Professor Duncan Lockerby

Head of Research & Deputy Head of School

Duncan Lockerby is Professor in the Fluid Dynamics Research Centre at the University of Warwick, where he has been since 2006. His research interests lie in: multiscale modelling; microfluidics and nanofluidics; microscale (rarefied) gas dynamics; flow control and drag reduction; and biological fluid mechanics.

Group website: www.micronanoflows.ac.uk

2015 - Professor, University of Warwick

2013-2015 Reader, University of Warwick

2008-2013 Associate Professor, University of Warwick

2006-2008 Assistant Professor, University of Warwick

2004-2006 Lecturer, Brunel University

2001-2004 Research Fellow, King's College London

1998-2001 Research Assistant (\PhD student), University of Warwick

Research Group

His current research group perform particle and molecular simulations of fluid dynamics at the micro and nanometer scale – fluids at these extreme scales behave very differently to macroscopic fluids. For example, water flowing through carbon nanotubes travels several orders of magnitude faster than conventional fluid dynamics theory predicts. Gases at the micro scale also do not conform to the standard assumptions underpinning conventional Computational Fluid Dynamics.

The group use computationally-intensive molecular dynamics simulations coupled to larger-scale continuum models, allowing accurate predictions to be made over industrially-relevant time and length scales. For example, for calculating the performance of nanotube membranes for filtration applications, such as seawater desalination.

PhD students: Yixin Zhang, Jacqueline Mifsud, Jingbang Liu

Past PhD students: Dr Chengxi Zhao, Dr Adrian Gaylard (EngD), Dr Novak Elliott, Dr Carlos Duque Daza, Dr Nick Pearce, Dr David Holland, Dr Alex Patronis, Dr David Stephenson, Dr Ben Collyer, Dr Qiang Yang

Selected Publications (full list here)

AS Rana, DA Lockerby, JE Sprittles (2019) Lifetime of a Nanodroplet: Kinetic Effects and Regime Transitions. Physical Review Letters, 123, 154501. open access

Zhao, Chengxi, Sprittles, James E. and Lockerby, Duncan A. (2019) Revisiting the Rayleigh-Plateau instability for the nanoscale. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 861 . R3. doi:10.1017/jfm.2018.950

R Claydon, A Shrestha, AS Rana, JE Sprittles, DA Lockerby (2017) Fundamental solutions to the regularised 13-moment equations: Efficient computation of three-dimensional kinetic effects. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 833, R4. download

D.A. Lockerby, B. Collyer (2016) Fundamental solutions to moment equations for the simulation of microscale gas flows. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 806: 413-436. Preprint

D Stephenson, DA Lockerby (2016) A generalized optimization principle for asymmetric branching in fluidic networks. Proceedings of the Royal Society A, 472: 20160451. Preprint

DA Lockerby, A Patronis, MK Borg, JM Reese (2015) Asynchronous coupling of hybrid models for efficient simulation of multiscale systems. Journal of Computational Physics, 284: 261-272. Preprint

D.A. Lockerby & J.M. Reese (2008) On the modelling of isothermal gas flows at the micro scale. Journal of Fluid Mechanics. 604, pp. 235-261. Preprint.

C.A. Duque-Daza, M.F. Baig, D.A. Lockerby, S.I. Chernyshenko & C. Davies (2012) Modelling turbulent skin-friction control using linearized Navier-Stokes equations. J. Fluid Mech. 702, pp. 403-414. Preprint

D.A. Lockerby, C.A. Duque-Daza, M.K. Borg & J.M. Reese (2013) Time-step coupling for hybrid simulations of multiscale flows. J. Comp. Phys. 237, pp 344-365. Preprint

M.K. Borg, D.A. Lockerby & J.M. Reese (2013) A multiscale method for micro/nano flows of high aspect ratio. J. Comp. Phys. 233, pp 400-413

A. Patronis and D.A. Lockerby (2014) Multiscale simulation of non-isothermal microchannel gas flows. J. Comp. Phys. 270, pp 532-543. (PDF - Open Access)

Research Projects and Grants

EPSRC Programme Grant: "Nano-Engineered Flow Technologies: Simulation for Design across Scale and Phase" with Univ. Edinburgh and STFC Daresbury Laboratory. EP/N016602/1. FEC value: (£4.1M)
EPSRC project: "The First Open-Source Software for Non-Continuum Flows in Engineering" EP/K038664/1, with Univ. Edinburgh and STFC Daresbury Laboratory. FEC value: ~£1.1m.
Leverhulme Trust Research Project Grant: Skating on thin nanofilms: how liquid drops impact solids

Past Grants

EPSRC Programme Grant: "Non-equilibrium Fluid Dynamics for Micro/Nano Engineering Systems" EP/I011927/1, with Univ. Strathclyde and STFC Daresbury Laboratory. FEC value: £2.75m.

EPSRC project (with Dstl): "Extended Continuum Models for Transient and Rarefied Hypersonic Aerothermodynamics" EP/F014201/1. FEC value: 78k (total project 506k)

EPSRC project (with EADS and Airbus): "Investigation of alternative drag-reduction strategies in turbulent boundary layers by using wall forcing" (July 2009-June 2012) EP/G060215/1. FEC value: £535k (total project £1.1m)

EPSRC project (with Airbus): "Scalable Wirelessly Interconnected Flow-control Technology (SWIFT)" (Dec 2008-Nov 2009). FEC value: £216k (total project 446k)

EPSRC project (with Airbus): "Novel passive techniques for reducing skin-friction drag" EP/F004753/1 (Nov 2007-Oct 2008). FEC value: £228k.
Daiwa Foundation Small Grant "Japanese/UK collaboration on micro-scale fluid dynamics", 2008 (£1,300)

Nuffield Foundation project: "Simulation of Drag Reduction by the Use of Micro Devices" NAL/32662 (May 2005-Apr 2008). Value ~5k.

School of Engineering