Charles Meneveau (born 1960) is a French-Chilean born American fluid dynamicist, known for his work on turbulence, including turbulence modeling and computational fluid dynamics.
Charles Meneveau, the Louis M. Sardella Professor in Mechanical Engineering and an associate director of the Institute for Data Intensive Engineering and Science (IDIES) at the Johns Hopkins University, focuses his research on understanding and modeling hydrodynamic turbulence, and on complexity in fluid mechanics in general. He combines computational, theoretical and experimental tools for his research, with an emphasis on the multiscale aspects of turbulence, using tools such as subgrid-scale modeling, downscaling techniques, and fractal geometry, and applications to Large Eddy Simulation (LES). He pioneered the use of the Lagrangian dynamic procedure for sub-grid scale modeling in large-eddy simulation (LES) of turbulence. His recent work includes the use of LES for wind-energy-related applications and the development of the Johns Hopkins Turbulence Database for sharing large-scale datasets from high-fidelity computational fluid dynamics calculations.
Education
1989: Ph.D. in mechanical engineering, Yale University, May 1989
1988: Master of Philosophy, Yale University, 1988
1987: Master of Science, Yale University, 1987
1985: B.S. in mechanical engineering, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Valparaíso (Chile), 1985
His Ph.D. advisor was K. R. Sreenivasan and his thesis was on the multi-fractal nature of small-scale turbulence. At Yale he was also informally co-advised by B. B. Mandelbrot.
Career and research
Meneveau's postdoctoral position was at the Stanford University/NASA-Ames's Center. He has been on the faculty of the Johns Hopkins University since 1990. His main appointment is in the Department of Mechanical Engineering with secondary appointments in the Departments of Environmental Health and Engineering and Physics and Astronomy.
Professor Meneveau’s research is focused on understanding and modeling hydrodynamic turbulence, and complexity in fluid mechanics in general. Special emphasis is placed on the multiscale aspects of turbulence, using tools such as subgrid-scale modeling, downscaling techniques, and fractal geometry. Applications of the results to Large Eddy Simulation (LES) have facilitated applications of LES to engineering, environmental and geophysical flow phenomena. Currently Meneveau is focused on applications of LES to wind energy and wind farm fluid dynamics, on developing advanced wall models for LES, on modeling oil dispersion in the ocean, as well as on building “big-data” tools to share the very large data sets that arise in computational fluid dynamics with broad constituencies of scientists and engineers around the world
Among Meneveau’s main contributions are advances to turbulence modeling and large eddy simulations. The advances were made possible by elucidating the properties of the small-scale motions in turbulent flows and applying the new insights to the development of advanced subgrid-scale models, such as the Lagrangian dynamic model. This model has been implemented in various research and open source CFD codes (e.g. OpenFoam) and expanded the applicability of Large Eddy Simulations to complex-geometry flows of engineering and environmental interest, where prior models could not be used.
Among the application areas of Large Eddy Simulation being pursued in Meneveau’s group is the study of complex flows in large wind farms. Using the improved simulation tools as well as wind tunnel tests, Meneveau and his colleagues identified the important process of vertical entrainment of mean flow kinetic energy into an array of wind turbines. This research has clarified the mechanisms limiting wind plant performance at a time when there is enormous growth in wind farms. The research has led to new engineering models that will allow for better designed wind farms thus increasing their economic benefit and helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels.