33 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138

In this talk I sketch some recent themes* from my research group, starting with a brief survey of some of the fluid mechanics problems that we have been investigating in recent years. Then, I discuss in more depth three problems. First, I describe the motion of particles near rough boundaries, where three dimensional helical trajectories are possible.  (ii) Second, I consider thin-film drainage flows near an edge where the dynamics involves three independent variables. Nevertheless, a similarity solution is possible to achieve a description in terms of an ordinary differential equation, whose solution is shown to be in excellent agreement with experimental measurements. (iii) Finally, the recent COVID-19 pandemic highlighted asymptotic air-borne transmission of a virus during ordinary activities, such as conversations, which motivated us to tackle the interrelations of speech, linguistics, and fluid dynamics.

 

*The research described was performed by many people in my research group, as well as some external collaborations. 

  • Reena Paink
  • Shuangjiu Fu
  • Tobias Beck

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