di Napoli, Federico II, a PhD and an MA in Chemical Engineering from Princeton University. She holds the Chair of Chemical Engineering in the School of Engineering and Physical Sciences at Heriot-Watt University (HWU) in the UK. She has been Visiting Professor at Louisiana State University, USA and the University Claude Bernard, France. In 2007 she was awarded the title of Cavaliere of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic. She is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng) and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) She held a Royal Academy of Engineering/Leverhulme Trust Senior Research Fellowship and a Royal Society of Edinburgh/Scottish Government Support Fellowship to model carbon capture through chemical looping technology. She is currently holding an EPSRC Established Career Fellowship in the area of Particle Technology.