The Laboratory for Turbulence and Complex Flow (LTCF) was originally established in the Department of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign by Prof. Ronald J. Adrian (now of Arizona State University). During that time, LTCF established a strong tradition of fundamental research in the areas of wall-bounded turbulent flows, turbulent thermal convection, numerical simulations of turbulence and the development of advanced diagnostics, most notably the widely-used particle-image velocimetry technique. LTCF is now a part of the Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois under the direction of Prof. Kenneth T. Christensen and its members continue to pursue fundamental experimental research in a variety of areas of fluid mechanics, including turbulent flows, transport phenomena at the microscale and biomedical flows. Our present interests include the structure of wall-bounded turbulent flows, the impact of highly-irregular roughness on turbulent boundary layers, polymer-induced turbulence modifications in impinging jets, transition to turbulence at the microscale and the development of advanced diagnostics for the study of thermal transport at the microscale.

Recent LTCF News

»Manuscript entitled "Spatial Structure of a Turbulent Boundary Layer with Irregular Surface Roughness" by Wu and Christensen accepted for publication in Journal of Fluid Mechanics. (2/18/10)

»Manuscript entitled "Non-Intrusive Measurements of Convective Heat Transfer in Smooth- and Rough-Wall Microchannels. Part I: Laminar Flow" by Natrajan and Christensen accepted for publication in Experiments in Fluids. (2/1/10)

»Manuscript entitled "Low-Order Representations of Irregular Surface Roughness and Their Impact on a Turbulent Boundary Layer" by Mejia-Alvarez and Christensen appears in January 2010 issue of Physics of Fluids. (1/14/10)

»Manuscript entitled "Particle-Image Velocimetry Study of a Pediatric Ventricular Assist Device" by Prof. Christensen and collaborators at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil accepted for publication in ASME Journal of Biomechanical Engineering. (12/26/09)

»Manuscript entitled "The Impact of Surface Roughness on Flow Through a Rectangular Microchannel from the Laminar to Turbulent Regimes" by Natrajan and Christensen accepted for publication in Microfluidics and Nanofluidics. (10/15/09)

»LTCF graduate student Vinay Natrajan successfully defended his PhD dissertation and is now a Senior Consultant at Multiphase Solutions, Inc. in Houston, TX. Congratulations, Vinay! (9/4/09)

»A team of 8 Illinois faculty led by Prof. Christensen selected to receive a Major Research Instrumentation grant from the National Science Foundation to develop a large-scale refractive-index matched flow facility for studies of turbulent flows near and within complex surfaces and models as well as particulate flows. (9/1/09)

»Manuscript entitled "Turbulent Flow Over Low-Order Models of Highly-Irregular Surface Roughness" by Johnson and Christensen appears in May 2009 issue of AIAA Journal. (4/21/09)

»Prof. Christensen named a recipient of a 2009 Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DURIP) grant through AFOSR for the purchase of a high-frame-rate stereo PIV system. (3/9/09)

»Manuscript entitled "Structural Characteristics of Transition to Turbulence in Microscale Capillaries" by Natrajan and Christensen appears in March 2009 issue of Physics of Fluids. (1/23/09)

»Manuscript entitled "Turbulent Flow Over Low-Order Models of Highly-Irregular Surface Roughness" by Johnson and Christensen accepted for publication in AIAA Journal. (1/5/09)

»Manuscript entitled "Two-Color Laser-Induced Fluorescent Thermometry for Microfluidic Systems" by Natrajan and Christensen appears in the January 2009 issue of Measurement Science and Technology. (11/13/08)

»Contributions entitled "Fluorescent Thermometry" and "Methods for Temperature Measurement" by Natrajan and Christensen appear in the Encyclopedia of Microfluidics and Nanofluidics edited by D. Li and published by Springer-Verlag. (9/1/08)

»LTCF graduate student Yanhua (Felix) Wu successfully defended his PhD dissertation and has accepted an Assistant Professor position in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Wright State University beginning in September 2008. Congratulations, Felix! (5/13/08)

»Prof. Christensen named a recipient of an NSF CAREER Award. (2/6/07)

»Prof. Christensen named a recipient of an AFOSR Young Investigator Award. (10/3/06)