Erosive processes and open research questions involving fluid dynamics
Pennsylvania State University
Abstract
Erosion is nature’s most successful artist. Its artwork is found everywhere on our planet and across many extra-terrestrial environments. It sculpts a full range of landscapes, including urban desire paths, created by human and animal footfall; meandering river canyons, created by water flows; and coastal cliffs worn away by repeated wave action. Erosion operates at many different scales, driven by fluid dynamics and its interactions with the natural and built environment. In this talk, I will discuss erosion in different contexts: (i) planform characteristics of meltwater meandering channels on ice, (ii) formation and evolution of muddy bedforms exposed to waves and currents, (iii) the disruptive nature of microplastics in riverbeds, and (iv) formation and breakage of particle bonds in clay-laden flows. As I discuss the role of erosion in the different examples, I will highlight open research questions requiring more in-depth fluid dynamics measurements that create a suite of opportunities for colleagues in the Fluid Dynamics Research Consortium at Penn State.
About the speaker
Dr. Roberto Fernández joined the faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Penn State as an Assistant Professor in the Fall of 2022. He is also a faculty member of the Institute of Energy and the Environment. Before joining PSU, he was a Leverhulme Trust Research Fellow at the Energy and Environment Institute, University of Hull, UK. Dr. Fernández holds M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Civil Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. His research focuses on (i) measurement technique development for water resources and geomorphology and (ii) the role of erosive processes and how they shape the landscapes around us, including sediment transport, bedrock erosion, and the formation and evolution of channels by melting (thermal erosion) and dissolution (chemical erosion). Ongoing projects include studies on the fate and transport of microplastics, morphodynamics of meltwater meandering channels on ice, and the development of Distributed Acoustic Sensing for streamflow measurements.
