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. 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 pursue fundamental experimental research in a variety of areas of fluid mechanics, including turbulent flows, transport phenomena at the microscale and flows of geophysical significance. Our present interests include the structure of wall-bounded turbulent flows, the impact of highly-irregular roughness on turbulent boundary layers, transition to turbulence at the microscale, the fluid mechanics of geological carbon dioxide sequestration, flow over barchan dunes, turbulent boundary layers overlying porous and rough walls, and the development of novel flow facilities and diagnostics that facilitate the study of these complex flow systems. Our research in funded by the National Science Foundation, various agencies in DOD as well as industry and involves collaboration with a diverse set of researchers from aerospace engineering, civil and environmental engineering, materials science, geology and oceanography not only at Illinois but also from many institutions across the world.

Recent LTCF News

»Prof. Christensen appointed Associate Head for Mechanics Programs in the Mechanical Science and Engineering Department at Illinois. (8/10/12)

»Prof. Christensen promoted to Full Professor. (5/18/12)

»Prof. Christensen appointed to the Editorial Advisory Board of Experiments in Fluids effective July 2012. (5/21/12)

»Prof. Christensen awarded the 2012 Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research from the College of Engineering at the University of Illinois. (2/17/12)

»Manuscript entitled "Polymer-Induced Turbulence Modificications in an Impinging Jet" by Mejia-Alvarez and Christensen accepted for publication to Experiments in Fluids. (12/1/11)

»Prof. Christensen and LTCF alum Dr. Ricardo Mejia-Alvarez awarded the 2011 François Frenkiel Award for Fluid Mechanics from the American Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics based upon their article entitled "Low-Order Representations of Irregular Surface Roughness and Their Impact on a Turbulent Boundary Layer" published in the January 2010 issue of Physics of Fluids. (11/30/11)

»Prof. Christensen appointed Kritzer Faculty Scholar in the Mechanical Science and Engineering Department at Illinois. (9/29/11)

»Manuscript entitled "Modeling Cumulative Damage to a Flow Surface and Assessing its Impact on Wall Turbulence" by Licari and Christensen appears in October 2011 issue of AIAA Journal. (9/23/11)

»Manuscript entitled "Non-Intrusive Measurements of Transitional and Turbulent Convective Heat Transfer in a Rectangular Microchannel" by Natrajan and Christensen appears in the August 2011 issue of Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering. (6/27/11)

»Prof. Christensen awarded an Arnold O. Beckman Research Award from the University of Illinois Campus Research Board. These Beckman Awards are reserved for "research projects of special distinction, special promise, or special resource value." (5/17/11)

»Prof. Christensen appointed to the Editorial Board of Measurement Science and Technology. (4/19/11)

»Manuscript entitled "Particle-Image Velocimetry Measurements of Flow over Interacting Barchan Dunes" by Palmer, Mejia-Alvarez, Best and Christensen accepted for publication in a special invited issue in Experiments in Fluids commemorating the 15th International Symposium on Applications of Laser Techniques to Fluid Mechanics (July 2010; Lisbon, Portugal). (4/15/11)

»LTCF alum Dr. Vinay Natrajan was named the recipient of the Weiss Award for Outstanding Thesis in the Theoretical and Applied Mechanics Ph.D. Program for the period 2009-2010. Congratulations, Vinay! (4/8/11)

»Prof. Christensen appointed Fluid Dynamics Track Chair for the 2012 AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting to be held in Nashville, TN. (1/6/11)

»The recent rough-wall turbulence research of Prof. Christensen and LTCF alum Dr. Ricardo Mejia-Alvarez highlighted in Aerospace America's "Year in Review" article in the December 2010 issue. (12/15/10)

»LTCF graduate student Blake Johnson recently passed his PhD preliminary exam. Congratulations, Blake! (12/15/10)

»LTCF graduate student Ricardo Mejia-Alvarez successfully defended his PhD dissertation and is now a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Congratulations, Ricardo! (10/20/10)

»Professor Christensen elected an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). (10/15/10)

»Manuscript entitled "Non-Intrusive Measurements of Convective Heat Transfer in Smooth- and Rough-Wall Microchannels: Laminar Flow" by Natrajan and Christensen appears in November 2010 issue of Experiments in Fluids. (10/1/10)

»Manuscript entitled "Spatial Structure of a Turbulent Boundary Layer with Irregular Surface Roughness" by Wu and Christensen appears in July 2010 issue of Journal of Fluid Mechanics. (7/6/10)

»Manuscript entitled "The Impact of Surface Roughness on Flow Through a Rectangular Microchannel from the Laminar to Turbulent Regimes" by Natrajan and Christensen appears in July 2010 issue of Microfluidics and Nanofluidics. (6/14/10)

»Manuscript entitled "Particle-Image Velocimetry Study of a Pediatric Ventricular Assist Device" by Prof. Christensen and collaborators at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil highlighted on cover of July 2010 issue of ASME Journal of Biomechanical Engineering. (5/18/10)

»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)