Research Themes
Mechanistic modeling and high-fidelity simulation of environmental and multiphase flows.
Mechanistic modeling and high-fidelity simulation of environmental and multiphase flows.
Across projects, we combine theory, high-fidelity numerical simulation, large-eddy simulation, reduced parameterizations, and data-informed modeling. Our work connects fundamental fluid mechanics with predictive tools for environmental flows and renewable-energy systems.
We study how surface waves, atmospheric stability, and turbulence shape the marine atmospheric boundary layer and offshore wind-farm wakes. The goal is to improve predictions of turbine power, wake recovery, and structural loading.
CURRENT QUESTIONS: How do swell, wave state, and atmospheric stability alter wave-induced stress and wind-farm wakes?
METHODS: Wall-modeled large-eddy simulation, sea-surface drag models, analytical parameterizations, and high-fidelity computation.
PEOPLE: Mohammadreza Asadbeigi.
Small particles govern processes ranging from the sedimentation of marine snow and phytoplankton in the ocean to the growth and fallout of ice crystals in clouds. We study how turbulence, density stratification, inertia, and particle shape modify settling, rotation, and alignment.
CURRENT QUESTIONS: How does stable stratification alter turbulence-enhanced settling and the orientation dynamics of anisotropic particles?
METHODS: GPU-accelerated direct numerical simulation in Oceananigans.jl, Lagrangian particle tracking, Maxey-Riley translational dynamics, and Euler and Jeffery rotational dynamics.
PEOPLE: Musaddik Rahman Jaowad.
Thermals and plumes transport mass, momentum, and energy across sharp density interfaces in the atmosphere and ocean.
CURRENT QUESTIONS: How do Froude and Reynolds numbers govern penetration, entrainment, and vortex breakdown at a stratified interface?
METHODS: High-fidelity simulation, scaling analysis, and vortex-dynamics diagnostics.
COLLABORATORS: Atif Khan and S. Ravichandran.
CURRENT WORK: Interaction of a dry thermal with a sharp stratified interface, submitted to Journal of Fluid Mechanics (2026).
We investigate how realistic sea states and turbulent flows determine the wakes, impact loads, and dynamic response of offshore structures.
CURRENT QUESTIONS: How do wave conditions, coupled atmospheric-oceanic boundary layers, and structural geometry control loading and wake development?
METHODS: High-fidelity CFD and large-eddy simulation, sea-state characterization, wake and load analysis, and reduced parameterizations.
Our earlier work developed theory and simulation tools for turbulent transport across scales.
SELECTED TOPICS: Passive-scalar mixing and decay at finite correlation times; turbulent bubble breakup and sub-Hinze bubble production; size-dependent droplet transport in large-eddy simulations; submerged immiscible oil-jet breakup and droplet-size modeling; and sea-surface drag and dynamic wind-wave interaction models.