27 May 2025 | Developing digital image processing methods to quantify internal and interfacial convection in the Hele-Shaw cell, with applications to the laboratory ice–ocean boundary layer
Safiyyah Moos, Marcello Vichi, François Fripiat, Jean-Louis Tison, Anne de Wit, Tokoloho Rampai
This research forms part of an ongoing collaboration between UCT Chemical Engineering Dr. Rampai and Prof. Fripiat at Laboratoire de glaciologie at the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB). Moos et al. performed optical artificial sea ice experiments within a quasi-2D Hele-Shaw cell system to understand the convective dynamics that govern sea ice desalination. Through the development of Digital Image Processing (DIP), they were able to conduct a continuous analysis at a high resolution on the optical images. In this paper, they demonstrate the temporal changes in salt segregation and gravity drainage and provide a quantitative understanding of the expulsions within the sublayer beneath the ice-water interface. This paper is a true marriage of novel science and engineering.
To read the article, you can download the paper here.
