Fluid simulation at unprecedented scale provides toolkit for fundamental physics and applied fluid engineering

Fluid simulation at unprecedented scale provides toolkit for fundamental physics and applied fluid engineering

What governs the speed at which raindrops fall, sediment settles in river estuaries, and matter is ejected during a supernova? These questions circle around one, deceitfully simple factor: the rate at which a fluid filled with particles mixes with a particle-free one. Raindrops travel from one layer of air to another; sediment falls from river to seawater, and ejecta travels from the exploding star through the surrounding dust cloud. The same pr…

How Quickly Does Smoke Rise, Rain Fall, and a Supernova Explode?

Understanding the dynamics of particle-laden fluids remains one of the most challenging frontiers in fluid mechanics, with implications stretching across environmental science, astrophysics, and engineering. Recent advances by an international team of researchers reveal a groundbreaking computational approach that elucidates how particles such as raindrops, sediment, or stellar ejecta mix with their surrounding fluids. This novel insight not onl…