Neelesh Patankar
Location: (Evanston, IL (Chicago suburb))
Personal Research Web Page: http://www.mech.northwestern.edu/fac/patankar/
Keywords: Aquatic locomotion, evolution, neuromechanics, animation, super-slippery surface, superhydrophobicity, Lotus effect.
Posted on: Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009
Broad Research Area: Numerical/Scientific Computing / HPC / Data-Intensive Scalable Computing, Theory / Algorithms
Research Interests:
There are two areas of focus currently in my group for which high performance computing is required:
Project 1: We have developed a new efficient numerical approach for fully resolved simulation (FRS) of self-propulsion of variety of aquatic organisms. This has led to many exciting and highly interdisciplinary applications of this tool including understanding the influence of fluid dynamics on fish form and function (including evolution), neuromechanics i.e. how brain controls motion, biomimetic underwater vehicle design, and animation for movie making. Our group has resident expertise in these wide ranging disciplines thus providing a unique opportunity for the potential candidate.
Project 2: It is well-known that skaters easily slide on ice. Similarly, can we engineer technologically relevant materials that are super-slippery to liquids? We have a systematic plan to develop robust low-drag or super-slippery surfaces for liquids. This will be done based on computational studies to design materials and synthesizing these materials by manipulating for the atomic structure of the surface of the solid material for high liquid slip. The potential impact of such surfaces will be profound since liquid flow next to solids walls is ubiquitous in engineering systems. It will provide a transformational advance in energy savings.
Contact Information:
Neelesh A. Patankar
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Northwestern University
2145 Sheridan Road,
Evanston, IL 60208-3111
E-mail: email obfuscated - click to reveal
Phone: 847-491-3021
