Committee on Fluid Mechanics

Mission statement
The focus of our committee is on fundamental and applied environmental fluid mechanics in support of hydraulic research. Particular emphasis is on the fundamentals of transport and mixing phenomena in turbulent flows such as contaminant transport processes in rivers, lakes and coastal regions, anthropogenic influences (e.g., heat, dissolved and suspended organic/inorganic material) and sediment dynamics. Main focus areas for our committee include:

1. stratified flows (e.g., gravity currents, stratified jets and plumes, internal waves) and flows in rotating fluids, where at larger scales the rotation of the earth becomes relevant;
2.  shallow flows, in which the length scale in one direction (depth) is much smaller than the length scales in the other directions, and for which bed friction affects the development of the large-scale quasi two-dimensional structures;
3. flow and turbulence structure over rough boundaries and porous media, including canopies and vegetation.
4. two-phase laminar and turbulent flows with particular emphasis on sediment transport, high concentration mixtures showing non-Newtonian fluid behavior (e.g., mud slides, debris flows) and gas-water mixture flows caused by air entrainment at high-velocity in hydraulic structures or by cavitating flows.
5. interface problems. The air-water interface on the surface of a water body remains enigmatic, especially concerning the generation, growth, and instabilities of wind waves. Similarly, the water-sediment interface at a stream bed separating turbulent water flow from the behavior of granular media has not been successfully described.  Solid-water interfaces encountered in biological applications (e.g. boundary layers on individual blades of vegetation or coral branches) present another unique challenge.

Major advances are expected over the next couple of years in gaining insights into the dynamics of these flows using state of the art experimental (e.g., particle image velocimetry) and numerical (e.g., direct numerical simulation DNS, large eddy simulation LES, large-scale predictive models) techniques. In particular, this should allow a better understanding of the role played by the large-scale coherent structures and the interactions between these large scales and the three-dimensional turbulence, and of the effect of the large-scale turbulence on bottom friction and morphodynamic processes.

Three of the most important and imminent challenges in environmental fluid mechanics and environmental hydraulics are to understand:

1. to what extent the physics of these flows is dependent on scale effects,
2. how the physics changes between the simpler geometries studied in the laboratory in controlled environments or using DNS/LES simulations and the complex geometries present at field scale,
3. how detailed understanding of the physics of simpler types of flows (e.g., jets, wakes, mixing layers) can result into better predictive analytical models that can be applied for engineering predictions and design.

These challenges also define our long term objectives. Additionally, several challenges remain related to understanding mass exchange processes relevant to hydraulics. For example, concepts such as large-scale eddy diffusivity or hydrodynamic dispersion cannot be rigorously related to the actual flow or solid matrix properties. Empiricism prevails. Advances are urgently needed to provide the tools for the solution of modern hydraulic engineering problems - which are increasingly devoted to the prediction of the transport and deposition of materials in the natural or engineered environment. Double-diffusion is another phenomenon which has not gained needed attention.

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Leadership Team

Chair

Prof. George Constantinescu University of Iowa, Dept. Civil and Environmental Engineering, IIHR - Hydraulics and Engineering, 100 Stanley Hydraulics Lab, IA 52242-1585 Iowa City Tel: +1 319 384 0630 Fax: +1 319 335 5238 E-mail: sconstan@engineering.uiowa.edu

Vice-Chair

Prof. Mohamed Salah Ghidaoui The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Kowloon, 7716 HONG KONG tel +852 2358 7174 fax +852 2358 1534 e-mail ghidaoui@ust.hk

Members

	Prof. Gregory Neil Ivey University of Western Australia School of Environmental Systems Engineering M015 - 35 Stirling Hwy Crawley 6009 AUSTRALIA tel +618 6488 3701 fax +618 6488 1015 e-mail ivey@sese.uwa.edu.au
	Prof. Janos Jozsa Technical University of Budapest Faculty of Civil Engineering Department of Water Resources Engineering Müegyetem rkp. 3, kmf. 8 H-1111 Budapest HUNGARY tel +36 1 463 1164 fax +36 1 463 1879 e-mail jozsa@vit.bme.hu
	Prof. Gregory A. Lawrence University of British Columbia Department of Civil Engineering Vancouver BC V6T 1Z4 CANADA tel +1 (604) 822-5371 fax +1 (604) 822-6901 e-mail lawrence@civil.ubc.ca
	Prof. Heidi Nepf Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering Bldg48, Room 216D 77 Mass Avenue Cambridge MA 02139 UNITED STATES tel +1 617 2538622 fax +1 617 2587009 e-mail hmnepf@mit.edu
	Prof. Michele Mossa University of Bari Via Antonio Lucarelli 6 70124 Bari ITALY tel +39 080 596 3289 fax +39 080 596 3414 e-mail m.mossa@poliba.it
	Dr. Wim Uijttewaal Chair of Experimental Hydraulics Head Fluid Mechanics Laboratory Delft University of Technology Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences P.O. Box 5048 2600 GA Delft The Netherlands Tel +31 15 27 81371 / 81953 Fax +31 15 27 84842 e-mail W.S.J.Uijttewaal@tudelft.nl
	Prof. Harindra Joseph Fernando Wayne and Diana Murdy Endowed Professor Civil Engineering and Geological Sciences Concurrent: Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556 Phone: 574-631-9346 Fax: 574-631-9236 http://www.nd.edu/~dynamics http://nd.edu/~cegeos/people/faculty-pages/fernando

Co-opted members

Prof. Peter Davies (Past Chair) The University of Dundee Department of Civil Engineering Dundee DD1 4HN UNITED KINGDOM tel +44 1382 344 346 fax +44 1382 344 816 e-mail p.a.davies@dundee.ac.uk

Dr. Marcelo García University of Illinois Director of Wen Tech. Hydrosystems Laboratoy Dept. of Civil and Environment Engineering 205 N. Mathews Ave. 41801 Urbana Illinois UNITED STATES tel +1 217 244 4484 e-mail mhgarcia@illinois.edu

Prof. George Christodolou National Technical University of Athens School of Civil Engineering 5 Heroon Polytechniou St., Zografou 15780 Athens GREECE tel +30 210 772 2813 fax +30 210 772 2814 e-mail christod@hydro.ntua.gr

Jayme Pinto Ortiz University of São Paulo Polytechnic School Mechanical Engineering Department Rua Carlos Weber, 757, Apto. 91 Palmeira São Paulo SP CEP 05303-000 BRASIL tel +55 11 3091 5335 / 5476 fax +55 11 3813 1886 e-mail jportiz@usp.br

• 3rd International Symposium on Shallow Flows, 4-6 June 2012, Iowa, USA.
• 7th International Symposium on Stratified Flows (ISSF) 22-26 August 2011, Roma, Italy. issf2011@dicea.uniroma1.it
• 9th International Conference on Hydrodynamics (ICHD) 11-15 October 2010, Shangai, China. Hina Ocean Press.
• 6th International Symposium on Environmental Hydraulics, 25-26 June 2010, Athens, Greece. Published by CRC Press.
• 6th International Symposium on Ultrasonic Doppler Method for Fluid Mechanics and Fluid Engineering (ISUD) 9-11 September 2008, Prague, Czech Republic.
• 5th International Symposium on Environmental Hydraulics (ISEH) 4-7 December 2007, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA Order at our E-SHOP
• 6th International Symposium on Stratified Flows (ISSF) The University of Western Australia, Perth, 11-14 December 2006 (abstracts and CD-ROM)
• 4th International Symposium on Environmental Hydraulics (ISEH) and the 14th Congress of the Asia and Pacific Division of the International Association of Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research. December 15-18, 2004. University of Hong Kong. E-mail: lxwang@iwhr.com
• 6th International Conference on Hydrodynamics (ICHD) 24-26 November 2004, Perth, Western Australia. 1 volume, 678 pp. Contact: ichd04@civil.uwa.edu.au Published by Balkema.
• International Symposium on Shallow Flows (ISSF) 16-18 June 2003, Delft, The Netherlands. Delft University of Technology.
• 3rd International Symposium on Ultrasonic Doppler Methods for Fluid Mechanics and Fluid Engineering (ISUD), EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland, September 9 - 11, 2002
• 2nd International Conference on Waste Water Discharges, September 16-20, 2002, Istanbul, Turkey
• 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Hydraulics (ISEH) with a Special Theme on Urban Fluid Dynamics; Tempe, Arizona, USA; December 5-8, 2001. 1 CD: US$ 30, 2 CDs: US$ 50. E-mail: don.boyer@asu.edu
• 5th International Symposium on Stratified Flows, Vancouver, Canada, July 10-13, 2000. E-mail: lawrence@civil.ubc.ca
• 2nd International Symposium on Environmental Hydraulics (ISEH) Hong Kong, December 16-18, 1998. Published by Balkema
• 4th International Conference on Hydrodynamics (ICHD) Yokohama, Japan, September 7-9, 2000. Prof. K. Suzuki, Dept. of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering, Yokohama National University, Yokohama 240-8501, Japan. E-mail: kaz@mhl.shp.ynu.ac.jp
• 5th International Symposium on Stratified Flows, Vancouver, Canada, July 10-13, 2000. E-mail: lawrence@civil.ubc.ca
• 3rd International Conference on Hydrodynamics (ICHD) Seoul, Korea, 12-15 October 1998. Prof. Seung-Joon Lee, Dept. of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering, College of Engineering, Chungnam National University, 220 Kung-Dong, Yusong-ku, Taejon 305-764, Korea. E-mail: sjlee@naoe.chungnam.ac.kr
• 4th International Symposium on Fluid-Structure Interactions, Aeroelasticity, and Flow-Induced Vibration and Noise, Dallas, USA, November 16-21, 1997. From M.P. Païdoussis, Dept of Mechanical Engineering, McGill University, 817 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal QC, Canada .
• 2nd International Conference on Hydrodynamics (ICHD) Hong Kong, December 16-19, 1996. 1396 pages, 2 volumes. Available from A.A. Balkema Publishers.

Committee Communications

• Minutes Brisbane 2011
• Fluid Mechanics Committee annual report 2010
• Minutes of the Fluid Mechanics Committee Meeting held on 25, August 2003, at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, on the occasion of the 30th IAHR Biennial Congress, August 24-29, 2003.

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