GDR MePhy

A two-year post-doctoral position in Experimental Fluid Mechanics focused on the transition to disordered front propagation is available in the School of Physics & Astronomy at the University of Manchester with a starting date of 1st January 2018 and an application deadline of 19/08/2017.

Enquiries to anne.juel@manchester.ac.uk. Full details and applications on
https://www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk/displayjob.aspx?jobid=13735

A postdoctoral Research Associate position is available to conduct experimental research on the instabilities of fluid interfaces in narrow gaps. The research project, Transition to disordered front propagation, is funded by EPSRC. The overall aim is to extend the modern dynamical systems approach, as recently used to develop understanding of the transition to turbulence in shear flows, to help explain the transition to disorder in an entirely different flow: Saffman-Taylor fingering in a Hele-Shaw channel. In shear flow turbulence, a key theoretical concept is the interpretation of localised turbulent puffs as edge states, weakly unstable states with a stable manifold that determines the basin boundary separating initial conditions decaying to laminar flow from those growing to turbulence. The fundamental hypothesis to be investigated in this project is that (known) unstable solutions of the Saffman-Taylor flow are edge states that underlie both the transition from the steadily propagating Saffman-Taylor finger to the experimentally observed complex patterns, and the dynamics of the patterns themselves. The quasi-two-dimensional Saffman-Taylor fingering problem is particularly amenable to experimental investigation because in further contrast to turbulence, the flow is at very low Reynolds number so that nonlinearities only occur at the interface.

You should have, or be working towards, a PhD or equivalent in a relevant area of Physics, Applied Mathematics or Engineering. Expertise in fluid mechanics and stability theory are essential, as well as having demonstrated creative experimental skills in fluids or soft matter research. Knowledge of free surface flows and modern theories of transition to turbulence in shear flows is also desirable. You should be capable of working under your own initiative and leading a small research team, so excellent communication and organisational skills are required.

The University of Manchester values a diverse workforce and welcomes applications from all sections of the community.

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Prof Anne Juel
Manchester Centre for Nonlinear Dynamics and School of Physics & Astronomy, University of Manchester, UK
tel: +44 161 2754071, office: G.08 (Schuster Buliding)
email: anne.juel@manchester.ac.uk
 www.maths.manchester.ac.uk/~ajuel