ME 133: Intermediate Fluid Mechanics
This course expands on the introduction to fluid mechanics provided by ME70 (Introductory Fluids Engineering). Topics include the conservation equations and finite volume approaches to flow quantification; engineering applications of the Navier-Stokes equations for viscous fluid flows; flow instability and transition to turbulence, and basic concepts in turbulent flows, including Reynolds averaging; boundary layers, including the governing equations, the integral method, thermal transport, and boundary layer separation; fundamentals of computational fluid dynamics (CFD); basic ideas of one-dimensional compressible flows.
CME 204/ME 300B: Partial Differential Equations in Engineering
Geometric interpretation of partial differential equation (PDE) characteristics; solution of first order PDEs and classification of second-order PDEs; self-similarity; separation of variables as applied to parabolic, hyperbolic, and elliptic PDEs; special functions; eigenfunction expansions; the method of characteristics. If time permits, Fourier integrals and transforms, Laplace transforms.
ME 451B: Advanced Fluid Mechanics Flow Instability
Waves in fluids: surface waves, internal waves, inertial and acoustic waves, dispersion and group velocity, wave trains, transport due to waves, propagation in slowly varying medium, wave steepening, solitons and solitary waves, shock waves. Instability of fluid motion: dynamical systems, bifurcations, Kelvin-Helmholtz instability, Rayleigh-Benard convection, energy method, global stability, linear stability of parallel flows, necessary and sufficient conditions for stability, viscosity as a destabilizing factor, convective and absolute instability. Focus is on flow instabilities.
ME 461: Advanced Topics in Turbulence
Turbulence phenomenology; statistical description and the equations governing the mean flow; fluctuations and their energetics; turbulence closure problem, two-equation turbulence models, and second moment closures; non-local effect of pressure; rapid distortion analysis and effect of shear and compression on turbulence; effect of body forces on turbulent flows; buoyancy-generated turbulence; suppression of turbulence by stratification; turbulent flows of variable density; effect of rotation on homogeneous turbulence; turbulent flows with strong vortices.
AA 113: Aerospace Computational Science
Computational methods are pervasive in analysis, design and optimization of aerospace systems. This course introduces the fundamental concepts underlying aerospace computational science. Starting from the concepts of meshes, elements and point clouds, interpolation, quadrature and time integration, the techniques of finite difference, finite volume and finite element discretization of general PDE problems, and analysis of the accuracy, consistency and stability of discretized problems including treatment of boundary conditions are developed. In depth applications to computations of ideal subsonic, transonic and supersonic flows, and viscous internal and external flow with a turbulence model are introduced.
AA 201A: Fundamentals of Acoustics
Acoustic equations for a stationary homogeneous fluid; wave equation; plane, spherical, and cylindrical waves; harmonic (monochromatic) waves; simple sound radiators; reflection and transmission of sound at interfaces between different media; multipole analysis of sound radiation; Kirchoff integral representation; scattering and diffraction of sound; propagation through ducts (dispersion, attenuation, group velocity); sound in enclosed regions (reverberation, absorption, and dispersion); radiation from moving sources; propagation in the atmosphere and underwater.
AA 201B: Topics in Aeroacoustics
Acoustic equations for moving medium, simple sources, Kirchhoff formula, and multipole representation; radiation from moving sources; acoustic analogy approach to sound generation in compact flows; theories of Lighthill, Powell, and Mohring; acoustic radiation from moving surfaces; theories of Curl, Ffowcs Williams, and Hawkings; application of acoustic theories to the noise from propulsive jets, and airframe and rotor noise; computational methods for acoustics.