Hof Group
Nonlinear Dynamics and Turbulence
Most fluid flows of practical interest are turbulent, yet our understanding of this phenomenon is very limited. The Hof group seeks to gain insight into the nature of turbulence and the dynamics of complex fluids.
Flows in oceans, around vehicles, and through pipelines are all highly turbulent. Turbulence governs friction losses and transport and mixing properties. Despite its ubiquity, insights into the nature of turbulence are very limited. To obtain a fundamental understanding of the origin and the principles underlying this phenomenon, the Hof group investigates turbulence when it first arises from smooth, laminar flow. The group combines detailed laboratory experiments with highly resolved computer simulations, and applies methods from nonlinear dynamics and statistical physics, enabling them to decipher key aspects of the transition from smooth to turbulent flow, and identify universal features shared with disordered systems in other areas of physics. Some of these insights can be used to control turbulent flow, and the group actively develops such methods. In addition, the group investigates instabilities in fluids with more complex properties, such as dense suspensions of particles, polymer solutions and blood flow.
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Team
Current Projects
Revisiting the turbulence problem using statistical mechanics | Transition from laminar to turbulent flow | Dynamics of complex fluids | Control of fully turbulent flows | Cytoplasmic streaming | Instabilities in cardiovascular flows
Publications
Klotz L, Pavlenko AM, Wesfreid JE. 2021. Experimental measurements in plane Couette-Poiseuille flow: Dynamics of the large- and small-scale flow. Journal of Fluid Mechanics. 912, A24. View
Avila K, Hof B. 2021. Second-order phase transition in counter-rotating taylor-couette flow experiment. Entropy. 23(1), 58. View
Shamipour S. 2020. Bulk actin dynamics drive phase segregation in zebrafish oocytes . IST Austria. View
Paranjape CS, Duguet Y, Hof B. 2020. Oblique stripe solutions of channel flow. Journal of Fluid Mechanics. 897, A7. View
Suri B, Kageorge L, Grigoriev RO, Schatz MF. 2020. Capturing turbulent dynamics and statistics in experiments with unstable periodic orbits. Physical Review Letters. 125(6), 064501. View
Career
since 2013 Professor, IST Austria
2007 – 2013 Research Group Leader, Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Göttingen, Germany
2005 – 2007 Lecturer, University of Manchester, UK
2003 – 2005 Research Associate, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands
2001 PhD, University of Manchester, UK
Selected Distinctions
2019 Simons Foundation Grant
2017 Fellow, American Physical Society (APS)
2012 ERC Consolidator Grant
2011 Dr. Meyer Struckmann Science Prize
2005 RCUK Fellowship