In recent years a lot of attention has been devoted to the study of air flow through turbomachines.  The main reason for this interest is that when a turbomachine, such as a jet engine, operates close to its optimal operating parameter values, the flow can become unstable.  These instabilities put a large stress on the engine and in some cases the engine needs to be turned off in order to recover original operation.  For this reason jet engines are currently operated away from their optimal operating parameter values increasing both fuel consumption and the engine weight.

The goal of this research is to develop jet engine that are so efficient, light and save that they can be put on the family car.

For more details see:

http://www.math.ucsb.edu/~birnir/research/outline.html