User:Egp

Eric Paterson, Rolls-Royce Commonwealth Professor of Marine Propulsion, and Department Head of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA.

As Department Head of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering at Virginia Tech, I provide leadership for a department of 24 faculty members and 14-full time staff members serving approximately 550 undergraduate majors and 125 graduate students. Responsibilities include: development and execution of department vision and plans; working with Assist. Department Heads in the management of facilities, and undergraduate and graduate programs; faculty and staff hiring and evaluation; research support and development; development and alumni relations; and oversight of all departmental business operations.

I maintain an active research program, and have 25 years experience in computational fluid dynamics research, education, and service. With students and colleagues, I have developed computational tools for, and applied them to, the design and analysis of: ships; submarines; UUVs; undersea weapons; terrestrial and offshore wind turbines; hydroturbines and marine hydro-kinetic devices; thermal analysis of large-scale deployable space systems; artificial heart pumps and cardiovascular devices; and biomimetically-inspired trace detectors.

The goal of my research has been to acquire fundamental knowledge through the development of fidelity physics-based simulation tools. These tools enable engineers to achieve revolutionary designs through virtual exploration of concepts, operating conditions, and environments.

Specialties: CFD, fluid-structure interaction, free-surface waves, statistical modeling of ocean waves, cavitation and multiphase flow, stratified wakes, turbulence modeling, turbo-machinery (propulsors, wind turbines, hydro-turbines, blood pumps), underwater explosions, flow control and drag reduction, open-source software.