Colorful Fluid Dynamics: Behind the Scenes

Phil Roe

Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Michigan, discusses Colorful Fluid Dynamics (CFD), which has become a pervasive mode of investigation into fluid dynamics, and aerodynamics in particular, and how it is important to treat it with the proper mixture of respect and skepticism. This talk will be a backstage tour of CFD. He will cover the history of CFD from the earliest beginnings to the present day. He will show what makes CFD difficult, and describe some of the intellectual breakthroughs that have enabled progress. He will show examples where reliance on CFD can be dangerous, but also describe how CFD can be a source of physical insight. Finally, I will discuss some of the currently active research into CFD methodology, and the effect that it is hoped to have.