Alexander Korobkin

Alexander Korobkin - University of East Anglia, UK

Alexander Korobkin is Professor in Applied Mathematics. He joined the University of East Anglia in 2007. He has made major contributions to theoretical and semi-analytical studies of fluid-structure interaction. He developed several models of water impact and steep wave impact onto offshore. These models were designed to be combined with CFD software with the aim of improving the reliability of the predictions needed for safety assessment studies. The models of sloshing/slamming loads and the response of the rigid/elastic structure proved to be helpful and flexible enough to account for physical effects of primary importance in these impact phenomena. His three-dimensional models of water impact were applied to practical problems in two FP7 projects (2009-2013, 2010-2014) and in the Marie-Curie project on offshore structures interacting with waves (2014-2016). He was awarded the prestigious Weinblum Memorial Lectureships in 2009, the highest award in ship hydrodynamics. He is a member of the editorial boards of two international journals: the Journal of Engineering Mathematics and the Journal of Fluids and Structures. He authored or co-authored three books, six book chapters, more than ninety research papers in archival journals and more than eighty conference technical papers.

Research stay at UC3M: DEPARTMENT OF THERMAL AND FLUIDS ENGINEERING (SEPT 2016 - FEB 2017)

Project:

This 2016 Chair of Excellence research programme will focus on the analysis of the flows near moving contact lines between a fluid and a solid surface, and corresponding hydrodynamic loads when a rigid or flexible plate exits water at large accelerations. This is the so-called cat-lapping problem with important applications to ditching aircraft and high-speed boats. The project is a natural continuation of research performed jointly between Prof. Korobkin and members of the Fluid Mechanics Group of Carlos III University. The project is aimed to include more physical effects (viscosity, surface tension, gravity, cavitation) in the models, making their predictions and results more general. We need to understand and formulate the conditions that will allow us to neglect some of these effects or to argue that these effects play crucial roles. Part of the problem is the lack of knowledge about the conditions that should be applied at the moving contact line between the solid and the fluid. This topic is one of the most challenging open problems in fluid mechanics, that connects this science with other such us material or surface sciences. More specifically, the project will focus on: (a) surface tension and viscous effects in the numerical models of water entry/exit, (b) development of boundary element methods for flexible solid surfaces, (c) testing some theoretical models of water exit against the experiments.