Fluid Dynamics Lab People

Professor Alfonso A. Castrejon-Pita BSc, MSc, MA (Oxf) DPhil (Oxf)

Group Leader, Royal Society University Research Fellow and Associate Professor in Fluid Mechanics Fellow, Wadham College.

Prof. A. A. Castrejon-Pita obtained his D.Phil. in Physics at the University of Oxford, funded by a prestigious Dorothy Hodgkin Postgraduate award. His research was centred on experimental and theoretical studies of synchronization phenomena in fluid dynamics in the context of geophysical flows. This was followed by a postdoctoral position in the same laboratory funded by NERC (Natural Environment Research Council, UK) on the experimental demonstration of chaos synchronization in mutually coupled fluid flows, with greater implications to atmospheric dynamics such as weather forecast. From April 2011 to September 2013 he was a Research Associate at the University of Cambridge, and a Researcher at St. John’s College, where he redirected his research towards a better understanding of the dynamics of small-scale free surface flows. Prof. Castrejon-Pita was awarded a Royal Society University Research Fellowship in October 2013 which he holds at the University of Oxford, where is also a Fellow of Wadham College. In Oxford, he established the Fluid Dynamics Laboratory for the study of drops and liquid jets. He also supervises the research of MEng, MSc(R) and DPhil students in the the Department and in College.

Members

Ellis Parry (DPhil, St. John’s College). Ellis’ work is focussed around the development of bespoke droplet generators and the inkjet printing of complex fluids. He works in tandem with Prof. Stephen Morris (Soft Matter Photonics group) to develop novel liquid crystal, inkjet printed, photonic devices and is a MERCK CASE scholarship student. When he is not printing you can often find Ellis up a mountain or in the pub.

Cristian Soitu (DPhil. Harris Manchester College, Oxford). Cristian received his MEng in Mechanical Engineering from University of Aberdeen in 2016 with a research focus on stochastic methods for fluid flow simulation. His current research is trying to exploit the dominance of interfacial forces at the microscale to develop a microfluidic platform that accommodates cell- and organism-based assays in biology. He is co-supervised by Prof. E. Walsh.

Jack McCarthy (DPhil. St. Cross College, Oxford) For his Bachelor’s degree, Jack studied Mathematical Sciences at the University of Limerick. It was under the guidance of Prof. Stephen O’Brien that he first encountered capillary phenomena. From Limerick he came to Oxford where he completed an MSc in Mathematical Modelling and Scientific Computing. He is interested in the broad areas of fluid mechanics and soft matter physics especially mechanical phenomena that occur on everyday length scales. For his DPhil he is working on droplet motion driven by energy minimisation on complex surfaces theoretically and experimentally and evaporation of drops on complex surfaces. In his spare time he enjoys many pursuits, including chess, badminton, philosophy and going to orchestral music concerts around Oxford. However, much of this free time is now occupied by learning piano. He is co-supervised by Prof. D. Vella from the Mathematical Institute.

Benjamin Fudge (DPhil, Wadham College, Oxford). Ben Fudge is from Bristol England and is currently working towards an MEng in Engineering Science at the University of Oxford investigating Mixing of Turbulent Shear Layers with PIV analysis. Ben was also previously an EPSRC funded vacation Research Intern in the Fluid Dynamics Lab investigating Droplet Generation by Direct Surface Perturbation and on the Development of a Novel Matlab Routine to Measure Dynamic Contact Angles. He is now a DPhil student in the group working on the dynamics of splashing in a variety on contexts using both high-definition numerical simulations and high-speed laboratory experiments.

Waqas Kamal (DPhil, Exeter College). Waqas is based jointly in the Soft Matter Photonics Group and the Fluid Dynamics Group. His current research is to deposit liquid crystals droplets by using advanced printing technologies for the realization of photonic devices. He is also a graduate member at Exeter College.

Alva Orr  (DPhil, Queen's College). Alva finished their MPhys in Trinity 2019. Their final project was co-supervised by Prof. Castrejon-Pita and Prof. P Read (AOPP-Physics) on the experimental realisation of the atmospheric QBO. They joined the Fluids Lab in MT2019 to work on the dynamics of Liquid Crystals in confined geometries driven by surface tension. Their research involves experimentation and numerical simulations.

Academic Visitors:

Prof. Heliodoro Gonzalez (University of Seville, Spain) Summer 2015

Francisco Jose Gomez (PhD, University of Seville Seville) Summer 2015

Prof. Eduardo Ramos (IER-UNAM, Mexico) RAEng Newton Fund Partnership Summer 2015. Back in Mexico!

Prof. Francisco Javier Garcia-Garcia (University of Seville), July 2018

Prof. Mathieu Sellier (University Canterbury, NZ), October 2018-December 2018.

Mr. Jorge Chavarrias (PhD student at UNAM, Mexico), June 2018-December 2018.

Dr. Saul Piedra (CIDESI-Mexico), November 2018 and January 2020.

Mr. Thomas Sykes (PhD at University of Leeds), January 2019.

Prof. Arnaud Antkoviak (UPMC/Sorbonne - Paris), April 2019

Arthur Walbecq (ENS de Lyon), Summer 2019

Former Members

Dr. Juan Arcenegui-Troya (PhD University of Seville). Juan is now a PDRA at the University of Seville

Dr. Graham Benham (DPhil in Applied Mathematics), May 2016-July 2018. Now a Postdoc at DAMPT, Paris.

William Dick-Cleland (MEng, Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford). 2017/2018.

Will Wheeler (MEng, Christ Church College) 2016/2017, now at Expeditions Engineering Ltd.

Emilie Benedicte Monique Raguin (ENS TA ParisTech) Summer 2016

Dr. Emilio J. Vega R. (University of Extremadura) Summer 2016. Academic Visitor

Benjamin Fudge (Wadham, Oxford) Summer 2016. EPSRC Vacation Bursary Student. Now DPhil at Oxford.

Christopher Howland (MMath, Trinity College ) Summer 2015. Now a PhD student at DAMTP, Cambridge.

John Hendrick (MEng, St Catherine College, 2015/2016).Now at Glaxo Smith Kline

Dongjin Kim (MEng. Jesus College, 2015/2016).

Daniel Zajarias-Fainsod (MSc. (Res), Wadham College) 2014-2016, Now at Rambam Health Care Campus, Israel Institute of Technology

Ahmed Said (PhD, University of Seville Seville) Summer 2015. Now Postdoc at Queen Mary University of London

Cindy Chen (MEng, Lady Margaret Hall) 2014-2015

Nicholas Jones (MEng, Jesus College) 2014-2015. Now at EDF Energy