Charles Meneveau


Charles Meneveau is a French-Chilean born American fluid dynamicist, known for his work on turbulence, including turbulence modeling and computational fluid dynamics.
Charles Meneveau, the Louis M. Sardella Professor in and the associate director of the Institute for Data Intensive Engineering and Science at the , focuses his research on understanding and modeling hydrodynamic turbulence, and on complexity in fluid mechanics in general. He combines computational, theoretical and experimental tools for his research, with an emphasis on the multiscale aspects of turbulence, using tools such as subgrid-scale modeling, downscaling techniques, and fractal geometry, and applications to Large Eddy Simulation. He pioneered the use of the Lagrangian dynamic procedure for sub-grid scale modeling in large-eddy simulation of turbulence. His recent work includes the use of LES for wind-energy-related applications and the development of the Johns Hopkins Turbulence Database for sharing large-scale datasets from high-fidelity computational fluid dynamics calculations.

Education

1989: Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, Yale University, May 1989
1988: Master of Philosophy, Yale University, 1988
1987: Master of Science, Yale University, 1987
1985: B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Valparaíso, 1985
His Ph.D. advisor was K. R. Sreenivasan and his thesis was on the multi-fractal nature of small-scale turbulence. At Yale he was also informally by B. B. Mandelbrot.

Career and Research

Meneveau's first postdoctoral position was at the Stanford University/NASA-Ames's Center. He has been on the faculty of the Johns Hopkins University since 1990. His main appointment is in the with secondary appointments in the and .
Professor Meneveau’s research is focused on understanding and modeling hydrodynamic turbulence, and complexity in fluid mechanics in general. Special emphasis is placed on the multiscale aspects of turbulence, using tools such as subgrid-scale modeling, downscaling techniques, and fractal geometry. Applications of the results to Large Eddy Simulation have facilitated applications of LES to engineering, environmental and geophysical flow phenomena. Currently Meneveau is focused on applications of LES to wind energy and wind farm fluid dynamics, on developing advanced wall models for LES, on modeling oil dispersion in the ocean, as well as on building “big-data” tools to share the very large data sets that arise in computational fluid dynamics with broad constituencies of scientists and engineers around the world
Among Meneveau’s seminal contributions are basic advances to turbulence modeling and large eddy simulations. The advances were made possible by elucidating the properties of the small-scale motions in turbulent flows and applying the new insights to the development of advanced subgrid-scale models, such as the Lagrangian dynamic model. This model has been implemented in various research and open source CFD codes and expanded the applicability of Large Eddy Simulations to complex-geometry flows of engineering and environmental interest, where prior models could not be used.
Among the application areas of Large Eddy Simulation being pursued in Meneveau’s group is the study of complex flows in large wind farms. Using the improved simulation tools as well as wind tunnel tests, Meneveau and his colleagues identified the important process of vertical entrainment of mean flow kinetic energy into an array of wind turbines. This research has clarified the mechanisms limiting wind plant performance at a time when there is enormous growth in wind farms. The research has led to new engineering models that will allow for better designed wind farms thus increasing their economic benefit and helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels.
Meneveau has participated in efforts to democratize access to valuable “big data” in turbulence. As deputy director of JHU’s Institute for Data Intensive Engineering and Science, he led the team of computer scientists, applied mathematicians, astrophysicists, and fluid dynamicists that built the JHTDB. This open numerical laboratory provides researchers from around the world with user-friendly access to large data sets arising from Direct Numerical Simulations of various types of turbulent flows. To date, hundreds of researchers worldwide have used the data, and flow data at approximately sixty trillion points have been sampled from the database. The system has demonstrated how “big data” resulting from large world-class numerical simulations can be shared with many researchers who lack the massive supercomputing resources needed to generate such data.
Meneveau also has performed groundbreaking research on understanding several multiscale aspects of turbulence. As part of his doctoral work at Yale, Meneveau and his advisor established the fractal and multifractal theory for turbulent flows and confirmed the theory using experiments. Interfaces in turbulence were shown to have a fractal dimension of nearly 7/3, where the 1/3 exponent above the value of two valid for smooth surfaces could be related to the classic Kolmogorov theory. And a universal multi-fractal spectrum was established, leading to a simple cascade model, which has since been applied to many other physical, biological and socio-economic systems. Later, as a postdoc at Stanford University’s Center for Turbulence Research, Meneveau pioneered the application of orthogonal wavelet analysis to turbulence, introducing the concept of wavelet spectrum and other scale-dependent statistical measures of variability.

Awards, Honors, Societies and Journal Editorships

Awards

2018: Elected Member, National Academy of Engineering, “for contributions to turbulence small-scale dynamics, large-eddy simulations, wind farm fluid dynamics, and leadership in the fluid dynamics community”.
2016: Awarded honorary doctorate from the Danish Technical University, Doctor Tecnices, Honoris Causa for “Outstanding and highly innovative scientific achievements in fluid dynamics, particularly for his work on turbulence and atmospheric physics and its applications to wind energy”.
2014-2015: Midwest Mechanics Lecturer
2012-2013: Fulbright Scholar, US-Australia Fulbright Scholarship
2012: Stanley Corrsin Lecturer, Johns Hopkins University
2011: First recipient of the Stanley Corrsin Award from the American Physical Society, citation: “For his innovative use of experimental data and turbulence theory in the development of advanced models for large-eddy simulations, and for the application of these models to environmental, geophysical and engineering applications.”
2005: Foreign corresponding member of the Chilean Academy of Sciences
2005: Appointed to the Louis M. Sardella Professorship in Mechanical Engineering
2004: UCAR Outstanding Publication Award for co-authorship of the paper by Horst et al., that appeared in J. Atmospheric Science
2003: Johns Hopkins University Alumni Association Excellence in Teaching Award
2001: François N. Frenkiel Award for Fluid Mechanics, American Physical Society
1989: Henry P. Becton Prize for Excellence in Research, Yale University
1985: Premio Federico Santa María, UTFSM Valparaíso, Chile

Societies

American Academy of Mechanics, Fellow.
American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Fellow.
American Physical Society, Fellow.
Pi Tau Sigma, Honorary Member
American Geophysical Union, Member.
American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics, Senior Member.
Burschenschaft Ripuaria

Editorships

2010-Present: Deputy Editor, Journal of Fluid Mechanics
2019: Chair, American Physical Society, Division of Fluid Dynamics
2008-Present: Key participant in the development and maintenance of the JHTDB open numerical laboratory
2003-2015: Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Turbulence
2005-2010: Associate Editor, Journal of Fluid Mechanics
2005-2010: Member Editorial Committee, Annual Rev. of Fluid Mechanics
2001-Present: Member Advisory Board, Theor. & Comp. Fluid Dynamics
2001-2003: Associate Editor, Physics of Fluids
2003: Guest Associate Editor, Annual Reviews of Fluid Mechanics

Selected Journal Publications

C. Meneveau, “Big wind power: Seven questions for turbulence research”, J. Turbulence 20, 2-20.
Z. Wu, J. Lee, C. Meneveau and T. Zaki, “Application of a self-organizing map to identify the turbulent-boundary-layer interface in a transitional flow”, Phys. Rev. Fluids 4, 023902.
L.A. Martínez-Tossas and C. Meneveau, "Filtered lifting line theory and application to the actuator line model", J. Fluid Mech. 863, 269-292.
J.H. Elsas, A. Szalay and C. Meneveau, “Geometry and scaling laws of excursion and iso-sets of enstrophy and dissipation in isotropic turbulence”, J. Turbulence 19, 297- 321.
C. Shapiro, D.F. Gayme & C. Meneveau, “Modelling yawed wind turbine wakes: a lifting line approach”, J. Fluid Mech. 841, R1, 1-12.
P. Johnson and C. Meneveau, “Predicting viscous-range velocity gradient dynamics in large-eddy simulations of turbulence”, J. Fluid Mech. 837, 80-114
P. Johnson & C. Meneveau, “Turbulence intermittency in a multiple-time scale, Navier-Stokes based reduced model”, Phys. Rev. Fluids 2, 072601.
J. Bossuyt, C. Meneveau, & J. Meyers, “Wind farm power fluctuations and spatial sampling of turbulent boundary layers”, J. Fluid Mech. 823, 329-344.
C. Shapiro, P. Bauweraerts, J. Meyers, C. Meneveau & D.F. Gayme, “Model-based receding horizon control of wind farms for secondary frequency regulation”, Wind Energy 20, 1261-1275.
L.A. Martinez-Tossas, M. Churchfield & C. Meneveau: “Optimal smoothing length scale for actuator line models of wind turbine blades based on Gaussian body force distribution”, Wind Energy 20, 1083-1096.
P. Johnson & C. Meneveau, ““Restricted Euler dynamics along trajectories of small inertial particles in turbulence”, J. Fluid Mech. 816, R2.
R.J.A.M. Stevens & C. Meneveau, “Flow structure and turbulence in wind farms”,, Annu. Rev. Fluid Mech. 49, 311-339.
M.F. Howland, J. Bossuyt, L.A. Martínez-Tossas,J. Meyers & C. Meneveau: “Wake Structure of Wind Turbines in Yaw under Uniform Inflow Conditions”, J. Sust. Renew. Energy 8, 043301.
B. Chen, D. Yang, C. Meneveau & M. Chamecki: “ENDLESS: An Extended Non-periodic Domain Large-Eddy Simulation Approach for Scalar Plumes”, Ocean Modeling 101, 121-132.
R.J.A.M. Stevens, D. Gayme & C. Meneveau, “Generalized coupled wake boundary layer model: applications and comparisons with field and LES data for two real wind-farm”, Wind Energy 19, 2023-2040.
X.I.A. Yang, I. Marusic & C. Meneveau: “Moment generating functions and scaling laws in the inertial layer of turbulent wall bounded flows”, J. Fluid Mech. 791, R2.
J. Graham, K. Kanov, X.I.A. Yang, M. K.Lee, N. Malaya, C.C. Lalescu, R. Burns, G. Eyink, A. Szalay, R.D. Moser, and C. Meneveau, “A Web Services-accessible database of turbulent channel flow and its use for testing a new integral wall model for LES”, Journal of Turbulence 17:2, 181-215.
D. Yang, B. Chen, M. Chamecki & C. Meneveau: “Oil plumes and dispersion in Langmuir, upper-ocean turbulence: large-eddy simulations and K-profile parameterization”, J. Geophysical Res.-Oceans 120, 4729-4759.
M. Wilczek, R. Stevens & C. Meneveau, “Spatio-temporal spectra in the logarithmic layer of wall turbulence: large-eddy simulations and simple models”, J. Fluid Mech. 769, R1.
X.I.A. Yang, J. Sadique, R. Mittal & C. Meneveau, “Integral Wall Model for Large Eddy Simulations of wall-bounded turbulent flows”, Phys. Fluids 27, 025112.
C. VerHulst & C. Meneveau: “Altering kinetic energy entrainment in LES of large wind farms using unconventional wind turbine actuator forcing”, Energies 8, 370-386.
R.J.A.M. Stevens, M. Wilczek & C. Meneveau, “Large-eddy simulation study of the logarithmic law for second and higher-order moments in turbulent wall-bounded flow”, J. Fluid Mech. 757, 888-907.
M. Wilczek & C. Meneveau, “Pressure Hessian and viscous contributions to velocity gradient statistics based on Gaussian random fields“, J. Fluid Mech. 756, 191-225.
L. Biferale, C. Meneveau & R. Verzicco, “Deformation statistics of sub-Kolmogorov-scale ellipsoidal drops in isotropic turbulence“, J. Fluid Mech. 754, 184-207.
C.M. de Silva, J. Philip, K. Chauhan, C. Meneveau & I. Marusic, "Multiscale geometry and scaling of the turbulent/non-turbulent interface in high Reynolds number boundary layers", Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 044501.
G. Eyink, E. Vishniac, C. Lalescu, H. Aluie, K. Kanov, K Bürger, R. Burns, C. Meneveau, & A. Szalay, "Flux-freezing breakdown observed in high-conductivity magnetohydrodynamic turbulence", Nature 497, 466-469.
C. Meneveau, “The top-down model of wind farm boundary layers and its applications”, J. Turbulence 13, N7.
J. Meyers & C. Meneveau, “Optimal turbine spacing in fully developed wind-farm boundary layers”, Wind Energy 15, 305-317.
C. Meneveau, “Lagrangian dynamics and models of the velocity gradient tensor in turbulent flows”, Annual Rev. Fluid Mech. 43, 219-245.
W. Anderson & C. Meneveau, “Dynamic roughness model for large-eddy simulation of turbulent flow over multiscale, fractal-like rough surfaces”, J. Fluid Mech., 679, 288-314.
R.B. Cal, J. Lebron, H.S. Kang, L. Castillo & C. Meneveau, “Experimental study of the horizontally averaged flow structure in a model wind-turbine array boundary layer”, J. Renewable and Sustainable Energy 2, 013106.
M. Calaf, C. Meneveau and J. Meyers, “Large Eddy Simulation study of fully developed wind-turbine array boundary layers”, Phys. Fluids 22, 015110.
C. Meneveau, “Turbulence: Subgrid-Scale Modeling”, Scholarpedia 5, 9489.
Y. Li, E. Perlman, M. Wan, Y. Yang, C. Meneveau, R. Burns, S. Chen, A. Szalay & G. Eyink. “A public turbulence database cluster and applications to study Lagrangian evolution of velocity increments in turbulence”, J. Turbulence 9, No. 31.
L. Chevillard & C. Meneveau, “Lagrangian dynamics and statistical geometric structure of turbulence”, Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 174501.
C. Rosales & C. Meneveau, “A minimal multiscale Lagrangian map approach to synthesize non-Gaussian turbulent vector fields”, Phys. Fluids 18, 075104.
Y. Li & C. Meneveau, “Intermittency trends and Lagrangian evolution of non-gaussian statistics in turbulent flow and scalar transport”, J. Fluid Mech., 558, 133-142.
Y. Li & C. Meneveau, “Origin of non-Gaussian statistics in hydrodynamic turbulence”, Phys. Rev. Lett., 95, 164502.
C. Rosales & C. Meneveau, “Linear forcing in numerical simulations of isotropic turbulence: physical space implementations and convergence properties”, Phys. Fluids, 17, 095106.
E. Bou-Zeid, C. Meneveau & M.B. Parlange, “A scale-dependent Lagrangian dynamic model for large eddy simulation of complex turbulent flows”, Phys. Fluids 17, 025105.
Charlette, C. Meneveau, and D. Veynante, “A power-law flame wrinkling model for LES of premixed turbulent combustion. Part I: Non-dynamic formulation and initial tests”, Comb. & Flame 131, p. 159-180.
F. van der Bos, B. Tao, C. Meneveau and J. Katz, “Effects of small-scale turbulent motions on the filtered velocity gradient tensor as deduced from holographic PIV measurements”, Phys. Fluids, 14, p. 2456-2474.
B. Tao, J. Katz & C. Meneveau, “Statistical geometry of subgrid-scale stresses determined from holographic particle image velocimetry measurements”, J. Fluid Mech., 467, p. 35-78.
Jiang, T.R. Osborn & C. Meneveau, “The flow field around a freely swimming copepod in steady motion: Part I, theoretical analysis”, J. Plankton Res. 24, p. 167-189.
C. Meneveau & J. Katz, “Scale-invariance and turbulence models for large-eddy simulation”, Annu. Rev. Fluid Mech. 32, 1-32.
S. Cerutti, C. Meneveau & O.M. Knio, “Spectral and hyper eddy-viscosity in high Reynolds number turbulence”, J. Fluid Mech. 421, 307-338.
F. Porté-Agel, C. Meneveau & M.B. Parlange, “A scale-dependent dynamic model for large eddy simulation: applications to a neutral atmospheric boundary layer” , J. Fluid Mech., 415, 261-284.
H. Jiang, C. Meneveau & T.R. Osborn, “Numerical study of the feeding current around a copepod”, J. Plankton Res. 21,1391-1421.
J.R. Mansfield, O.M. Knio & C. Meneveau, “Dynamic LES of colliding vortex rings using a 3D vortex method”, J. Comp. Phys. 152, 305-345.
Scotti & C. Meneveau, “A fractal model for large eddy simulation of turbulent flow”, Physica D 127, 198-232.
S. Cerutti & C. Meneveau, “Intermittency and relative scaling of subgrid scale energy dissipation in isotropic turbulence”, Phys. Fluids 10, 928-937.
Scotti & C. Meneveau, “Fractal model for coarse-grained nonlinear partial differential equations”, Phys. Rev. Lett. 78, 867.
Meneveau, “On the cross-over between viscous and inertial-range scaling of turbulence structure functions”, Phys. Rev. E 54, 3657.
Meneveau, T. Lund & W. Cabot, “A Lagrangian dynamic subgrid-scale model of turbulence”, J. Fluid Mech. 319, 353.
Meneveau, “Statistics of turbulence subgrid-scale stresses: Necessary conditions and experimental tests”, Phys. Fluids A, 815.
S. Liu, C. Meneveau & J. Katz: “On properties of similarity subgrid-scale models as deduced from measurements in a turbulent jet”, J. Fluid Mech. 275, 83.
Meneveau & T. Lund: “On the Lagrangian nature of the turbulence energy cascade”, Phys. Fluids 6, 2820.
J. O'Neil & C. Meneveau, “Spatial correlations in turbulence: Predictions from the multifractal formalism and comparison with experiments”, Phys. Fluids A 5, 158.
Scotti, C. Meneveau & D.K. Lilly: “Generalized Smagorinsky model for non-isotropic grids”, Phys. Fluids A 5, 2306.
Meneveau & T. Poinsot, “Stretching and quenching of flamelets in premixed turbulent combustion”, Comb. and Flame 81, 311.
Meneveau, “Analysis of turbulence in the orthonormal wavelet representation”, J. Fluid Mech 323, 469.
C. Meneveau & K.R. Sreenivasan, “The multifractal nature of the turbulent energy dissipation”, J. Fluid Mech. 224, 429-484.
C. Meneveau, K.R. Sreenivasan, P. Kailasnath and M. Fan, “Joint multifractal measures: theory and applications to turbulence”, Phys. Rev. A 41, 894.
C. Meneveau & K.R. Sreenivasan “Interface dimension in intermittent turbulence”, Phys. Rev. A 41, 2246.
K.R. Sreenivasan, R. Ramshankar & C. Meneveau, “Mixing, entrainment and fractal dimensions of interfaces in turbulent flows”, Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. A 421, 79.
C. Meneveau & M. Nelkin, “Attractor size in intermittent turbulence”, Phys. Rev. A. 39, 3732.
Chhabra, C. Meneveau, R.V. Jensen & K.R. Sreenivasan, “Direct determination of the f singularity spectrum and its application to fully developed turbulence”, Phys. Rev. A 40, 5284.
K.R. Sreenivasan, R.R. Prasad, C. Meneveau & R. Ramshankar, “The fractal geometry of interfaces and the multifractal distribution of dissipation in fully developed turbulent flows”, Pure Appl. Geoph. 131, 43.
C. Meneveau & K.R. Sreenivasan, “Simple multifractal cascade model for fully developed turbulence”, Phys. Rev. Letts. 59, 1424.
C. Meneveau & K.R. Sreenivasan, “The multifractal spectrum of the dissipation field in turbulent flows”, Nuclear Physics B, Proc. Suppl. 2 p. 49.
K.R. Sreenivasan & C. Meneveau, “The fractal facets of turbulence”, J. Fluid Mech. 173, 357.