Leaving gravity behind

After traveling hundreds of miles above Earth and spending months aboard the International Space Station, a University of Delaware experiment has returned to campus, bringing new data on how turbulence behaves in microgravity.

The project, led by assistant professor of mechanical engineering Tyler Van Buren, is designed to study how particles influence turbulent flows. From dust in the air to sand in coastal zones and bubbles at the sea surface, particles can change how flows behave.

Van Buren compares it to an energetic crowd moving around while carrying objects.

"The crowd would behave differently if they were holding large exercise balls versus heavy boulders," he said. "In turbulence, the fluid motion can similarly carry particles. We're interested in how the particle weight changes the turbulence."

On Earth, particles are constantly influenced by gravity. In space, that force is greatly reduced, giving researchers a chance to isolate how suspended particles themselves affect turbulent motion.

The work began in spring 2022, when a group of undergraduate students led by Van Buren began designing the device, supported by a grant from NASA's Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR). Then-graduate students Frank Tricouros and Tony Liang, who earned doctoral degrees in mechanical engineering from UD in 2025 and 2023, respectively, played key leadership roles in developing and refining the design.