I: Motivation and Fundamentals

The course begins with a general motivation to the study of Fluid Dynamical Systems, by introducing their fundamental concepts and illustrating their relevance to a wide spectrum of scientific, engineering and operational challenges.

II: Classical Fluid Dynamics

The classical part of the course builds on basic knowledge in Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics to formulate the basic principles governing fluid flow.
The notion of fluid is then revisited and generalised to a broad class of systems, paving the way for an integrated treatment of fluid-structure interactions with overarching span.

III: Fluid Dynamical Systems

Fluid Dynamical Systems are then formulated in the light of Dynamical Systems theories, providing an intuitive yet rigorous treatment of complexity in a simple, coherent framework, shedding light over empirical Classical Fluid Dynamics, and providing a physical background to stochastic behaviour and uncertainties in complex fluid regimes.

IV: Real-World Applications

Real-world applications are presented for natural and built environments, along with their interactions, relevant for engineering design and decision support in the wake of hydro-meteorological hazards and fluid-structure interaction challenges in a coevolutionary world. The course is concluded with frontier topics on fluid dynamical systems ranging from quantum mechanical to cosmological applications.

TAKE-HOME MESSAGES:

• Unify complex fluid laws into a simple, overarching framework
• Understand dynamical regimes, transitions, and extreme events 
• Find the order in chaos for improved understanding and prediction 
• Real-world applications for engineering design and decision support

A more detailed program is found here.

Course Coordinator: Rui A. P. Perdigão