Research in Fluid Dynamics

Get in touch with us about Fluids research

Manchester has been a focal point of fluid dynamics research for well over a hundred years since the arrival of Osborne Reynolds in 1868. By the time Reynolds published his landmark paper on fluid dynamics in 1895, Manchester had already been strengthened by the appointment of Sir Horace Lamb FRS to Applied Mathematics. The recognition of fluid dynamics as a cornerstone of classical science was continued further with the later appointments of Sydney Goldstein FRS and Sir James Lighthill FRS, each of whom made pioneering contributions that define the subject as we see it today.

Our current group is one of the largest within the UK and Europe and spans many important sub-areas of fluid dynamics research. Our research problems are driven by group interests that span modern analytical methods, large-scale numerical computations and detailed quantitative experimental techniques. At the disposal of the group is a fully equipped and staffed fluid-dynamics laboratory through the interdisciplinary Manchester Centre for Nonlinear Dynamics. Research problems in this area may be contained within one of these theoretical/numerical/experimental categories, or cross one or more discipline boundaries.

Specific areas of expertise and interest within the fluid dynamics group include:

• Modern asymptotic methods.
• Bifurcation, non-uniqueness and hysteresis in fluid flows.
• Chaos and complexity in fluid systems.
• Complex fluids.
• Environmental/geophysical fluid dynamics (rotating/stratified/particle-laden flow).
• High-Reynolds number fluid flows.
• Flow separation and reattachment.
• Interfacial flows and instabilities.
• Laminar-turbulent transition and receptivity.
• Shear flows and waves.
• Large-scale computation of fluid systems.
• Pattern formation.
• Microfluidics.
• Physiological flows.

Our group is not solely concerned with liquids and gasses; many flowing materials, such as slurries and multiphase mixtures, display 'fluid like' behaviour and can be tackled using techniques developed for classical fluid problems. Much of the emphasis in our work is placed on the nonlinear behaviour in these `fluid like' systems. The nonlinear nature of flowing materials is ubiquitous in nature, and dominates countless geophysical and industrial processes, such as pollutant dispersal, ocean/atmosphere dynamics, oil extraction, semiconductor crystal growth and aerodynamic design.

There is close collaboration with British Aerospace, NASA, DTI, Rolls Royce, US Army and several other organisations. The group has been fortunate in receiving regular funding from EPSRC in recent years.

If you are interested in research in fluid dynamics, you can contact the group as a whole by sending an email to richard.e.hewitt (@manchester.ac.uk). If you are interested in a particular sub-area please say so in your email, or feel free to contact an individual member of staff listed below.

Members of staff involved