ENVIRONMENTAL FLUID MECHANICS
University of Texas at Austin, Department of Civil, Architectural & Environmental Engineering
 
 

What is Environmental Fluid Mechanics?

This is a little bit like the proverbial elephant and the blind men - your perception may depend on what part you grab!. Broadly speaking, EFM is the study of fluid flows in surface water, ground water, and the atmosphere as well as engineered systems that are used in waste-water treatment or bio-remediation. In effect, EFM is the nexus of fluid mechanics from several disciplines: "classical" fluid mechanics (i.e. mechanical engineering fluids), civil engineering hydraulics, meterology, oceanography, limnology, and environmental engineering. Note, some people prefer "Environmental Fluid Dynamics" to "EF Mechanics", but the distinction is fairly minor. <more info>

 

April 2006: Recently published paper shows the problems of hydrostatic models when representing internal waves < abstract >

The 4th edition of Pet peeves, bêtes noires and just plain bad writing in journal papers, theses and dissertations may be found here < pdf file > (123 kb)

April 2006: New graduate class in Field Instrumentation and Data Analysis in Environmental Fluid Mechanics. This summer (2006) I'm teaching a new class for graduate students providing hands-on experience with collecting data in Lake Travis and using Matlab for data analysis.

March 2006: Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU). I'm part of an NSF-sponsored REU summer program in Integrated Environmental Sciences. Look < here > for more info.

Dec 2005: Big news! (at least for me) The tribe didn't vote me off the island - I was granted tenure and promotion to Associate Professor, effective Sept. 2006. Now if there was only a million dollar jackpot...

Dec 2005: Dr. Jordan Furnans has finished his Ph.D. The technical report based on his dissertation is found here < pdf file > (2.5 Mb). A shorter web abstract is < here >

July 2005: I'm on Skype - a free internet VoiP that can be used to call anywhere in the world. Check out Skype. I use Skype to discuss work with colleagues in Europe and New Zealand.

Summer 2005: The SCAMP is < here >. We've started field studies in Corpus Christi Bay.

June 2005: Excellent participation at Free Surface Flows in McMat 2005. Thanks again to all the made this work. We'll be planning another session at USNCTAM 2006 in Boulder.

Feb 2005: The session on Fate and Transport of Nutrients and Contaminants at ASLO Aquatic Sciences was awesome! Thanks to all that participated. Special thanks to Carolyn Oldham and Diane McKnight for their invited lectures.

Spring 2005: Dr. Bridget Wadzuk (my former student) is now an assistant professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering at Villanova University.

Dec 2004: Technical Report on Hydrostatic and Non-Hydrostatic Internal Waves (4 Mb) < pdf file >

Personal web page - and a memorial to the late Earl Hodges

 

Who am I?

I'm Ben R. Hodges, an associate professor of civil engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. My full academic c.v. is here.

... cool picture of recent work

Some field data taken in Corpus Christi Bay where a gravity current exits from Oso Bay. The data was taken with a Eureka Manta probe. More info is on the < project page > and the < field page >. This work was done with the collaboration and financial support of the Texas Water Development Board. Interpreting and modeling data such as these are key aspects of my research.

... what part of the EFM elephant have I grabbed?

My interests are in the fundamentals of fluid dynamics in the natural environment. My most recent focus is in environmental fluid mechanics for lake, river and estuary flows, with an emphasis on hydrodynamics and transport processes that influence water quality. I have principally been involved in development and application of numerical models (i.e. computational fluid dynamics), but have also worked in the laboratory (my M.S. research and teaching), and am currently building a field research program.

... what is one thing that characterizes my work?

As a post-doc at the Centre for Water Research (CWR), University of Western Australia, I was the principle author of the CWR Estuary and Lake Computer Model (CWR ELCOM). This is presently being used by a number of research teams throughout the world. <more info>

... what is that movie in the upper left-hand corner?

This is a model of an internal wave in an enclosed basin that has evolved into a propagating bore. The initial condition was a simple cosine displacement of the density interface.

... what are common mistakes in scientific/engineering writing?

Good science and good engineering requires good writing. Until you clearly communicate your solution, the problem is not solved. My students sometimes cringe when they get my comments on their writing. As I found myself often repeating the same stylistic points (such as - a good sentence only has one 'and'), I put together a brief list of key problems. Unfortunately, students constantly create new and clever ways to abuse the English language, so the not-so-brief list keeps growing. The latest version is < here >.

... what cool stuff is going on?

My research group is expanding into field work with the recent purchase of a Self-Contained Autonomous Microstructure Profiler (aka SCAMP). We're trying to get a better understanding of how salinity stratification in Corpus Christi Bay leads to hypoxia (low oxygen) near the bottom.

.. and who am I not?

Googling yourself provides an interesting perspective on life. Meet some of the other Ben Hodges.

 

Go <here> for my list of links

Go <here> for my research papers

Research Experiences for Undergraduates

Tips on good writing

CWR-ELCOM

ELCOM papers

Hodges' papers

c.v. for Ben R. Hodges

links to other people

Call for Papers on Free Surface Flows - US National Congress of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics

Seminars and presentations

Archive


... here's the bottom line on EFM

The principle difference between general fluid mechanics and environmental fluid mechanics (IMHO) is the importance of density stratification.

 

©2006 Ben R. Hodges • last updated September 25, 2006

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