Bio

Vincent was born and raised (for 15 months of his life) in New Jersey. Since then, he has called Pennsylvania home. He is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and physics at Temple University in Philadelphia.

Project: Assessing CA-Generated Surfaces as Potential Heat Exchangers

This project aims to model 2D surfaces using cellular automata to maximize energy exchange between a fluid and a surface.

When a fluid smacks into an object, it transfers some of its energy to that object in the form of heat. The amount of energy transferred depends on the angle of incidence. In the case where a fluid is flowing one-dimensionally, the optimum surface is smooth and flat. What happens if the fluid is not exhibiting one-dimensional flow? What type of surface might be best to implement? This project seeks to evaluate a number of different two-color, one-dimensional cellular automaton-generated surfaces as potential heat exchangers. Using a simplified fluid model (where particles are not allowed to interact with one another, particles are bombarded onto these surfaces and then counted based on the angle of incidence (theta). If theta is pi/2 (90 degrees), the particle is counted as one unit of energy. For any angle less than pi/2, the particle transfers a fraction of one energy unit proportional to that angle.

Favorite Four-Color Totalistic Cellular Automaton

Rule 1732