Research and Education in Multi-Scale Fluid Dynamics

该项目涉及流体系统中输运的理论建模。该奖项既支持改善对流体行为的科学理解，也支持自然科学本科生和研究生的研究经验。研究的重点是地下水流中重力流的平均化；湍流混合中有效混合系数的解析、渐近和计算计算；以及分层流体系统的实验和理论研究。学生通过实验流体力学实验室参与分层流体动力学的研究。自然环境受到复杂的耦合流体系统的影响，其动力学发生在广泛的空间和时间尺度上。了解这个系统的动力学，从最小尺度的海洋湍流混合到最大尺度的大气天气系统，是地球科学的中心目标。对这样一个系统的完整描述仍然超出了即使是最大的超级计算机的计算范围，而一项基础性的科学努力是描述和理解不同尺度上的现象，最终理解一个大规模系统作为一个整体是如何运作的。该奖项支持对流体系统的数学研究，对于流体系统，尺度之间的相互作用可以得到数学解释。从该项目中获得的洞察力将应用于理解环境中多尺度的流体行为。

This project concerns theoretical modeling of transport in fluid systems. The award supports both improved scientific understanding of fluid behavior and research experiences for undergraduate and graduate students of the natural sciences. The research is focused on averaging of gravity currents in groundwater flow; analytical, asymptotic, and computational calculation of effective mixing coefficients in turbulent mixing; and experimental and theoretical study of stratified fluid systems. Students participate in the research on stratified fluid dynamics through an experimental fluid dynamics laboratory.The natural environment is influenced by a complex system of coupled fluids whose dynamics occur on a wide range of space and time scales. Understanding the dynamics of this system, from the smallest scale turbulent mixing in the ocean to the largest scale atmospheric weather systems, is a central goal of the geosciences. The complete description of such a system remains beyond the computational scope of even the largest supercomputers, and a fundamental scientific endeavor is to characterize and understand phenomena on different scales, ultimately to understand how a large scale system functions as a whole. This award supports mathematical investigation of fluid systems for which interplay between scales may be mathematically explained. Insight gained from the project will have application to understanding multiple-scale fluid behavior in the environment.