Final Report Summary - MULTITURB (A multidisciplinary approach to turbulence)
Primary objective
The overall objective was clearly stated in the original proposal as: 'There is no more significant development in a person's career than formal retirement from a position as Professor which one has held for many years (in my case since 1980). It can be the end of one's contribution to society as a scientist and educator. Or, given the opportunities, it can be the beginning of a new phase of them. This is not a proposal to simply provide employment for an experienced researcher. But it is a proposal to resume a career in Europe, albeit one only so far briefly interrupted. My personal goal will be to both to realise research objectives that I could not otherwise, and to acquire at the end a distinguished senior researcher position in one of Europe's leading research establishments. '
This objective has been achieved, albeit not in ways that might have been anticipated at the outset. The Department of Aeronautics at Imperial has signed WKG to a 3-year contract as senior research investigator (emeritus professor) as which he will continue to participate in on-going research and teaching. This 'home' base will allow him to continue to participate in the highly successful International Turbulence Master programme at Ecole Centrale de Lille, a program he initiated in Sweden, but helped move to France over the past few years. Finally, he will also continue to participate as collaborator in research and guest lecturer at the Danish Technical University. The research there will be carried out with a former Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) student who has joined the faculty there as lecturer, Dr Clara Veldt; and it is directly related to part of the research carried out with her during the past two years as a part of this programme.
Secondary objective
A secondary objective was: '...to allow me (WKG) to add 'different and complementary research competences at an advanced level' so that I can 'enhance and maximise 'my continuing (sic)' 'contribution to the knowledge-based economy and society'. Specifically (three items were listed):
1. I will work together with professor Christos Vassillicos of aerospace engineering to understand in detail his fractal approach to turbulence. It clearly provides a physical explanation for the results of my own near-asymptotic approach in at least the several problems we have both attacked.
I have indeed worked closely together with Professor Vassillicos, meeting at least once per day to discuss a range of topics in turbulence. As a result of our efforts we not only have a better understanding of each other's work, but have been able to significantly advance our understanding of turbulence. The two archival publications and many presentations during this period benefited greatly from those discussions, and more will be forthcoming.
2. I will work together with Dr Berend van Wachem and Professor William Jones of mechanical engineering to learn the intricacies of numerical analysis and learn to carry it out independently.
I have also worked very closely with Dr van Wachem of mechanical engineering and his PhD student George Malloupas. It was originally intended that our joint work would continue my interest in turbulent jets using the numerical skills of van Wachem and Jones. Very early on it was recognised that my background and knowledge in turbulence could contribute substantially to the efforts of van Wachem and Malloupas to examine the behaviour of small particles in turbulence. Since another secondary objective of the Marie Curie proposed work was to seek 'the opportunity to pursue jointly three new and emerging areas of research', this is exactly what has been done. One conference paper and several presentations (4) have already resulted from this work. Also a journal paper has been submitted for publication about the results, and a second is in preparation. The original intention to carry out a jet analysis has not been abandoned, but only put on the back burner for the moment because of the exciting new particle work.
3. I will work together with Professors Xuesong Wu and John Gibbon of the Mathematics Department to learn their terminology and methodologies for attacking non-linear equations, especially as they exhibit wavelike solutions. As noted in part B1, the particular interest will be whether the new non-linear equations that govern decomposed turbulent shear flows can be attacked in the same (or at least complementary) manner. Can the turbulence 'eddies' we see be described mathematically as propagating solutions of these equations?
This part of the proposed work really never got underway, in part because of the early retirement of professor Gibbon, but also because of the efforts expended on items 1 and 2. Hopefully since WKG is remaining at Imperial as professor emeritus, there will be opportunities to continue this work, especially in relation to the efforts with the Danish Technical University.
Research value objective
The original proposal stated the following:
1. 'The primary research value which would be added from the proposed exchange would be the opportunity to pursue jointly three new and emerging areas of research, both mentioned above. First, to start for the first time a systematic international research programme on the role of initial and upstream conditions in turbulence'.
This has been done. Moreover the recent ERC and Marie Curie PhD programme grants to Vassilicos and the Department of Aeronautics at Imperial are both testimonies as the success of this effort.
2. 'Second, to explore how the turbulence is generated and acquires and / or loses its energy, and how the mean flow profiles are created as a result'.
This has been a major source of discussion among the principles throughout the grant period. A paper proposing an entirely new paradigm for turbulence as been submitted for publication by WKG, and quite predictably rejected. It will be recast and presented at an upcoming meeting on fractal turbulence at U. Poitiers, and ultimately rewritten and resubmitted until it is either published or refuted. The idea of the statistical local equilibrium of the small scale of turbulence is at the core of modern turbulence beliefs, and it is this idea which is being challenged.
3. Third, to exploit the scale similarity of turbulent jets to carry out a direct numerical simulation (DNS) which increases by nearly an order of magnitude present numerical computations.
As noted above this part of the proposed work was put on the back-burner in order to pursue other opportunities. But it has not been abandoned, only postponed.
The overall objective was clearly stated in the original proposal as: 'There is no more significant development in a person's career than formal retirement from a position as Professor which one has held for many years (in my case since 1980). It can be the end of one's contribution to society as a scientist and educator. Or, given the opportunities, it can be the beginning of a new phase of them. This is not a proposal to simply provide employment for an experienced researcher. But it is a proposal to resume a career in Europe, albeit one only so far briefly interrupted. My personal goal will be to both to realise research objectives that I could not otherwise, and to acquire at the end a distinguished senior researcher position in one of Europe's leading research establishments. '
This objective has been achieved, albeit not in ways that might have been anticipated at the outset. The Department of Aeronautics at Imperial has signed WKG to a 3-year contract as senior research investigator (emeritus professor) as which he will continue to participate in on-going research and teaching. This 'home' base will allow him to continue to participate in the highly successful International Turbulence Master programme at Ecole Centrale de Lille, a program he initiated in Sweden, but helped move to France over the past few years. Finally, he will also continue to participate as collaborator in research and guest lecturer at the Danish Technical University. The research there will be carried out with a former Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) student who has joined the faculty there as lecturer, Dr Clara Veldt; and it is directly related to part of the research carried out with her during the past two years as a part of this programme.
Secondary objective
A secondary objective was: '...to allow me (WKG) to add 'different and complementary research competences at an advanced level' so that I can 'enhance and maximise 'my continuing (sic)' 'contribution to the knowledge-based economy and society'. Specifically (three items were listed):
1. I will work together with professor Christos Vassillicos of aerospace engineering to understand in detail his fractal approach to turbulence. It clearly provides a physical explanation for the results of my own near-asymptotic approach in at least the several problems we have both attacked.
I have indeed worked closely together with Professor Vassillicos, meeting at least once per day to discuss a range of topics in turbulence. As a result of our efforts we not only have a better understanding of each other's work, but have been able to significantly advance our understanding of turbulence. The two archival publications and many presentations during this period benefited greatly from those discussions, and more will be forthcoming.
2. I will work together with Dr Berend van Wachem and Professor William Jones of mechanical engineering to learn the intricacies of numerical analysis and learn to carry it out independently.
I have also worked very closely with Dr van Wachem of mechanical engineering and his PhD student George Malloupas. It was originally intended that our joint work would continue my interest in turbulent jets using the numerical skills of van Wachem and Jones. Very early on it was recognised that my background and knowledge in turbulence could contribute substantially to the efforts of van Wachem and Malloupas to examine the behaviour of small particles in turbulence. Since another secondary objective of the Marie Curie proposed work was to seek 'the opportunity to pursue jointly three new and emerging areas of research', this is exactly what has been done. One conference paper and several presentations (4) have already resulted from this work. Also a journal paper has been submitted for publication about the results, and a second is in preparation. The original intention to carry out a jet analysis has not been abandoned, but only put on the back burner for the moment because of the exciting new particle work.
3. I will work together with Professors Xuesong Wu and John Gibbon of the Mathematics Department to learn their terminology and methodologies for attacking non-linear equations, especially as they exhibit wavelike solutions. As noted in part B1, the particular interest will be whether the new non-linear equations that govern decomposed turbulent shear flows can be attacked in the same (or at least complementary) manner. Can the turbulence 'eddies' we see be described mathematically as propagating solutions of these equations?
This part of the proposed work really never got underway, in part because of the early retirement of professor Gibbon, but also because of the efforts expended on items 1 and 2. Hopefully since WKG is remaining at Imperial as professor emeritus, there will be opportunities to continue this work, especially in relation to the efforts with the Danish Technical University.
Research value objective
The original proposal stated the following:
1. 'The primary research value which would be added from the proposed exchange would be the opportunity to pursue jointly three new and emerging areas of research, both mentioned above. First, to start for the first time a systematic international research programme on the role of initial and upstream conditions in turbulence'.
This has been done. Moreover the recent ERC and Marie Curie PhD programme grants to Vassilicos and the Department of Aeronautics at Imperial are both testimonies as the success of this effort.
2. 'Second, to explore how the turbulence is generated and acquires and / or loses its energy, and how the mean flow profiles are created as a result'.
This has been a major source of discussion among the principles throughout the grant period. A paper proposing an entirely new paradigm for turbulence as been submitted for publication by WKG, and quite predictably rejected. It will be recast and presented at an upcoming meeting on fractal turbulence at U. Poitiers, and ultimately rewritten and resubmitted until it is either published or refuted. The idea of the statistical local equilibrium of the small scale of turbulence is at the core of modern turbulence beliefs, and it is this idea which is being challenged.
3. Third, to exploit the scale similarity of turbulent jets to carry out a direct numerical simulation (DNS) which increases by nearly an order of magnitude present numerical computations.
As noted above this part of the proposed work was put on the back-burner in order to pursue other opportunities. But it has not been abandoned, only postponed.