Turbulent Affairs: Scientists extend the limits of what we know about powerful flow phenomena
It doesn’t have to be a hurricane or a tsunami – even a simple running water tap induces a shock wave upon impact with the sink. Understanding such complex and violent fluid flow dynamics has helped scientists to design more efficient turbines and aircrafts, and to better predict weather and climate. Now, with the help of CSCS’s supercomputer "Piz Daint", mathematician Siddhartha Mishra is working to overcome current barriers to simulating and comprehending highly turbulent flows.
Be it avalanches, tornados, floods, or the air streams carrying an aircraft: Fluid flows are all around us. And sometimes, these flows are highly turbulent and powerful. "To be able to understand their nature is crucial for many technical processes and for predicting natural phenomena," says Siddhartha Mishra, a professor of applied mathematics at ETH Zürich. Mishra is most interested in powerful phenomena involving high turbulences and shock waves – such as the shock unleashed by an explosive, or when an aircraft surpasses the speed of sound to create a sonic boom. Together with his team, he investigates such fluid flows and develops algorithms to represent them more accurately and efficiently in supercomputer simulations. But more importantly, the mathematician seeks to expand the fundamental limits of current fluid dynamics simulations.
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