FLUID MECHANICS

A traditional subject in mechanical engineering, research in fluid mechanics remains vital today. The human body is mostly made up of water, the earth’s surface is over 70% liquid and the entire atmosphere is fluid. Most industrial processes involve the flow of fluids with many of them displaying complex rheology. Despite the maturity of the field many challenges remain, particularly in the numerical simulation of turbulent flows, the flow of non-Newtonian fluids, biophysical fluid dynamics and fluid-structure interactions. The faculty in the Fluid Mechanics research area carry out research across a range of areas, from industrial processes in the pulp & paper and oil & gas sectors, to naval architecture, to the fluid flows governing the motion of cells in the human body.