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Research

The Fluid Mechanics Section is one of seven groups within the 5-star rated Civil and Environmental Engineering Department. It has ten academic staff members with a diverse range of research interests. These can be broadly split into two themes:

Coastal, waves and renewable energy

* Categorisation of real sea states
* Extreme wave modeling: application to offshore and coastal engineering
* Mean flow circulation patterns in estuarine and coastal environment
* Fluid-structure interactions: involving both offshore and coastal structures
* Wave and current transformation processes in nearshore waters
* Experimental fluid mechanics
* Fluid loading and flow-induced vibration
* Renewable energy in the marine environment: resources and devices

Environmental Fluid Mechanics

* Computational fluid mechanics
* Airflows in buildings-natural and hybrid ventilation
* Fire and smoke movement in tunnels and buildings
* Local exhaust ventilation systems
* Sediment transport: beach erosion and accretion
* Surf zone dynamics
* Jets, plumes and buoyancy driven flow

An overview of current research activity can be obtained by reference to the academic staff and researchers lists below.

Fluid Mechanics Academic and Teaching Staff A-Z

Fluid Mechanics
Photo	Details
	Henry Burridge Senior Lecturer in Environmental Fluid Mechanics, PhD Transport of heat and mass by convection; Convection in the built environment; Effective ventilation of buildings; Modification of natural materials for use in buildings.
	Adrian Callaghan Senior Lecturer, PhD Director of MSc Engineering Fluid Mechanics for the Offshore, Coastal and Built Environments Breaking waves; Surface water waves; Two-phase flows; Air-entrainment; Upper ocean turbulence.
	Marios Christou Senior Lecturer in Fluid Mechanics and Mathematics, PhD, DIC, MEng, ACGI Metocean, Offshore and coastal engineering; Wave statistics; Freak/rogue waves; Analysis of field measurements; Wave-structure interaction; Wave-vessel interaction; Infragravity waves; Side-by-side and tandem offloading; Boundary Element Modelling.
	John Craske Senior Lecturer, Imperial College Research Fellow, PhD Undergraduate Examinations Officer Building physics; Buoyancy-driven turbulence; Jets and plumes; Numerical analysis; Inverse problems; Adjoint methods; Flow optimisation; Data assimilation.
	Graham Hughes Chair in Environmental Fluid Mechanics, PhD Head of Fluid Mechanics Section Buoyancy-driven flows; Stratified turbulence and mixing; Convection; Turbulent plumes and jets; Flow energetics.
	Ioannis Karmpadakis Lecturer in Coastal Engineering, PhD Coastal engineering, wave heights, crest heights, wave breaking, coastal structures, nonlinear waves, shallow water depths, statistics Email Ioannis
	Li Ma Lecturer in Fluid-Structure Interaction, PhD, DIC, MEng, ACGI Fluid-structure interaction; Renewable energy systems; Extreme waves; Load statistics; Reliability; Hydrodynamic impacts; Wave-in-deck; Convective flows Email Li
	Costanza Rodda Lecturer in Fluid Mechanics, PhD Geophysical fluid mechanics, wave-vortex interactions, turbulence, buoyancy-driven flows, building ventilation, laboratory experiments, data-driven modelling
	Daniel Valero Huerta Senior Lecturer, PhD Hydraulic engineering; Hydraulic infrastructure; River flows; Multiphase flows; Plastic in rivers; Air-water flows; Sediment-laden flows
	Maarten van Reeuwijk Professor of Urban Fluid Mechanics, BSc MSc PhD Buoyancy driven flows; Atmospheric and oceanic turbulence; Sustainable cities; Flow and dispersion in urban canopies; Heat and mass transfer; Direct Numerical Simulation; Large-eddy simulation.
Fluid Mechanics Academics A-Z

Download our Departmental Research Brochure‌

Fluid Mechanics Research Staff A-Z

Fluid Mechanics
Photo	Details
	Barnaby Dobson Imperial College Research Fellow, PhD Keywords: Water resources modelling; Optimization; Uncertainty and systems analysis; Project: Integrated urban water cycle modelling for London (as part of the Camellia project) Email Barnaby
	Alice Handy Research Associate, PhD Keywords: Urban fluid mechanics, building ventilation and pollutant dispersion Project: SAMHE investigating indoor air quality in schools Email Alice
	Jingzi Huang Research Assistant Keywords: large eddy simulations, urban fluid mechanics, transport. Project: Effect of urban heterogeneity on atmospheric flow. Email Jingzi
	Dipanjan Majumdar Research Associate Turbulence at the Exascale: Application to Wind Energy, Green Aviation, Air Quality and Net-zero Combustion Email Dipanjan
	Paul Mannix Research Associate Project: Prediction and control of stratifications using probabilistic methods (as part of [D*]stratify) Keywords: Probabilistic methods, Adjoint optimisation, Hydrodynamic stability, Optimisation Email Paul
	Kat Roberts Research Associate, PhD Schools' air quality monitoring for health and education Email Kat
	Samuel Wood Research Associate, PhD Developing models to better understand the role that building ventilation plays in the spread of Covid-19 Email Sam
Fluid Mechanics Research Staff A-Z

Fluid Mechanics Research Students A-Z

Fluid Mechanics
Photo	Details
	Umniya Al Khalili Started Oct 2022 Numerical simulation of waves over coastal bathymetries Supervised by: Christou, M.; Karmpadakis, I. Email Umniya
	Yusuf Almalki Started Jan 2020 Coastal waves / Floating bodies Supervised by: Swan, C.; Karmpadakis, I. Email Yusuf
	Nada Alsulaiman Started Feb 2021 Numerical modelling of the thermal effluent of power plants in a shallow, semi-enclosed bay Supervised by: Piggot, M; van Reeuwijk, M. Email Nada
	Vasilis Bellos Started Jan 2020 Wave propagation over complex coastal bathymetry Supervised by: Karmpadakis, I.; Swan, C. Email Vasilis
	Rui Cao Started Nov 2018 Breaking wave energy dissipation, air entrainment and bubble statistics in the absence & presence of wind forcing Supervised by: Callaghan, A; Swan, C. Email Rui
	Lianzheng Cui Started Oct 2022 Turbulent entrainment in stratified oceanic multiphase flows Supervised by: van Reeuwijk, M.; Hughes, G. Email Lianzheng
	Lei Dai Started Oct 2020 The effective modelling of hydrodynamic impacts Supervised by: Ma, L.; Swan, C. Email Lei
	Lizzie Ellison Started Oct 2018 Carbon dioxide sequestration through ocean fertilization and potential for harvest of calcium carbonate from marine organisms As part of the CDT in Sustainable Civil Engineering Supervised by: Mashayek, A; Cheeseman, C.R. Email Lizzie
	Pu Gong Started May 2018 Numerical study of the natural ventilation driven by an occupant’s heat output considering the effect of radiation Supervised by: Hughes, G.; Burridge, H.C Email Pu
	Steven (Cheong) Huo Started Oct 2019 Development of a probabilistic wave loading model for offshore structural designs Supervised by: Swan, C.; Ma, L.; Karmpadakis, I. Email Steven
	Canwei Jin Started Jan 2022 Peering inside breaking waves Supervised by: Callaghan, A; Craske, J Email Canwei
	Cleo Jongedijk Started Dec 2017 Lagrangian tracking of plastic particles in coastal areas and evaluation of beaching Supervised by: van Reeuwijk, M., Alsina, J. Email Cleo
	Younmo Lee Started Apr 2017 Wave-structure and wave vessel interactions Supervised by: Swan, C.; Ma, L. Email Younmo
	Lucy Xinlu Mao Started Oct 2021 The reliability of offshore floating wind farms Supervised by: Swan, C.; Ma, L.; Karmpadakis, I. Email Lucy
	Sam Owens Started Oct 2019 Towards real-time simulation of urban air quality and microclimate Supervised by: van Reeuwijk, M. Email Sam
	Xiwu Pang Started Nov 2021 Simulating fluid load on offshore wind turbines Supervised by: Christou, M. Email Xiwu
	Joe Peach Started Oct 2019 Measuring the space and time evolution of the geometric, kinematic and dynamic properties of oceanic breaking waves Supervised by: Callaghan, A; Benetazzo, A; Bidlot, J. Email Joe
	Nick Reynard Started Oct 2018 As part of the CDT in Sustainable Civil Engineering Supervised by: Mashayek, A; Cheeseman, C.R. Email Nick
	Rodrigo Ribeiro Started Sep 2020 Uncovering the criteria for ship-contrail formation using high fidelity simulations Supervised by: van Reeuwijk, M. Email Rodrigo
	Chenduo Wang Started Oct 2022 Understanding stochastic behavior of passive tracers transport and thermal effects in built environment Supervised by: Craske, J; Hughes, G. Email Chenduo
	Chris Wilson Started Oct 2021 Quantifying variability of the surface energy balance in heterogeneous vegetated urban areas Supervised by: van Reeuwijk, M. Email Chris
	William Wright Started Oct 2023 Addressing coastal erosion: Stochastic modelling of shoreline evolution under a changing climate Supervised by: Craske, J; Karmpadakis, I. Email William
Fluid Mechanics Research Students A-Z

A good impression of our research interests and activities is also given by reviewing abstracts of completed Postgraduate research.

Fluid Mechanics Alumni 2020-2023

2023

Name	Title and supervisor
Baker, Lois	The generation, propagation, and mixing of oceanic Lee waves Supervised by: Mashayek, A.
Constantin-Cosmin, Craciunescu	Physical Properties of Breaking Waves in Unidirectional Sea States Supervised by: Christou, M.
Mader, Johanna	Forward and inverse modelling of thermal stratifications in confined spaces Supervised by: Craske, J.

2022

Name	Title and supervisor
Higton, Thomas	The fluid mechanics of unbalanced horizontal exchange flows in naturally ventilated buildings Supervised by: Burridge, H.C
Hossain, Md Rakib	Reconstructing flow from thermal wall imprint Supervised by: van Reeuwijk, M.; Craske, J.
Vouriot, Carolanne	The potential for spatial variations in exposure and infection risk within a typical UK classroom: COVID-19 as a case study Supervised by: Burridge, H.C; van Reeuwijk, M.
Zve, Sotiria	Nonlinear interactions in random seas and crest-height statistics for sea-states in finite water depth Supervised by: Swan, C.; Hughes, G.

2021

Name	Title and supervisor
Bangun, Emma	Nonlinear forcing, response and damping of Oscillating Water Columns Supervised by: Swan, C.,
Dieu, Emily	Mixing and transport in inclined gravity currents Supervised by: Hughes, G.
Fiuza Dosil, Daniel	Improved models for natural displacement ventilation Supervised by: Burridge, H.C; Hughes, G.
Gray, Alexander	Extreme waves under significant wind stress As part of the CDT in Sustainable Civil Engineering Supervised by: Swan, C., Christou, M.
Jordan, Owen Huw (MPhil only)	Turbulent plumes in a uniform crosswind Supervised by: van Reeuwijk, M.; Vassilicos, J.C.
Le Cornec, Clemence	Real-world variability, modelling and mitigation of road transport emissions Supervised by: Stettler, MEJ.; van Reeuwijk, M.
Satheesh Kumar Nair, Vishnu	Particle and droplet dynamics at cloud-environment interfaces Supervised by: van Reeuwijk, M.
Sutzl, Birgit	Rising from the ground: Distributed drag parameterization of urban environments for numerical weather prediction As part of the CDT in Mathematics of Planet Earth Supervised by: van Reeuwijk, M.; Cotter, C.; Rooney, G (Met Office)

2020

Name	Title and supervisor
Capril-Carniere Auwerter, Liliane	Low friction surfaces for water transmission As part of the CDT in Sustainable Civil Engineering Supervised by: van Reeuwijk, M., Cheeseman, C., Tempelton, M.
Eichentopf, Sonja	Beach morphodynamics under sequences of high and low energy wave conditions Supervied by: Christou, M.; Alsina, J.
Grylls, Tom	Large-eddy simulation of air quality and building energy efficiency in urban areas As part of the CDT in Sustainable Civil Engineering Supervised by: van Reeuwijk, M.

Fluid Mechanics Alumni 2010-2019

2019

Name	Title and supervisor
Beyer, Magnus	Nonlinear interactions of waves with arbitraily-sheared currents Supervised by: Swan, C.
Hadjigeorgiou, Demetris	Nonlinear wave interactions in realistic sea states Supervised by: Swan, C.; Christou, M.
Karmpadakis, Ioannis	Wave statistics in intermediate and shallow water depths Supervised by: Swan, C.; Christou, M.
Padilla de la Torre, Enrique	Wave-group propagation and hydrodynamics in the inner surf and swash zones Supervised by: Swan, C.; Alsina, J.
Suter, Ivo	Simulating the impact of blue-green infrastructure on the microclimate of urban areas Supervised by: van Reeuwijk, M.

2018

Name	Title and supervisor
Alpresa Gutierrez, Paola	Fluid dynamics of orbitally-shaken shallow fluid layers Supervised by: van Reeuwijk, M.; Sherwin, S.; Weinberg, P.
Kaisman, Erwan Hafizi	Numerical modelling of wave interactions with a vertical surface-piercing column. [Read the abstract] Supervised by: Swan, C. First Destination:
Ma, Li	The effective modelling of wave-in-deck loads. [Read the abstract] Supervised by: Swan, C. First destination: Post-doc position in the Fluid Mechanics Section

2017

Name	Title and supervisor
Makri, Isavella	Hydrodynamics of floating offshore wind turbines. [Read the abstract] Supervised by: Christou, M. First Destination:
De Lutio, Livio	Extreme waves in intermediate and shallow water depth [Read the abstract] Supervised by: Swan, C. First Destination: Senior Analyst, Data Science & Analytics at Criteo‌
Bruggemann, Mark	Floating body hydrodynamics: A load driven approach. [Read the abstract] Supervisor: Spinneken, J., Swan, C. First Destination: Evergreen Innovations

2016

Name	Title and supervisor
Aknin, David	Creating a shallow-water experimental wave environment. [Read the abstract] Supervised by: Spinneken, J., Swan, C. First Destination: Operations Assistant Manager on the ECO scheme at Ofgem
Craske, John	Unsteady turbulent jets and plumes. [Read the abstract]‌ Supervised by: van Reeuwijk, M. First Destination: Academic position at Imperial College ‌
Haley, Joe	Fluid forcing in the crests of large ocean waves. ‌[Read the abstract] Supervised by: Swan, C. First Destination: Shell
Rodriguez, Marcos	The nonlinear wave loading and dynamic response of a freely-floating two-dimensional box. [Read the abstract] Supervisor: Spinneken, J., Swan, C. First Destination: Offshore Structural Engineer, Ramboll (Offshore Wind)

2014

Name	Title and supervisor
Acred, Andy	Natural ventilation in multi-storey buildings: a preliminary design approach. [Read the abstract][Read the abstract] Supervised by: van Reeuwijk, M., Hunt, G.R. First Destination: Research Associate, University of Cambridge
Shrinivas, Ajay Balasubramanian	Unconfined and confined turbulent plumes and jets in stratified environments. [Read the abstract] Supervised by: Hunt, G.R., van Reeuwijk, M. First Destination:
Latheef, Mohamed	Surface wave statistics in directionally spread seas. [Read the abstract] Supervisor: Spinneken, J., Swan, C. First Destination:

2013

Name	Title and supervisor
Ely, Alice	Numerical modelling of viscous and turbulent free-surface flows using smoothed particle hydrodynamics. [Read the abstract] Supervised by: Swan, C. First Destination: Scientist, Hydrodynamics & Metocean Group, HR Wallingford
Connick, Owen	The fluid mechanics of hybrid ventilation. ‌ Supervised by: Hunt, G.R. First Destination: Technology Analyst at ClearViewIP
Burridge, Henry	The behaviour of miscible Boussinesq fountains in uniform quiescent environments. [Read the abstract][Read the abstract] Supervised by: Hunt, G.R. First Destination: Post-doctoral researcher, University of Cambridge
Lynch, Paul	Aspects of the fluid mechanics of night-purging multi-storey atrium buildings. [Read the abstract] Supervisor: Hunt, G.R. First Destination: Engineer, ARUP

2012

Name	Title and supervisor
Peric, Milena	Nonlinear wave interactions with multiple bodies in close proximity. [Read the abstract] Supervised by: Swan, C. First Destination: Civil and environmental engineer, ASMEC, Serbia

2011

Name	Title and supervisor
Ezzamel, Adam	Free and confined buoyant flows. [Read the abstract] Supervised by: Hunt, G.R. ‌First Destination: Senior Geotechnical Engineer, Senergy Energy Services
Myrtroeen, Joergen	Negatively buoyant fluid projectiles. [Read the abstract] Supervised by: Hunt, G.R. First Destination: Trainee in SN Power
Roos, Jannicke	Wave-structure interaction. The effective prediction of wave-in-deck loads. [Read the abstract] Supervised by: Swan, C. First Destination: Management Consultant, McKinsey & Co.
Spentza, Eirini	Nonlinear wave interactions with fixed and floating bodies leading to unexpected wave impacts. [Read the abstract] Supervised by: Swan, C. First Destination: Metocean engineer at GL Noble Denton
Archibald, Stuart	Modelling of extreme ocean waves using high-performance computing. [Read the abstract] Supervised by: Swan, C. First Destination: Technical member of staff at OpenGamma

Fluid Mechanics Alumni 2000-2009

Name	Title and supervisor
Economidou, Marina	Transient buoyancy-driven flows in multi-storey buildings -- the fluid mechanics Supervised by: Professor G. R. Hunt First Destination: Senior Expert in Energy Efficiency at Buildings Performance Institute Europe (BPIE)
Spinneken, Johannes	Wave generation and absorption using force-feedback control Supervisor: Swan, C. First Destination: Lecturer, Imperial College London
Larice, Giuliana	Classifying steady states in emptying-filling boxes Supervisor: Professor G. R. Hunt First Destination: Management Consultant, PWC
Cooper, Jonathan	The role of atria in the passive ventilation of multi-storey buildings Supervisor: Professor G. R. Hunt First Destination: Civil Engineer, Transport for London
Radomski, Simon	Ventilation driven by complex heat distributions Supervised by: Professor G. R. Hunt. First Destination: Anglican Church

Name	Title and supervisor
Hague, Caroline	Fully nonlinear computations of directional waves, including wave breaking Supervised by: Swan, C. First Destination: MSc in Web Intelligence at King's College London
Masterton, Stephen	Nonlinear wave-structure interaction: scattering, forcing and dynamic response Supervised by: Swan, C. First Destination: Shell International Exploration & Production B.V.
Allgayer, David	Air and heat movement by revolving doors Supervised by: Professor G. R. Hunt First Destination: Structural Engineer, Expedition Engineering
Coffey, Chris	The fluid mechanics of emptying boxes Supervised by: Professor G. R. Hunt First Destination: Ministry of Defence
Christou, Marios	Fully nonlinear computations of waves and wave-structure interaction Supervised by: Swan, C. First Destination: Shell International Exploration & Production B.V.
Syrios, Kostas	Natural ventilation of buildings in urban canyons Supervised by: Professor G. R. Hunt

Name	Title and supervisor
Katsardi, Vasiliki (Vanessa)	Surface water waves in intermediate and shallow water depths Supervised by: Swan, C.
Tzivanaki, Kalliopi (Kelly)	The measurement of surface water waves simultaneously in space and time Supervised by: Swan, C. First Destination: Researcher, National Technical University of Athens

Name	Title and supervisor
Sheikh, Rizwan	Wave scattering from a vertical, surface-piercing cylinder Supervised by: Swan, C. First Destination: Shell International Exploration & Production B.V.,
Gibson, Richard	Wave interactions and wave statistics in directional seas Supervised by: Swan, C. First Destination: British Petroleum (BP)

Name	Title and supervisor
Fung, C F (Chak Fai)	The structure of air-flow over waves Supervised by: Swan, C.

Name	Title and supervisor
Bateman, Will	Numerical modelling of extreme 3-D waves Supervised by: Swan, C.
James, Richard	Nonlinear wave-current interactions Supervised by: Swan, C.
Chamberlain, Neil	Oil spills in a wave environment Supervised by: Swan, C.

Fluid Mechanics Alumni 1990-1999

Name	Title and supervisor
Smith, Susan	Large transient waves in shallow water Supervised by: Professor C. Swan
Black, Duncan	The interaction between waves and an overlying air flow Supervised by: Professor C. Swan
Bashir, Tahir	Nonlinear inertial loading and the onset of structural "ringing" Supervised by: Professor C. Swan
Kwan, S H (Shun Hang	A study of the near-field characteristics of round turbulent jets discharged int Supervised by: Professor C. Swan
Johannssen, T B	The effect of directionality on the nonlinear behaviour of extreme transient oce Supervised by: Professor C. Swan
Cummins, Ian	Nonlinear wave-current interactions Supervised by: Professor C. Swan
Baldock, Tom (T E)	Nonlinear transient water waves Supervised by: Professor C. Swan

PhD Applicants

The Fluid Mechanics section welcomes PhD applications from highly motivated and enthusiastic students with a good first degree in a relevant discipline. Please see our Postgraduate research (PhD) page for more information.

Research Collaboration

Research collaboration with researchers from other universities and institutes is welcomed where complementary capabilities can be used to address current problems. For enquiries please contact Professor Chris Swan.

Consultancy

Many of our academics offer consultancy and expert witness services to Industry and Government, putting their expert knowledge into practice to address engineering problems all over the world. For more information please visit the Department's consultancy pages.

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