Geometric Mechanics

Dynamical systems that are derived from physics often have rich and beautiful geometric structures. The central focus of this research subgroup is to explore and understand those structures and apply them to physical problems. Geometries that are encountered include differential, symplectic, Kähler, algebraic and discrete. An interest in symmetries also pervades the research of the subgroup. The combination of symmetry and geometry generates conservation laws which are studied in a variety of contexts. Applications are to the stability, bifurcations, dynamics and numerics of Lagrangian and Hamiltonian ODEs and PDEs, to non-Hamiltonian perturbations of these, and to specific areas of application such as astrodynamics and fluid dynamics.

Cross-disciplinary research in the group includes the dynamics of spacecrafts (with Astronet and the Surrey Space Centre).

The subgroup's research areas include:

• Lagrangian and Hamiltonian Dynamics
• Geometry
• Symmetry and Conservation laws

For more details see here.

Fluid Dynamics

Fluid Dynamics is the study of fluid motion (liquids, gases, and plasmas) and the forces exerted by the fluid on its surrounding. The Fluid Dynamics subgroup at Surrey has close ties with the research taking place in the Geometric Mechanics subgroup, with many results from Geometric mechanics applied to fluid problems such as complex fluid flows, plasma modelling, vortices and turbulence. In addition to this geometric approach, the Fluids subgroup also models flows via other techniques including asymptotic methods and large scale numerical simulations.

The themes from this subgroup range from the emergence of solitary waves and shallow hydrodynamics, through to fluid stability problems and vortex modelling on both small and large scales. Applications of these research themes include predicting weather and climate systems, modelling turbulence and investigating fluid transport problems.

The group includes academics who are involved in cross-disciplinary research projects such as environmental fluid flows (with the Centre for Environmental Strategy) and data assimilation in weather prediction (with the National Centre for Earth Observation).

The subgroup's research areas include:

• Water Waves
• Environmental Fluid Dynamics
• Hydrodynamic Stability

For more details see here.