The James Weir Fluids Lab Group is performing advanced research on the physics of fluids that facilitates new technologies underpinning heat and mass transfer processes, materials science, nanotechnologies and health.
Being both multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary in nature, the considered problems provide the members of the group with boundless opportunities for research with multitude scales ranging from a few nanometers in the field of microfluidics to the several kilometres encountered in the field of environmental fluid mechanics.
Strategic areas of interest
- Heat transfer and thermal convection
- Multiphase and interfacial flows
- Instabilities and turbulence
- Solidification
- Particle dynamics and granular materials
- Microgravity phenomena (for example, Particle Vibration project)
- Non-Newtonian fluids and soft-matter
- Magnetic fluids
- Microfluidics flows
- Rheology of multiphase systems: suspensions, emulsions and foams
- Phase change and solidification
- Flows in porous media
- Biophysics, biofluids and biodevices
Skills
The group members address these challenges through a synergistic approach at the crossroad between experimental fluid mechanics, micro and lab-on-a-chip engineering, computational fluid-dynamics, applied mathematics, computer science, mathematical physics and algorithms of advanced AI.
The major strength of the group is represented by a balanced combination of analytical, computational and experimental techniques by which the considered problems are investigated from both the traditional coarse-grained macroscopic perspective and from a fine-grained micromechanical level.
Group members
| Staff member | Research interests |
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| Professor Lappa’s primary research interests are fluid mechanics, thermal sciences and related computational techniques. Various scientific fields, including (but not limited to) thermal, mechanical and materials engineering, marine, aeronautical and aerospace engineering, organic and inorganic crystal growth, life sciences and many other related fields employ the results of these disciplines. | |
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Dr Oliveira is interested in fluid flows and transport phenomena. Currently, a major part of her research focus on rheology and flow of complex fluids in microscale devices, taking advantage of the unique conditions provided by these small-scale platforms. She has been focusing on the fundamental flow physics of complex fluids in both rheometric and microfluidic devices, but also exploring the distinctive characteristics of complex fluid flows at the micro-scale to design new microfluidic components for extensional rheometry, to develop synthetic biofluid analogues, and to enhance and control microscale mixing. |
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Dr Chaparian’s research focuses on complex fluids & rheology, multiphase flows, and porous media flows. Practically, his research is related to:
Among other positions he has held, he was Sir Anderson Visiting Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Waterloo, Canada in 2024. |
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Dr Capobianchi’s research interests embrace a range of topics related to the dynamics of multiphase flows such as the dynamics of droplets in both Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids, hydrothermal instability and particle dynamics in liquid bridges, multiphase interfacial flows in microfluidics devices and theoretical and numerical modelling of ferrofluid interfacial flows. |