The Burgers Program for Fluid Dynamics and the Center for Scientific Computation and Mathematical Modeling at the University of Maryland and the Center for Environmental and Applied Fluid Dynamics at Johns Hopkins University jointly offer a School on Fluid Dynamics: Topics in Turbulence designed primarily for advanced graduate students, i.e. students who have had an introductory course and who would find it beneficial to go deeper into the subject. It will also be beneficial to beginning post-doctoral researchers who have the need for further instruction. Thirty-seven student and post-doc participants have accepted our invitation to attend the School. Of these, 17 are from U. S. universities other than Maryland and Johns Hopkins and 11 are from abroad. The program fills a need since almost no universities in the United States, or even abroad, can afford to offer graduate instruction in aspects of turbulence beyond introductory courses of one or two semesters.
The School will focus on recent developments in the understanding of turbulence, its prediction and control using modern experimental and analytical techniques and powerful numerical simulation capabilities. Tutorials on turbulence theory, experimental and simulation methods, turbulent transport in single and two phase flows and applications of turbulence will be given by lecturers from the University of Maryland, Johns Hopkins University and elsewhere. Ample open discussion time will provide opportunities for student and faculty participants to have a rich exchange of ideas. Afternoon experiential learning sessions will be conducted at workstations and in laboratories.
Intellectual Merit:
The turbulent motion of liquids and gases is a ubiquitous phenomenon in nature and engineering. Such fluid motion is fundamental to the formation of planets from interstellar clouds of particulates, to the dynamics of the earth's atmosphere and oceans that determine weather systems, to the mixing of reactants in combustion, to the dispersion of pollutants from smokestacks and storm sewers, and to the health risks caused by diseased arteries, to name but a few examples.
Broader Impact:
Understanding and modeling the physics of turbulent motion is the basis of predicting its effects in a wide variety of natural occurrences important to human welfare and controlling it in engineering applications such as the design of air and surface vehicles, efficient engines for propulsion, heat exchangers and stents and heart valves.
Almost no university in the United States, or even abroad, can afford to offer graduate instruction in aspects of turbulence beyond introductory courses of one or two semesters. The Burgers Program for Fluid Dynamics and the Center for Scientific Computation and Mathematical Modeling at the University of Maryland and the Center for Environmental and Applied Fluid Dynamics at Johns Hopkins University collaborated to address this lack by offering a School on Fluid Dynamics: Topics in Turbulence. It was held during May 24-28, 2010 at the University of Maryland, College Park. The School was designed primarily for advanced graduate students, i.e. students who had had an introductory course in turbulence and who found it beneficial to go deeper into the subject. It was also beneficial to beginning post-doctoral researchers who had the need for further instruction. The School attracted 36 full-time participants and several others from the host campus who dropped in for one or more sessions. The sessions were also webcast and viewed by numerous others from around the world. The distribution of full-time participants was: University of Maryland – 3, Johns Hopkins – 6, Other U.S. Universities – 16, National Laboratories – 1, Foreign Universities – 10. NSF funds were used for the travel expenses of students and instructors from the U.S. universities other than Maryland and Johns Hopkins. The School focused on recent developments in the understanding of turbulence, its prediction and control using modern experimental and analytical techniques and powerful numerical simulation capabilities. Tutorials on turbulence theory, experimental and simulation methods, turbulent transport in single and two- phase flows and applications of turbulence were given by lecturers from the University of Maryland, Johns Hopkins University and elsewhere. Ample open discussion time was provided so that student and faculty participants had a rich exchange of ideas.
