MAE Seminar: Deconstructing (and Reconstructing) Wall Turbulence: A Systems Approach

 

Abstract:

The systems analysis of turbulent pipe flow proposed by McKeon & Sharma (J. Fluid Mech, 2010) provides a simple model by which to understand both qualitative and quantitative aspects of the structure of wall turbulence. In this talk I will expand the approach, describing its mathematical foundations and demonstrating that our model gives important predictive information about the statistical and structural make-up of wall turbulence. Implications for both the classical picture of wall turbulence and control of turbulent flows will be discussed.

 

BIO: Beverley McKeon is Professor of Aeronautics and Associate Director of the Graduate Aerospace Laboratories at Caltech (GALCIT). Her research interests include interdisciplinary approaches to manipulation of boundary layer flows using morphing surfaces and fundamental investigations of wall turbulence at high Reynolds number. She was the recipient of a Presidential Early Career Award (PECASE) in 2009 and an NSF CAREER Award in 2008, and she currently serves as an editor of Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science and on the editorial boards of Physics of Fluids and Experiments in Fluids.