Dr. Divya Sri Praturi
My field of research is fascinating. The best way to explain it to non-specialists in a comprehensible manner is:
Turbulence manifests in many naturally-occurring and engineering flows. Turbulent flow field appears to be random and chaotic with a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. A typical investigation into a turbulent flow would involve careful assessment of statistics of fluid variables such as velocity. Due to the complexity of the equations governing the fluid flow, the analytical treatment of turbulent flow statistics leads to a closure problem. Therefore, the field of turbulence makes use of high resolution numerical simulations and experiments to investigate flow statistics and to develop models for the unclosed terms in the statistics equations.
What research questions are you currently working on?
I am currently working in the area of compressible turbulence, in which it is important to examine the statistics of thermodynamic variables such as density, temperature and pressure, in addition to velocity. Specifically, I am interested in extending the symmetry analyses to compressible turbulent flows and deriving appropriate scaling laws (analytical expressions for various order statistics). These scaling laws will be verified using high resolution numerical simulations.
I’ve chosen the TU Darmstadt because of…
tI met Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Martin Oberlack at several international conferences and have enjoyed learning about the research performed at the institute. I am particularly drawn to the approach of investigating statistical and mechanical symmetries; and deriving scaling laws and turbulent models on the basis of these symmetries. I believe learning this new area will equip me with strong analytical tools to investigate the multitude of problems in turbulence. I have also thoroughly enjoyed working with him during the proposal development process for this research. His curiosity and excitement towards science also nudged me in the direction of choosing TU Darmstadt for postdoctoral studies.
My most important success in research to date is…
compressibility and (applied) magnetic field have been known to inhibit the development of turbulence in shear flows. My PhD dissertation was able to identify the contrasting mechanisms through which compressibility and magnetic field achieve turbulence suppression.
Will the results of your research have a concrete impact on our everyday lives either now or at some later date?
Understanding the statistical symmetries in turbulence will enable development of turbulent models that satisfy all statistical symmetries. The resulting models capture the physics of turbulence more accurately and could have a strong impact in aircraft design and analysis.
Questionnaire for the host
Guest of: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Martin Oberlack
Department: Fluid Dynamics, Mechanical Engineering
What would you say you appreciate most about your guest or what made the most favourable impression on you…
I got to know Dr. Praturi as an extremely open-minded person and scientist who shows great enthusiasm for ideas in fluid mechanics and other topics – I was immediately impressed. At the same time, she has pursued her career very stringently and with highly innovative contributions to fluid mechanics. In just a few weeks with us, she was able to familiarize herself very quickly with her new subject area and to work out initial results.
You, your team and the TU Darmstadt benefit from your guest’s…
With her special knowledge of compressible turbulence and her deep understanding of the corresponding fluid physics, she will significantly expand our spectrum of turbulence research. She will thus not only significantly broaden the research spectrum of the Fluid Dynamics Group, but also complement the strong Thermo-Fluids & Interfaces Research Profile thematically.
