Research

The Physics of Fluids group is studying a wide variety of flow phenomena, both fundamental and applied, and we combine experimental, theoretical, and numerical methods to solve problems in fluid dynamics. The range of topics goes from nanobubbles to accretion disks, from granular flow to medical flow, and from wind turbines to microfluidic chips. The problems we study generally get their complexity from phase transitions (boiling, cavitation, melting, dissolution), from particulate additions (particles, bubbles, droplets), from chemical additions (surfactants, pH), from gradients (salinity, thermal, velocity), from boundary conditions (pinning, (de)wetting, superhydrophobicity), or material properties (elasticity, plasticity). Complexity can also arise from very small scales or very high velocities, which can be solved by using the latest high-speed cameras, (confocal) microscopes, and high speed lasers, or by simulating the problems. Below is a selection of the topics that we work or have worked on. See also our anniversary booklet here.