DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
WILLIAM MAXWELL REED SEMINAR SERIES
Turbulence and Energetic Reactive Flows
Elaine S. Oran
Department of Aerospace Engineering
University of Maryland
Abstract: The most complex and difficult problems in fluid dynamics involve transitions among what seem to be
relatively stable states. In turn, one of the most complex and intriguing sequences of fluid transitions is the series of
changes in the behavior of an energetic reactive flow that occurs as a small spark, often ignited quite accidentally,
evolves into a powerful supersonic wave, a detonation. These reactive-flow transitions are critical elements in the
working of systems ranging from engines for propulsion, to accidental fuel explosions, to explosions of thermonuclear
supernova, and arguably to the primal explosion that created the universe. In this presentation, we will use results from
a combination of numerical simulations of unsteady, multidimensional, compressible reactive flows, theoretical
analyses, laboratory experiments, and even devastating large-scale accidents in an attempt to determine when and how
such transitions occur. Here we emphasize the essential interactions of shocks and turbulence when energy is released
locally into the fluid system.
Bio: Elaine S. Oran is Glenn L. Martin Institute Professor at the University of Maryland and Professor of Aerospace
Engineering. She also holds a position at the University of Maryland in Mechanical Engineering and Fire Protection
Engineering, and is emerita Senior Scientist for Reactive Flow Physics at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL). She
received an A.B. in chemistry and physics from Bryn Mawr College and both a M.Ph. in Physics and a Ph.D. in
Engineering and Applied Science from Yale University. Her recent research topics include: chemically reactive flows,
turbulence, numerical analysis, high-performance computing and parallel architectures, shocks and shock interactions,
rarefied gases, and microfluidics, with applications to combustion, propulsion, astrophysical explosions, and microsensor design. In addition to her positions at the University of Maryland and NRL, she is currently an adjunct professor
of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Michigan and a visiting professor at Leeds University. She is a member
of the National Academy of Engineering, an Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and
Astronautics, and a Fellow of the American Physical Society, the Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics, and
the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. She has received honorary doctorates from Ecole Central de Lyon and
Leeds University, as well as a number of prizes and medals for technical work, including the Zeldovich Gold Medal of
the Combustion Institute and the Fluid Dynamics Prize of the American Physical Society.
Date: March 11, 2016
Time: 3:00p to 4:00p
Place: CB 106
Contact: Dr. Alexandre Martin 257-4462
Meet the speaker and have refreshments
Attendance open to all interested persons
DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY
LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY