My main interest lies in Fluid Mechanics, in which I have made significant contributions in diverse areas using both numerical and analytical approaches. Research in these areas is of particular importance to the Department of Mechanical Engineering, which has already build a strong program in fluid mechanics.
My work on unsteady separation processes is of considerable current practical interest in the design of rapidly maneuverable fighter airplanes, turbine design, and other applications of fluid mechanics; it is currently supported by the Air Force AFOSR. The procedures followed provide new insight into the mechanics of separated flows, since they allow the origin of the flow phenomena to be examined.
However, various techniques developed are not restricted to fluid mechanics, but are also of importance to other areas. As an example, a recently developed fast scheme for the CYBER 205 supercomputer is not only of importance for the computation of flow about wings, but also for the motion of gravitating bodies and applications in electro-magnetic theory.
In other work, I have developed a non-random method to simulate diffusion within a mesh free-environment. That is a problem of general interest, and it involves a related problem in linear algebra which is even more general.
In an earlier numerical study I was the first to succeed in isolating an unsteady separation process and change the existing ideas about the unsteady behavior of fluids and gasses fundamentally. That result seems by now well accepted by the scientific community.
With Stephen Cowley at Imperial College, I have proposed a three--dimensional theoretical generalization of that behavior. A proposal to the NSF for numerical verification of the structure by means of supercomputers has been submitted.
In a study of one of the few basic problems in fluid mechanics for which an analytical solution can be found, I showed that existing ideas about the behavior of the solution needed to be corrected. These results are not only of basic interest for fluid mechanics, but also for the mathematical theory of matched asymptotic expansions.
More practical studies include vectorized computations of various flows using supercomputers. An unusual numbering of mesh points allowed a doubling of the numerical `vector' length.
I have refereed papers for a wide range of journals and conferences and also acted as referee for NSF proposals.
While I have received support from agencies like the Air Force AFOSR, NASA, Pratt \& Whitney company, the Department of Energy and Florida State University through the Supercomputer Computations Research Institute, cf. my vitae, I am committed to attract additional support from outside sponsoring agencies, and I have a pending proposal to the NSF to provide numerical evidence of three-dimensional separation using supercomputers and I am in the process of writing a proposal to the NAVY (NCSC and ONR) for the computation of unsteady flow about submarines.
I am a member of the Fluid Mechanics Research Institute, an inter-departmental laboratory formed by the College of Engineering, as well as a faculty associate of the Supercomputer Computations Research Institute.
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