ME and AEP Joint Seminar — Joseph Kuehl

Dr. Joseph Kuehl from Department of Mechanical Engineering at University of Delaware gave a virtual talk titled “Progress on calculating, controlling and understanding hypersonic boundary layer instabilities” on Wednesday, March 2, 2022, 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm HST. Virtual (Zoom): https://hawaii.zoom.us/j/97155806726

Abstract – Over the last decade, significant advances in our understanding of hypersonic boundary layer stability have been made. Many of these advances have come via developments of new experimental capabilities, advances in both computing power and code development, and through flight testing. In this talk, improvements to our understanding based in theoretical advances will be emphasized as well as their relationship with the experimental and computational advances. The discussion will focus on: The recognition that vortex modes evolve along paths defined by the crossflow inflectional profile. The development of a wave packet formulation for the Nonlinear Parabolized Stability Equations method. A thermoacoustic interpretation of second mode instability. A clarification of the fundamental dynamics of first mode instability. Consequences of these advances will be discussed in relationship to multi-mode/mechanism instability physics and nose bluntness effects.

About the Speaker – Joseph Kuehl is an Associate Professor at the University of Delaware in the Mechanical Engineering Department. He holds Ph.D.s in Physical Oceanography and Mechanical Engineering from the Graduate school of Oceanography and University of Rhode Island (2009). His research interests include geophysical fluid dynamics (gap-leaping boundary currents, geophysical boundary layer dynamics and transport phenomena), hypersonic boundary-layer stability (numerical laminar-turbulent transition) and nonlinear vibrations (time series
analysis, modal decomposition techniques and finite time invariant manifold analysis). He was the recipient of the AFOSR Young Investigator Award (2015) for his hypersonic boundary layer stability and transition research, participates in the NATO STO AVT hypersonic vehicle working groups (240, 190, 346) and was a member of the National Academy of Science Committee on Advancing Understanding of the Gulf of Mexico Loop Current Dynamics.

Aerospace Engineering Program in University of Hawaii at Manoa
The Aerospace Engineering Program (AEP) aims to address technological and educational concerns and challenges in aeronautics and space exploration, thereby contributing to the integration of Aerospace Engineering research and education in Hawaii. It supports the recently established Aerospace Engineering Concentration of the COE. This Seminar Series is one of the AEP’s efforts dedicated to disseminating and promoting research and knowledge in a wide range of areas of Aerospace Engineering (http://manoa.hawaii.edu/aeroeng/).