Flow Control w/ Metamaterial

What’s This About?

Flow control is a fundamental challenge in aerospace engineering, particularly in reducing drag, noise, and flow instabilities in high-speed regimes. Traditional methods for controlling boundary-layer instabilities and shock waves rely on passive or active flow modification techniques. In contrast, metamaterials offer a tunable, physics-driven approach to manipulating fluid–structure interactions, enabling precise wave control and aerodynamic performance.

Why Does It Matter?

Our approach leverages metamaterials for broadband frequency isolation, introducing a transformative paradigm in flow control with key applications in:

• Sustainable Aviation – Suppressing flow instabilities to reduce drag, fuel consumption, and aerodynamic inefficiencies.
• Hypersonic Flight – Engineering materials that interact with shock waves, enhancing vehicle stability and control under extreme conditions.
• Noise Reduction – Developing adaptive flow-control materials to minimize turbulence-induced noise and optimize performance in next-generation air vehicles.

By integrating fluid–structure interactions with advanced metamaterial physics, we aim to design smart, tunable subsurface metamaterials that dynamically respond to changing flow conditions, leading to significant improvements in aerodynamic efficiency.

What We’re Working on Right Now

Our research combines experimental and computational approaches to investigate the role of structured metamaterials in flow control, in collaboration with experts in aerodynamics and fluid–structure interactions. Current projects include:

✔️ Metamaterial-Driven Boundary Layer Control – Developing subsurface phononic crystals and metasurfaces to suppress instability growth and delay turbulence onset.

✔️ Hypersonic Flow Interaction with Metamaterials – Designing and testing engineered prototypes under high-speed flow conditions to study their effect on shock wave control and flow stability.

✔️ Tunable Subsurface Metamaterials – Exploring adaptive materials that actively respond to flow conditions, enabling real-time aerodynamic optimization.

Want to Join Us?

We are looking for a motivated graduate student to join our cutting-edge research at the intersection of fluid mechanics and metamaterials. This opportunity provides hands-on experience in:

✔️ Wave Propagation in Materials – Investigating wave behavior under aerodynamic loading to enhance flow control and instability mitigation.
🚀 Computational Fluid Dynamics & Simulations – Analyzing fluid–structure interactions and flow instabilities in metamaterial-based systems.
🛠 Experimental Techniques – Designing, fabricating, and testing subsurface metamaterials in wind tunnel and hypersonic flow environments.

If you’re excited about advancing aerodynamic control through metamaterials, let’s discuss how you can contribute! 🚀