CAREER: Flutter, Tumble and Fall: Extending Maxwell's Problem of the Falling Plate, and Using Sports as an Educational Aid in Science and Engineering

University Of California-San Diego, La Jolla CA

Investigators

Abstract

ABSTRACT CTS-0133978 S. Llewellyn Smith, University of California, San Diego The PI proposes to study three problems related to the generic phenomenon of a body falling in a fluid, a problem first considered by Maxwell in 1853. More specifically the first one is to develop a mathematical model for the vorticity being shed from a falling plate. Two-dimensional flow will be considered in this analytical study. The second one involves the extension of the first problem to a falling flexible plate. In this case, the shape of the flexible body is given as a function of time and it is incorporated in the solution of the problem. The third problem considers the falling body through a stratified fluid, experimental investigation will be made as well as analysis with linear modeling. Numerical simulations of the problem will be made in collaboration with a colleague at San Diego State University. Broader impacts of this research, when extended to three dimensions will include aerospace applications and propagation of seedpods. The education plan is quite novel, the PI plans to use sports to teach science and engineering to undergraduates and high school students. The high school students will be those enrolled in the Preuss School at UCSD, which is chartered under the San Diego Unified School District offering intensive college preparatory education program for low-income students.