Grand Séminaire d'Institut

Lundi 11 Mars 2024 à 11h00.

Themes with complex fluids: distinct flow problems involving rough surfaces, self-similarity, and speech

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In this talk I sketch some recent themes* from my research group, starting with

a brief survey of some of the fluid mechanics problems that we have been investigating in recent years. Then, I discuss in more depth three problems. First, I describe the motion of particles near rough boundaries, where three dimensional helical trajectories are possible. (ii) Second, I consider thin-film drainage flows near an edge where the dynamics involves three independent variables. Nevertheless, a similarity solution is possible to achieve a description in terms of an ordinary differential equation, whose solution is shown to be in excellent agreement with experimental measurements. (iii) Finally, the recent COVID-19 pandemic highlighted asymptotic air-borne transmission of a virus during ordinary activities, such as conversations, which motivated us to tackle the interrelations of speech, linguistics, and fluid dynamics.

*The research described was performed by many people in my research group, as well as some external collaborations.

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