Project Info
Use oscillations to measure fluid density
Xiaolong Yin | xyin@mines.edu
In this project, student will use the oscillation frequency of a spring-mass system to measure the effect of fluid density on the oscillatory motion of a sphere. This device is simple in principle, and can be operated at high-pressure and high-temperature conditions easily.
More Information
Publication by previous undergraduate student working on this topic
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1361-6501/aa66c8/meta
Works of later students are available upon request.
Grand Engineering Challenge: Engineer the tools of scientific discovery
Student Preparation
Qualifications
Physics and chemistry labs
Time Commitment
30-40 hours/month
Skills/Techniques Gained
Oil and gas general research lab skills, data collection, data processing, knowledge in oil/gas density, knowledge in dynamics of oscillations.
Mentoring Plan
The student will work with existing graduate students to learn the method in the first semester. Then, use the second semester to perform more experiments to characterize the effect of gas pressure / density on the oscillation behavior of spheres, from which a procedure to back-calculate density is established.