Thermal energy storage for building and process cooling in the form of chilled water has been demonstrated to be an economical system. Diffusers have been used to achieve natural stratification by taking advantage of the buoyancy forces. It was observed that natural stratification involves the formation of a thermocline by introducing chilled water at suitable inlet condition and geometry. A computer model will be developed for the optimization of design to minimize the volume and optimize the storage capacity, mixing and heat transfer between the warm and cold water, as well as the operating procedures.

Fully developed pipe flow of a dense suspension is characterized by low-frequency fluctuations in wavy stratified flow in a horizontal pipe. Upgrading synchronized measurements of laser Doppler velocimetry and phase Doppler particle analyzer gives components of fluctuating velocities and densities of particle suspensions where particle-particle interactions are significant when compared to particle-wall interactions. Data permit closure of the time-averaged equations for the predictions of stress components in a flowing suspension. Advances include optics and software for determining the local instantaneous particle density and velocity components from its passage through the laser-measuring volume.