Kunihiko "Sam" Taira

Professor, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
University of California, Los Angeles

Extreme aerodynamics: analysis and control for flight in highly gusty conditions

January 18, 2024

An air vehicle trying to operate in adverse weather or wakes of urban canyons and mountainous terrains would be hit by strong large-scale atmospheric disturbances. In such extreme aerodynamic conditions, flight control becomes a great challenge, if not impossible, due to the enormous transient forces that the vehicle experiences. Currently, encounters with these extreme flow phenomena limit operations of fixed and rotating wing aircraft, especially those that are small to medium in size. The present study is focused on the analysis, modeling, and control of extreme aerodynamic flows, with unsteadiness far larger in amplitudes than those considered in traditional aerodynamics on a time scale comparable to those of the flow instabilities. The high dimensionality, strong nonlinearity, and multi-scale properties of these extreme flows make systematic analysis and control tremendously difficult. Without the reduction of the state variable dimension and extraction of dominant dynamics, the application of dynamical systems and control theory for flow control remains impractical. This talk will present modern approaches to model and control such complex fluid flows by leveraging data-driven techniques and high-performance computing. We in particular will discuss the use of unsupervised and supervised machine learning techniques and how they can be embedded in existing flow analysis techniques. Equipped with these toolsets, we extract the low-dimensional inertial manifolds of extreme aerodynamics to facilitate the development of sparse and reduced-order models to design flow control techniques. Some of the successes in characterizing, modeling, and controlling extreme aerodynamic flows will be presented, followed by comments on open problems and outlooks.

Biosketch

Dr. Kunihiko "Sam" Taira is a Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at UCLA working in the areas of unsteady aerodynamics and flow control using high-performance computing and data-driven analysis. Before joining his current institution, he was a faculty member at Florida State University. He received his B.S. from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and his M.S. and Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology. He is the recipient of the 2013 Air Force Office of Scientific Research Young Investigator Award, the 2017 Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award, and the 2022 Department of Defense Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship. He held visiting positions at the US Air Force Research Laboratory and Tokyo University of Science and has industry experience with the Research and Development division of Honda. He is an Associate Fellow of AIAA and serves as an associate editor for the AIAA Journal and the Theoretical and Computational Fluid Dynamics.

Paul Danehy

Senior Technologist, Advanced Measurement and Data Systems Branch
NASA Langley Research Center

Optical and laser-based measurements for NASA's Artemis program

January 25, 2024

NASA and their partners are embarking on a series of space missions to the moon and beyond, collectively known as the Artemis Program. The Artemis I mission launched November 2022. This talk briefly summarizes Artemis program and describes laser and optical measurement technique development and application to ground and flight tests related to, or inspired by, the Artemis program. In particular, development and application of three different measurement techniques (planar laser-induced fluorescence [PLIF], femtosecond laser electronic excitation and tagging [FLEET] and stereo photogrammetry) are described. These techniques have been applied to study vehicle launch, lunar landing, and earth entry. Such optical and laser-based instrumentation can provide unique qualitative and quantitative information to inform the underlying physics of space flight while also providing benchmark data for validating ever advancing predictive codes.

Biosketch

Dr. Paul Danehy graduated from the University of New Hampshire in Mechanical Engineering in 1989. He then attended Stanford University and obtained both an M.S. and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, finishing in 1995. At Stanford he studied optical measurement techniques applied to study combustion. Thereafter, he spent five years at the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra as a post-doctoral researcher and then as a faculty member in the Department of Physics, where he applied laser-based methods to study hypersonic flows. Dr. Danehy has been at NASA Langley Research Center since 2000. As NASA's Senior Technologist (ST) for Advanced Measurement Systems he leads and participates in the planning, advocacy, execution and review of basic and applied research to advance the state of the art in measurement technology, with a particular emphasis on measurement techniques to characterize off-body, temporally dense, spatially dense flow fields to enable NASA's missions.

Jean Hertzberg

Professor, Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering
University of Colorado Boulder

Why teach art in engineering?

February 1, 2024

What possible benefit could there be to having engineering students use their skills to create art objects? To spend valuable credit hours doing so, when they could be taking more fundamental or applied engineering courses?

Perhaps you have noticed that engineering has a problem with retention in school and in the profession? Or maybe you’ve noticed that your students are much more interested in points for assignments and 'will it be on the final' than in the material you are teaching?

Engineering education research has shown that some motivation problems can be addressed by emphasizing societal and environmental benefits, and by making the educational experience more social or game-like. But one type of motivation that has inspired makers and scientists throughout history has been largely unexplored: aesthetics. Can the act of creating an artifact that is personally meaningful, beautiful or simply cool motivate students to stay in engineering, to appreciate being engineers, to learn more about all aspects of their creation?

In this talk I'll present a framework for thinking about art and aesthetics in engineering and engineering education, plus two examples of engineering technical electives that explore the aesthetics of engineering: Flow Visualization and Aesthetics of Design. We have some evidence that a semester-long aesthetics-focused course leads to a transformative experience, including an expansion of perception, motivated use (of course content outside the classroom), and affective value (appreciation of course content).

Biosketch

Dr. Jean Hertzberg is currently Professor of Mechanical Engineering at CU Boulder. She has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in measurement techniques, thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, heat transfer, design and computer tools. She has pioneered a spectacular course on the art and physics of flow visualization, and is working on a textbook to support the course. She is conducting research on the impact of the course with respect to visual perception and educational outcomes. Her disciplinary research centers around pulsatile, vortex dominated flows with applications in both combustion and bio-fluid dynamics. She is also interested in a variety of flow field measurement techniques. Current projects include the production of potentially infectious aerosols by woodwind and brass instruments.

Emily Ryan

Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Boston University

Multi-phase, multi-physics modeling of interfacial phenomena in energy systems

February 8, 2024

Chemical-physical processes at material interfaces drive performance and degradation in various energy and environmental systems, such as high energy density batteries, carbon capture reactors, and water filtration. In this talk, I will discuss our research into computational modeling of interfacial and surface phenomena that drive performance in high energy density lithium batteries. Over multiple charge/discharge cycles non-uniform lithium plating and secondary reactions at the interface drive performance degradation and pose safety risks. The interplay between local transport, surface conditions, and operating conditions dictate these interfacial changes. In our work we use multi-phase, meso-scale modeling of the interfacial region to understand the driving forces for these changes and the coupling between physical phenomena to better understand the critical physics at the interface and to design more stable, long lasting interfaces.

Biosketch

Dr. Emily Ryan is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Division of Materials Science and Engineering, a Founding Faculty Member of the Faculty of Computing and Data Sciences, and an Associate Director of the Institute for Global Sustainability at Boston University. She received her Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in 2009. After graduating from Carnegie Mellon she worked as a post-doctoral research associate and staff computational scientist in the Computational Mathematics and Engineering group at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Since joining Boston University in 2012, she founded the Computational Energy Laboratory, which focuses on the development of computational models of advanced energy systems, including batteries, fuel cells, carbon capture technologies, and fuel injectors, and BU's Energy and Sustainable Technologies collaborative laboratory bringing together faculty across BU working to advance sustainability. Her research is funded through the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy and industry.

Fabián Bombardelli

Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
University of California, Davis

Multi-phase modeling and simulation of air–water flows for hydraulic structures

February 22, 2024

Air–water flows are very important in both natural and man-made situations. Although significant progress has been achieved in the last decades, there still is a rather long road in order to have a definite, widely-agreed menu of options to simulate these flows; further, our understanding is still rather limited. Two-phase flows constitute a multi-scale problem in which the small scales associated to the bubble scale contribute to the macro-behavior of the flow. This issue requires either a detailed resolution of those scales, or the use of indirect approaches which take into account that strong dependence. In this presentation, we introduce a framework for the multiscale modeling of air entrainment in hydraulic structures. First, we devote time to present Scale-Resolving Simulations (SRSs), which we started in 2015–2017, we continued in 2020, and we evolved to a larger extent very recently for the simulation of flow past stepped spillways – an archetypical hydraulic structure. The SRS model applies the Spalart–Allmaras–detached-eddy simulation model, and no sub-grid model is included for the dispersed air phase. Then, we turn to a Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) approach for the same flow. The RANS model proposes a three-phase mixture formulation and a turbulence closure for the turbulent stresses, recently published in the CMAME. A criterion using a balance between a disturbing energy and stabilizing energy allows for determining the regions where air is entrained or detrained; this has been found to produce good results for stepped spillways as well as (amazingly) impinging jets. Very interestingly, the RANS model provides information about air concentration as well as the level of bulking, which causes notable numerical shortcomings in many other models. Both methodologies show very good agreement with the experimental data. Naturally, the SRS model comes at a more substantial computational cost. Future lines of research for both types of models are discussed during the presentation.

Biosketch

Dr. Fabián A. Bombardelli was formerly the Gerald T. and Lillian P. Orlob Endowed Professorship in Water Resources (2017–2022) at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering of the University of California, Davis (UC Davis). Bombardelli is a leader in the development of new theoretical and numerical models for multi-phase flows, as well as in their observation in the laboratory and the field. He currently serves as the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), and of RIBAGUA, the International Journal of Water of Iberoamerica, IAHR. Bombardelli received a degree in Hydraulic Engineering from the National University of La Plata, Argentina; a magister (master's) degree in "Numerical Simulation and Control" by the University of Buenos Aires, also in Argentina; and a Ph.D. by the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), Unites States, under the supervision of Prof. Marcelo Garcia. Prior to his move to the States, he was a Researcher in Numerical Models at the National Water Institute for seven years. Since 2004, Bombardelli has been a Professor (now full, with tenure). Bombardelli is widely known for his contributions on bubble plumes, sediment transport in open channels, the Basset force, flow in stepped spillways, and for the application of the phenomenological theory of turbulence to hydraulics; in addition, he has developed applied research on water bodies in California. He has published in major research journals of physics, hydraulic engineering and water resources. He has more than 70 publications in these journals and more than 160 articles in total. Dr. Bombardelli is a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal Environmental Fluid Mechanics since 2011; Associate Editor of the ournal of Hydro-environment and Research, since 2018; and member of the Review Committee of the Int. Journal of Sediment Research. He has received numerous recognitions such as the Best Reviewer Award of the IAHR (Willi Hager Award, 2011); Outstanding Reviewer of the ASCE (2011); the Awards as Outstanding Advisor in Civil Engineering (ASCE, 2015), and Outstanding Advisor in Civil Engineering of the State of California (2015); the Young Alumni Award of the University of Illinois in 2015; Featured Article in Physics of Fluids (2018); EWRI Fellow in 2021, and various awards as a student in Illinois, such as the Glenn and Helen Stout Award of UIUC. Very recently, Bombardelli was inducted as Member of the Academy of Engineering of Buenos Aires State, Argentina, and he has received a Doctorate Honoris Causa from the National University of La Plata, his Alma Mater. Fourteen students have graduated with doctorates and 31 with master's degrees under the supervision of Prof. Bombardelli. He has also worked as a consultant for the government of Argentina and for the United Nations in Peru, in 2011 and 2013, proposing systems of cascades for the very polluted Matanza-Riachuelo, Buenos Aires. He has delivered seminars and keynote lectures in many universities and conferences, worldwide.

Sally Bane

Associate Professor, School of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Purdue University

Ultra-short-pulsed plasmas for flow and combustion control

February 29, 2024

Atmospheric pressure plasmas are used in applications across a wide range of areas in science and engineering including flow and combustion control, biomedicine, materials processing, nanotechnology, and environmental engineering. In recent years, nanosecond repetitively pulsed (NRP) discharges have attracted great interest due to their extremely efficient generation of excited, radical, and ionized species at atmospheric pressure. It is critical to understand the chemical species production and temperature evolution in these plasmas for advancement of plasma-based technologies. Such knowledge would permit the development of highly tailored plasma sources that can produce plasmas with spatio-temporal and thermochemical characteristics that are customized to a variety of applications with broad societal impact. This presentation will provide an overview of current research efforts at Purdue University on development and characterization of plasma actuators based on NRP discharges for use in aerospace applications. Development of time-resolved plasma measurement techniques using streak-spectroscopy and ultrafast lasers will be presented. Efforts to characterize the local flow field induced by the rapid plasma heating using optical diagnostics will also be discussed. Finally, ongoing work to employ these NRP plasmas for control of high-speed flows and combustion will be presented.

Biosketch

Dr. Sally Bane is an Associate Professor and the Director of Laboratory & Hands-On Education in the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Purdue University. She received her B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Virginia and her M.S. and Ph.D. in Aeronautics from the California Institute of Technology. Dr. Bane's research interests span a broad range of problems in plasmas, high-speed flows, and combustion. She is a founding member of Purdue's Cold Plasmas Preeminent Team, an interdisciplinary cohort of faculty studying nonequilibrium plasmas for a wide range of engineering and scientific applications. Dr. Bane's plasma research focuses on ultra-fast plasma spectroscopy, plasma-induced flow diagnostics, and plasma flow and combustion control. She received an AFOSR Young I nvestigator award to study high-pressure plasma-assisted combustion and continues to explore ways to use plasma-based actuators to control high-speed aerodynamic flows and turbulent combustion. Dr. Bane is also involved in hypersonics research at Purdue, focusing on non-intrusive optical diagnostics for accurate measurements of high-speed turbulent flows and active control of boundary layers and shock wave/boundary layer interaction.

Jennifer Duan

Professor, Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering
University of Arizona

Flow discharge measurement using small unmanned aerial system

March 14, 2024

The accurate measurement of river discharge during flooding events has long been a challenging and dangerous task in the Southwestern United States, where flashy flow has high velocity and sediment concentration. Small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS) can be deployed to access unsafe field sites and capture flow images remotely for estimating flow velocity and discharge. Turbulence energy dissipation (TDR) rates derived from measured surface velocity have been applied to estimate flow discharge in laboratory flumes. This research aims to examine the accuracy of TDR for estimating discharge in natural rivers. Eight field sites, including concrete lined canals, earthen canals, and natural channels, were selected near established USGS gaging stations. Flow discharges at each site were measured using two cameras: one mounted on a small UAS, and the other stationed at one bank, in addition to an acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP). The ADCP measurements were treated as accurate discharges for evaluating the accuracy of the measurements from two cameras. The velocity index was calculated using several approaches and verified using the ADCP data. The results showed the method that uses the turbulence dissipation rate at the surface to calculate the velocity index achieved discharge estimation errors as small as 2%. However, this approach shows significant errors at rivers of irregular cross sections, especially at the presence of vegetation and suspended sediment. Among eight sites, the conventional approach that assumes a constant velocity index yields better results than using the turbulence dissipation rate. Further researches on turbulence dissipation rate in open channel flow of irregular cross sections, complex boundary conditions, and high sediment concentration are needed for the application of turbulence dissipation rate approach in natural rivers.

Biosketch

Dr. Jennifer G. Duan is a professor in the Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering and Mechanics. Her research area is hydraulics and sediment transport focusing on computational simulation of morpho-dynamic processes of river meanders, sediment transport, flood flow dynamics, vegetated channels, scour at bridge piers, and microorganism transport in irrigation canals. She had led many federal, state, and local agency funded research projects, including an NSF Career Award, and she is also a consultant to World Bank and Battelle Memorial Institute. She has also served several leadership ositions (Chair/co-Chair of Technical Committees) in EWRI-ASCE and CAWRA (Past President of Chinese American Water Resource Association).

John Farnsworth

Associate Professor, Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences
University of Colorado Boulder

The experimental generation of streamwise gusts and their impact on a finite-span wing

March 21, 2024

Under normal operation, aircraft and wind turbines frequently encounter gusts, or discrete unsteady variations in the direction and magnitude of the freestream velocity. Streamwise gusts, which impose changes in the magnitude of the freestream, can dramatically alter the aerodynamic response of these systems when the gust length-scales, time-scales or magnitudes are commensurate with the steady operating conditions of these systems. To study these interactions a unique unsteady low-speed wind tunnel facility was constructed at the University of Colorado Boulder which can generate both convective and global streamwise velocity disturbances. The design, modeling, and performance of this facility will be presented along with the aerodynamic response of a canonical finite-span rectangular wing section to a time-varying freestream. More specifically, the seminar will focus on how the convective nature of the streamwise velocity disturbances can couple with wing sweep to impose dramatic variations in the pitching moment response of a simple wing section. In addition to this primary topic, a summary of other basic research efforts ongoing in the Experimental Aerodynamics Laboratory at the University of Colorado Boulder will also be given.

Biosketch

Dr. John Farnsworth is an Associate Professor in the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder (CU) and an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Prior to joining the faculty in 2014, he served as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Aeronautics at the United States Air Force Academy for three years. Dr. Farnsworth received his Ph.D., M.S., and B.S. in Aeronautical Engineering from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 2011, 2007, and 2006, respectively. Dr. Farnsworth is the director of the Experimental Aerodynamics Laboratory at CU, where his research is focused in the areas of understanding and controlling complex three-dimensional unsteady flow fields for aerodynamic applications. These topics include, but are not limited to: fluid–structure interactions, turbulence, highly three-dimensional regions of flow separation, and the design of novel fluidic actuators for flow control.

Romit Maulik

Assistant Professor, College of Information Sciences and Technology
Pennsylvania State University

Scalable, adaptive, and explainable scientific machine learning with applications to computational fluid dynamics

March 28, 2024

Scientific machine learning (SciML) involves developing physics-informed data-driven algorithms to enhance computational workflows. This talk presents recent results addressing three critical limitations of state-of-the-art SciML algorithms: scalability to realistic scientific computing problems, learning from unstructured mesh-based data, and interpretability. To tackle these challenges, we propose a novel multiscale graph neural network that approximates functions on unstructured and potentially adaptive meshes with high degrees of freedom, providing interpretability by identifying crucial subgraphs for predictions. Additionally, we take concrete steps towards a-posteriori model error estimation by linking these subgraphs to areas contributing to significant spatiotemporal testing errors. The significance of overcoming these limitations is also emphasized, as we strive to revolutionize computational approaches in scientific domains.

Biosketch

Dr. Romit Maulik is an Assistant Professor of Information Science and Technology with an appointment in the Institute for Computational and Data Sciences at the Pennsylvania State University. In addition, he is also a Joint-Appointment Faculty at the Mathematics and Computer Sciences Division at Argonne National Laboratory. His research group, the Interdisciplinary Scientific Computing Laboratory, is primarily focused on solving large-scale computational science problems using data-intensive scientific machine learning.

Christine Gilbert

Associate Professor, Kevin T. Crofton Department of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering
Virginia Tech

Highly flexible plates passively and actively interacting near a free surface

April 4, 2024

Passive reconfiguration of flexible structures readily occurs in biological structures through fluids such as air and water. Few studies exist involving the understanding of reconfiguration near a free surface, the interface between air and water. Animals such as fish and manta rays actively control the shape of their fins to swim. Taking inspiration from these biological movements, we can study active reconfiguration to the flexible structures near a free surface. In this talk, results will be presented on the passive reconfiguration of flexible plates vertically flapping near a free surface calm water. A discussion of fluidic flexible matrix composites (F²MC) will be presented to provide active reconfiguration of the plates. The prototype of a panel manufactured from F²MC tubes will be shown and evaluated under static conditions. Finally, preliminary results from flapping motions in quiescent water with active shape change will be presented. Future directions for the use of forward speed in the new VT Advanced Towing Tank and Vertical Planar Motion Facility on a manta ray-shaped model will also be discussed. The technical work from this talk is funded by the National Science Foundation and the new facility was funded by the Office of Naval Research.

Biosketch

Dr. Christine Gilbert is an associate professor in the Kevin T. Crofton Department of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Dr. Gilbert received her B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. from the University of Maryland in Mechanical Engineering. Prior to her appointment at Virginia Tech, Dr. Gilbert worked at the U.S. Naval Academy (assistant research professor, 2012 to 2014) and the University of New Orleans (tenure-track assistant professor, 2014 to 2016). Dr Gilbert has received both the ONR Young Investigator Award (YIP, 2015) and the NSF CAREER award (2020). She is an active member of the American Physical Society (APS) Division of Fluid Dynamics.

Philippe Lavoie

Professor, University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies
University of Toronto

Control of a blunt trailing edge profiled body using unsteady distributed forcing

April 11, 2024

Blunt trailing edges are often used to improve the structural characteristics of airfoils in high load situations and/or reduce wave drag on transonic wings. However, the wake generated behind blunt trailing edges can lead to higher-pressure drag, unsteady aerodynamic loading and higher noise emission. This presentation will discuss some of the dynamically important features of the blunt trailing edge wake behind a non-lifting body as a precursor for their control. Of particular importance will be the presence of three-dimensionality in the von Kármán vortex street generated in the wake – even when the geometry is nominally two-dimensional. This will be followed by the presentation of an active flow control methodology known as "distributed forcing," which promotes three-dimensionality to achieve a large change in the blunt trailing edge wake with minimal energy input. Implementations of this flow control system using synthetic jets will be presented. Results from these experiments will highlight the change in the wake dynamics and reduction in pressure drag.

Biosketch

Dr. Philippe Lavoie is the Associate Director – Research at the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS). He received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. from Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario and his Ph.D. from the University of Newcastle, Australia. He co-founded the Centre for Research in Sustainable Aviation based at UTIAS, for which he has been Associate Director since 2012. His current research interests include turbulence, flow control, and experimental aerodynamics and aeroacoustics. His research is focused on studying flow structures and instabilities associated with transitional and turbulent flows as a precursor to their control. He has successfully developed and implemented active flow control systems experimentally for several different wall-bounded and separated shear flows. Dr. Lavoie is an Associate Editor for the AIAA Journal and Subject Editor in Mechanical/Aerospace Engineering for FACETS, the official journal of the Royal Society of Canada's Academy of Science.

Xiaowei "Luke" Zhu

Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical & Materials Engineering
Portland State University

Atmospheric turbulent transport mechanisms in coastal environments: a micro-meteorological perspective

April 18, 2024

Coastal areas are increasingly vulnerable to extreme weather events such as hurricanes, typhoons, and cyclones, intensified by the ongoing impacts of climate change. A deeper understanding of how atmospheric turbulence interacts with coastal substrates is essential for mitigating these challenges. The nuanced transition from oceanic to terrestrial topography, which characterizes the coastal boundary, poses significant challenges for conventional regional weather and climate models, primarily due to their coarse resolution and inability to capture fine-scale turbulent transport mechanisms. This research places a particular emphasis on micro-meteorological scale phenomena, aiming to dissect the turbulent transport mechanisms unique to coastal environments that are not adequately represented in traditional large-scale models. Employing large-eddy simulation (LES) techniques, this study simulates turbulent flows within coastal landscapes, taking into account the nuances of surface and temperature heterogeneity from sea to shore. The results indicate that during the transition, the interplay of surface and thermal variances critically shapes the evolution of turbulent transport. This analysis scrutinizes the suitability of the Monin–Obukhov similarity theory, commonly used as the baseline for bottom boundary conditions in numerous weather and climate models, specifically within the context of coastal settings. The insights derived from this investigation promise to refine boundary conditions for large-scale weather and climate modeling efforts and could contribute to the experimental design in coastal regions.

Biosketch

Dr. Xiaowei "Luke" Zhu is an Assistant Professor in the Mechanical & Material Engineering Department at Portland State University. He received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Texas at Dallas in 2018. After that, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow at both Johns Hopkins University and Princeton University. His research interests center on turbulent transport of momentum and scalars in complex environments.

Alison Marsden

Douglass M. and Nola Leishman Professor of Cardiovascular Disease, Department of Pediatrics
Stanford University

Multi-physics modeling in pediatric cardiology

April 25, 2024

Congenital heart disease affects 1 in 100 infants and is the leading cause of infant mortality in the US. Computational modeling is particularly valuable in this heterogeneous and high-risk population because of the need for personalized treatment planning. We will present recent work extending traditional hemodynamics simulations to include multiple physical processes and cardiac function in pediatric cardiology. In particular, we will discuss 1) melding constrained mixture models of vascular growth and remodeling with patient specific finite element simulations, and 2) multi-physics cardiac simulations incorporating electrophysiology, active contraction and fluid structure interaction. Novel algorithms for generating synthetic vascular networks for 3D bioprinting applications and simulating tissue perfusion will also be described. We will finally describe open-source software and data resources available via the SimVascular project and the Vascular Model Repository.

Biosketch

Dr. Alison Marsden is the Douglass M. and Nola Leishman Professor of Cardiovascular Disease in the Departments of Pediatrics, Bioengineering, and, by courtesy, Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University. She is a member of the Institute for Mathematical and Computational Engineering. From 2007–2015 she was a faculty member in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at UCSD. She graduated with a B.S.E. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Princeton University in 1998, and a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford in 2005. She was a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University in Bioengineering from 2005–07. She was the recipient of a Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award at the Scientific Interface in 2007 and an NSF CAREER award in 2011. She was elected fellow of AIMBE and SIAM in 2018, the APS DFD in 2020, and BMES in 2021. She is the 2023 recipient of the Van C. Mow medal from the ASME Bioengineering Division. She has published over 170 journal articles and holds leadership roles in several scientific societies. Her research focuses on the development of numerical methods for cardiovascular biomechanics and application of engineering methods to impact patient care in cardiovascular surgery and congenital heart disease.