Turbulent Flows in Soap Film, Yuna Hattori

Speaker: Yuna Hattori, Fluid Mechanics (Chakraborty) Unit

Title: Turbulent Flows in Soap Film

Abstract:  My research interest is the motion of fluids, most of which are in a fluctuating, disordered state called turbulence. My PhD focuses on two-dimensional (2D) turbulence. This is interesting for its own sake, but it is also useful for understanding atmospheric and oceanic turbulence, which at very large length scales behave two-dimensioanlly. For this I use the gravity-driven soap film, which is a well-established experimental setup for investigating 2D flows. Just as with atmospheric or oceanic 2D flow, the soap film interacts with the 3D environment in which it is embedded. In a soap-film flow, the interaction with the surrounding air engenders drag, which has never before been directly measured. I measure the movement of the air around the film by seeding the air with oil droplets, whose motion we track using Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV). This yields the velocity profile in the air, with which we compute the drag on the soap film. Besides addressing a fundamental question in laboratory 2D flows, my work also has implications for understanding the interaction between the atmosphere and ocean surface currents.

After the seminar join us for discussion with free pizza and drinks! Looking forward to seeing you there!