CURICULUM VITAE: Prof. P J THOMAS
GENERAL INFORMATION:
Full Name and Title: / Prof. Peter Jörg ThomasNationality / German
Date of Birth: / 26 August 1960
Place of Birth: / Rotenburg a.d. Fulda, Germany
Academic Degrees: / Dr. rer. nat., Dipl.-Phys.
Current Appointment:
/ ProfessorSchool Of Engineering
University of Warwick
United Kingdom
Director of the Fluid Dynamics Research Centre, University of Warwick
Head of the Fluid Dynamics Research Group at the School of Engineering
PRIMARY EDUCATION:
1966 – 1971 /Primary School, Rotenburg a. d. Fulda
1971 – 1980 / Grammar School, Rotenburg a. d. FuldaMILITARY SERVICE:
1980 – 1981 /Compulsory military civil service, 15 months
QUALIFICATIONS / UNIVERSITY EDUCATION:
1981 – 1988 / Physics, studied at Georg-August-Universität, Göttingen, Germany. Research for and completion of Diplomarbeit (graduate thesis) at Max-Planck-Institut für Strömungsforschung (M.-P.-Inst. of Fluid Dynamics), Göttingen. English translation of title of Diplomarbeit: “Experimental investigation of recti-linear vortices in water”, published for the M.-P.-Inst. as Report 15/1988, ISSN 0436-1199. Mark received on thesis 1.3 on German scale of 1=best and 6=worst.1988 – 1991 / Registered for doctoral degree course at Georg-August-Universität, Göttingen. Research for and completion of doctoral thesis at Deutsche Forschungs-anstalt für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR, German Aerospace Research Establishment), Göttingen at their Institute of Experimental Fluid Mechanics. Funded through DLR Doctoral Scholarship, English title of dissertation: “Experimental and theoretical investigations of the particle lag of particles under the influence of large velocity gradients in compressible flow”, published as DLR Research Report DLR-FB 91-25, ISSN 0939-2963, Mark received on thesis: Summa Cum Laude (= with distinction).
Main subjects studied: / Applied Mechanics and Fluid Dynamics, Physics of Waves and Vibrations, Dynamics of Nonlinear Systems, Atom Physics, Nuclear Physics, Meteorology
Appointments held:
1st October 2008 onwards / School of Engineering, University of Warwick, Full Professor1st Oct. 2001 – 30th Sept. 2008 / School of Engineering, University of Warwick, Associate Professor (Reader).
Aug. 1995-Sept. 2001 / Warwick University Research Fellow, School of Engineering, University of Warwick.
Jan. 1992 – Jul. 1995 / University of Cambridge, England, (Senior) Research Associate at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, member of the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics group.
Aug. 1991- Dec. 1991 / German Aerospace Research Establishment (DLR), Göttingen as Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter (Research Associate).
FELLOWSHIPS:
18 March 2002 – 12 April 2002 / Visiting Professorship, Universite La Mediterrannée, Marseille, FranceSept. 2003 – Dec. 2003 / Invited participant program in Granular and Particle Laden Flows, sponsored by the Royal Society, Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences, University of Cambridge.
PRIZES AND AWARDS:
2011 / Awarded by popular vote the Student Staff Liaison Committee Prize for Most Motivational Lecturer (Years 1 & 2)2012 / Awarded by popular vote the Student Staff Liaison Committee Prize for Most Motivational Lecturer (Years 1 & 2)
2011 / Awarded by popular vote the Student Staff Liaison Committee Prize for Most Motivational Lecturer (Years 1 & 2)
2011 / Awarded by popular vote the Student Staff Liaison Committee Prize for Most Enthusiastic Lecturer (Years 1 & 2)
2008 / Voted Best Lecturer for academic year 2007-2008 by the undergraduates of the School of Engineering, U. of Warwick
2004 / Voted Best Lecturer for academic year 2003-2004 by the undergraduates of the School of Engineering, U. of Warwick
1999 / Our poster Zoueshtiagh, F. & THOMAS, P.J “Spiral Patterns Formed by Granular Media Underneath a Rotating Fluid: Experiment vs. Computation” was chosen as one of the winning contributions to the Gallery of Fluid Motion contest held at the 52nd Annual Meeting of the Division of Fluid Dynamics (American Physical Society), New Orleans, 21-23 Nov.
1996 / Received the International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (IUTAM) Bureau Prize for the outstanding presentation by a younger scientist at the XIXth International Congress of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics in Kyoto, Japan, 25-31 August. (Note: This congress has been referred to as the Olympics of mechanics.)
1979 / Winner of a third prize in the German Mathematics competition for pupils.
MEMBERSHIP OF LEARNED AND PTOFESSIONAL SOCIETIES:
American Physical Society (Division of Fluid Dynamics)European Mechanics Society
Ludwig-Prandtl-Gesellschaft e.V. (L.-P. Society, Göttingen, Germany)
CURRENT TEACHING DUTIES:
Length of Course (Contact Hours) / Number of Studentsug pg
Lecture Courses
ES183 Technological Science Pt. 1 – Mathematics (2004 – present) / 9 lectures / 300ES2B0 Mechanics and Thermofluids (Thermofluids part of module, circa 1998 – present, under different module names) / 10 lectures / 280
ES3D6 – Fundamental Fluid Mechanics for Mechanical Engineers (2006- present) / 30 lectures / 80
ES387, Mathematical and Computational Modeling (2002-2006)
(Note: I taught this module last time in spring 06. Module did not run in spring 07 because of restructuring of course. As of spring 08 I will take on a 2nd year fluids module, with 8 lectures and approx. 200 students, instead of ES387. / 15 lectures / 25
Tutorials / Seminars
2nd year Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (Vortices /Cylinder wake, spring 2006 - present) / 22.5 / 150
ES2B0 Example Classes (circa 1998 – present, under different module names) / approx. 10 / 280
ES3D6 Example Class (Autumn 2006 - present) / 12 / 80
1st year Mathematics tutorials / 26 / 8
RESEARCH SUPERVISION:
Post-Doctoral Research Supervision
Individual / Start Date / Degree / End Date / Individual / Joint SupervisorAndrew J. Colley / Apr. 1998 / Post-Doc / Mar. 2000 / Joint
Zhiying Xiao / Sept. 2001 / Post-Doc / July 2004 / Sole
Estelle Guyez / July 2006 / Post-Doc / June 2008 / Sole
Alex Pedcenko / Jan. 2007 / Post-Doc / Dec. 2008 / Joint (with S. Molokov, Coventry University)
PhD Supervision
Individual / Start Date / Degree / Completion Date / Sole / Joint SupervisorAndrew J. Colley / Oct. 1993 / PhD / May. 1998 / Joint
Farzam Zoueshtiagh / Aug. 1998 / PhD / July 2001 / Sole
Mark Brend / Oct. 2004 / PhD / Dec. 2009 / Sole
Sandy Gregorio / Oct 2004 / PhD / June 2011 / Sole
Jop H. A. Vlaskamp / Oct. 2006 / PhD / July 2011 / Sole
Joseph Harris / Oct. 2009 / PhD / Sept. 2013 / Sole
Mohammad Rostami / 2001 / PhD / May 2007 / Joint
Jason M. Warnett / Oct. 2010 / PhD / Sept. 2014 / Joint
Andrew C. Bishop / Oct. 2011 / PhD / Sept. 2015 / Joint
Bram Vangestel / Oct. 2012 / PhD / Sept. 2016 / Joint
Chuan-Wei Tan / Oct. 2012 / PhD / Sept. 2016 / Joint
Musa Özcan / Oct. 2012 / PhD / Sept. 2016 / Sole
MSc/MRes Supervision
Individual / Start Date / Degree / Completion Date / Individual / Joint SupervisorZamri M. Ibrahim / Oct. 1995 / MSc / Sept. 1996 / Sole
Michael E. Oreng / Oct. 2005 / MSc / Sept. 2006 / Sole
Jozef Vlaskamp / Oct. 2005 / MSc / Sept. 2006 / Sole
Sanjay Sisodia / Oct. 2006 / MSc / Sept. 2007 / Sole
Thomas Allinson / Oct. 2007 / MSc / Sept 2008 / Sole
Philipp Tschismarov / Oct. 2008 / MSc / Sept. 2009 / Sole
Louise K.W. Lam / Oct. 2008 / MSc / Sept 2009 / Sole
Jason M. Warnett / Oct. 2009 / MSc / Sept. 2010 / Sole
Mohammad S. Bashir / Oct. 2010 / MSc / Sept. 2011 / Sole
Christopher I.E. Elder / Oct. 2011 / MSc / Sept. 2012 / Sole
Alexander Wolley / Oct. 2012 / MSc / Sept. 2013 / Sole
A.T.Y. Ng / Oct. 2012 / MSc / July 2013 / Sole
Akinnola Olufemi / Oct. 2012 / MSc / Sept. 2014 (Part Time) / Sole
Nicholas Friedlander / Oct. 2014 / MSc / Sept. 2015 / Sole
Rodrigo Gonzalez-Estevez / Oct. 2014 / MSc / Sept. 2015 / Sole
Mathew Males / Oct. 1996 / MRes / Sep. 1997 / Sole
John Roe / Oct. 2003 / MRes / Oct. 2006 (Part Time) / Sole
Jeanette Chattaway / Oct. 2009 / MRes / Oct. 2011 (Part Time) / Sole
Undergraduate Supervision:
I supervised approximately 150 undergraduate 3rd-year projects since October 1996. Several were awarded prizes for their projects in their particular years by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. The following is a list of some students whose projects were supervised by me and who received awards.
- Mr. Mark Kidd (Best Project Certificate, 2002)
- Mr Benjamin Oabona (The Institution Best Project 2003)
- Mr. Mark Brend (The Institution Best Project 2004)
- Mr Leo Firman (The Institution Best Project 2005)
- Mr. Michael J. Marks (Best Project Certificate, 2006)
- Mr. Elliot More (Best Project Certificate, 2006)
Project supervisors do not receive a notification when one of their students is awarded a prize for their project and, hence, the list may be incomplete. I am only aware that the aforementioned students received an award since either they themselves or colleagues of mine communicated this to me personally.
Moreover
- Mr. Peter Rhys Thomas (not related to myself), whose 3rd year project I supervised in 2004-2005, received the Frederic Barnes Waldron - Best Student Prize by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 2006.
- Dr Mark A. Brend whose PhD I supervised was presented the ‘Euromech Fluid Mechanics Young Scientist Award’ for our paper authored by Brend, M.A., Skeen, A.J., Thomas & P.J., Bryanston-Cross entitled ‘The Effects of Background Rotation upon Vortex Rings’. The award was presented during the closing session of the 8th Euromech Fluid Mechanics Conference held in Bad Reichenhall (Germany), September 13-16.
RESEARCH
I) PUBLICATIONS AND PAPERS
* denotes particular significance, # indicates invited, + indicates prize winning
A)Invited Journal Articles and Book Chapters
[49]* # / Seiden, G. & THOMAS, P.J. (2011) Complexity, segregation and pattern formation in rotating-drum flows, Rev. Mod. Phys. 83, 1323-1365.
(Review article, contribution 50%)
[48]
# / Carpenter, P.W. & THOMAS, P.J.. (2007) Flow Over Compliant Rotating Disks, J. Math. Eng., 57(3), 303-315. Invited review article, published in Special Theme Issue on Rotating-Disk Flow, online publication date 30 November 2006.
(Contribution 40%, I wrote two out of six sections, proof read and contributed to the other4 and to the final concluding chapter.)
[47]
# / THOMAS, P.J. & Zoueshtiagh, F. (2007) Rotating-Disk-Type Flow Over Loose Boundaries, J. Math. Eng., 57(3), 317-332. Invited review article; published in Special Theme Issue on Rotating-Disk Flow, online publication date 10 November 2006.
(Contribution 80%, I wrote the first draft of the entire article)
[46]
* # / THOMAS, P.J. & Zoueshtiagh, F. (2005) Granular Ripples Under Rotating Flow: A new technique for studying ripples in non-rotating, geophysical applications?, Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. 363(no. 1832), pp. 1663-1676, Special Theme Issue on Geophysical granular and particle-laden flows.
(Contribution 80%, I wrote the first draft of the entire article. Research was conducted jointly by both authors. The results in here suggest the possibility of studying aspects of sediment transport by means of a new simple technique and without the need for large-scale, expensive water flumes.)
[45] / Carpenter, P.W. & THOMAS, P.J., Nagata, 2003 Rotating Flow over Compliant Walls. In ‘Flows Past Highly Compliant Boundaries and in Collapsible Tubes’ edited by P.W.Carpenter and T.J. Pedley, pp. 167-187, Series : Fluid Mechanics and its Applications, Kluwer Academic Press.
(Contribution 40%, I wrote two out of six sections and proof read and contributed to the others.)
B)Articles Published in Refereed International Journals
[44] / Tan, Benedict C.-W., Vlaskamp, J.H.A., Denissenko, P., THOMAS, P.J., (2016) Cavity formation in the wake of falling spheres submerging into a stratified two-layer system of immiscible liquids, in print, J. Fluid Mech. XX, XXXXX.(Contribution: Research 50%, writing of manuscript 95%)
[43] / Garrett, S.J., Cooper, A.J., Harris, J.H., Özkan, M, Segalini, A., THOMAS, P.J., (2016) On the stability of von Kármán rotating-disk boundary layers with radialanisotropic roughness,Phys. Fluids.28, 014104.
(Contribution: Research 20%, writing of manuscript 20%)
[42] / Hutchins, D.A., Yang, J., Akanji, O., THOMAS, P.J., Davis, L.A.J., Freear, S., Harput, S., Saffari, N., Gelat, P., (2015) Ultrasonic propagation in finite-length granular chains, UltrasonicsXXX, XXXX.
(Contribution: Research 10%, writing of manuscript 10%)
[41] / Hutchins, D.A., Yang, J., Akanji, O., THOMAS, P.J., Davis, L.A.J., Freear, S., Harput, S., Saffari, N., Gelat, P., (2015) Evolution of ultrasonic impulses in chains of spheres using resonant excitation, Europhys. Lett.109, 54002.
(Contribution: Research 15%, writing of manuscript 15%)
[40] / Cooper, A.J., Harris, J.H., Garrett, S.J., Özkan, M, THOMAS, P.J., (2015) The effect of anisotropic and isotropic roughness on the convective instability of the rotating disk boundary layer, Phys. Fluids.27, 014107.
(Contribution: Research 20%, writing of manuscript 20%)
[39] / Denissenko, P., Guyez, E., THOMAS, P.J., Parker, D.J., Seville, J.P.K. (2014) Positron emission tracking of individual particles in particle-laden rimming flow, Phys. Fluids.26, 053304.
(Contribution: Research 30%, writing of manuscript 50%)
[38] / Warnett, J.M., Denissenko, P., THOMAS, P.J., Williams, M.A. (2014) Collapse of a granular column under rotation, Powder Tech.262, 249-256.
(Contribution: Supervision of research 50% with Denissenko other 50%, writing of manuscript 5%)
[37] / Warnett, J.M., Denissenko, P., THOMAS, P.J., Kiraci, E., Williams, M.A. (2014) Scalings of axisymmetric granular column collapse, Gran. Matt.16, 115-124.
(Contribution: Supervision of research 50% with Denissenko other 50%, writing of manuscript 5%)
[36] / Murai, Y., Vlaskamp, J.H.A., Nambu, Y., Yoshimoto, T. Brend, M.A., Denissenko, P., THOMAS, P.J. (2013) Off-axis PTV for 3-D visualization of rotating columnar flows, Exp. Therm. Fluid Sci. 51, 342-353.
(Contribution 20% witting of manuscript, )
[35] / Harris, J.H., THOMAS, P.J., Garrett, S.J.(2012) On the stability of flows over rough rotating disks, AIAA Paper, 2012-3075.
(Contribution: Research 40%, writing of manuscript 40%)
[34] / Gregorio, S.O., Haidvogel, D.B., THOMAS, P.J. Taskinoglu, E.S., Skeen, J. (2011) Laboratory and numerical simulations of gravity-driven coastal currents: Departures from geostrophic theory, Dyn. Atmos.. Oceans. 52, 20-50.
(Contribution 30%, I am PhD supervisor of Gregorio at U. of Warwick. This paper compares our experimental and theoretical results to data from computational simulations she performed in collaboration with our colleagues at Inst. of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University, USA)
[33] / THOMAS, P.J. & Linden, P.F. (2010) Laboratory modeling of the effects of temporal changes of estuarine-fresh-water discharge rates on the propagation speed of oceanographic coastal currents, submitted to J. Fluid Mech.664, 337-347
(Contribution 90%, I conducted all experiments, carried out data analysis and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. Linden’s input began during revision of manuscript prior to submission
[32] / Pedchenko, A., Molokov, S., Priede, J., Lukyanov, A. & THOMAS, P.J. 2009 Experimental Model of the Interfacial Instability in Aluminium Reduction Cells, Euro Phys. Lett., 88, 24001.
(Contribution 10%, I was Principal Investigator at Warwick for this collaborative project with Coventry University. I supervised the post-doctoral research associate while building the facility and while running the experiments at Warwick.)
[31] / Brend, M.A. & THOMAS, P.J. 2009 Decay of Vortex Rings in a Rotating Fluid, Phys. Fluids, 21, 044105
(Contribution 50%, I carried out the data analysis and wrote the whole paper. Brend conducted the experiments.)
[30] / Guyez, E. & THOMAS, P.J. 2009 Effects of Particle Properties on Segregation-Band Drift in Particle-Laden Rimming Flow, Phys. Fluids, 21, 033301.
(Contribution 50%, This paper continues work, now with EPSRC funding, of [10] and [15]. Guyez was post doc and conducted experiments. Data analysis was conducted by Guyez and myself.)
[29] / Rostami, M., Ardeshir, A., Ahmadi, G. & THOMAS, P.J. (2008) On the Motion of High Reynolds Number Particles in a Quiescent Fluid; Canadian J. Physics.86 (6), 791-799.
(Contribution 20%, Rostami was visiting PhD student who carried out experimental part of his PhD at Warwick under my supervision. I also commented on an early draft of manuscript.)
[28] / Zoueshtiagh, F., THOMAS, P.J., Thomy, V. & Merlen, A. 2008 Micrometric Ripple Patterns in a Capillary Tube, Phys. Rev. Lett., 100, 054501. [Note: Following its publication in Phys. Rev. Lett. this article was selected by the American Institute of Physics and by the American Physical Society for additional publication in the Virtual Journal of Nanoscale Science & Technology, 17 (7), publication date February 18th 2008, in section Micro and Nano Electromechanical Systems MEMS/NEMS,
(Contribution 33%, Paper is loosely connected to Zoushtiagh’s earlier PhD research at Warwick. He conducted experiments and data analysis, Merlen contributed a scaling analysis. I contributed to data analysis, checked Merlen’s theoretical work and wrote first draft of manuscript.
[27] / Guyez, E. & THOMAS, P.J. 2008 Spatio-Temporal Segregation-Pattern Drift in Particle-Laden Rimming Flow, Phys. Rev. Lett.100, 074501.
(Contribution 50%, This paper continues work, now with EPSRC funding, of [10] and [15]. Guyez is post doc and conducted experiments. Data analysis was conducted by Guyez and myself, I wrote first draft of manuscript.[Note: Following its publication in Phys. Rev. Lett. this article was selected by the American Institute of Physics and by the American Physical Society for additional publication in the Virtual Journal of Nanoscale Science & Technology, 17 (9), publication date March 3rd 2008, in section Miscellaneous,
[26]
* / THOMAS, P.J. & Linden, P.F. (2007) Rotating Gravity Currents: Small-scale and large-scale experiments and a geostrophic model, J. Fluid Mech. 578, 35-65.
(Contribution 80%, I conducted all experiments. Carried out the analytical work with input from Linden and I wrote the first draft of the manuscript. This work has received EU funding on two occasions. This paper, together with my recent results from May 2007 [C3] and with [C2,B8] are probably the most in-depth study of its kind to date. I expect that my experimental data will remain benchmark data for many years. )
[25] / Rostami, M., Ardeshir, A., Ahmadi, G. & THOMAS, P.J. (2007) Development of a Low Cost and Safe PIV for Mean Velocity and Reynolds Stress Measurements Int. J. Eng., Trans. A: Basics, 20(2), xx-xx. (accepted in revised form, 31 May 2007)
(Contribution 20%, Rostami was visiting PhD student who carried out experimental part of his PhD at Warwick under my supervision. I also commented on an early draft of manuscript.)
[24] / Rostami, M., Ardeshir, A., Ahmadi, G. & THOMAS, P.J. (2007) The Effect of Particle Wall and Fluid Properties on the Coefficient of Restitution, Amirkabir J. of Science and Technology, scheduled for publication: 19(67), pp.30-40, November issue.
(Contribution 20%, Rostami was visiting PhD student who carried out experimental part of his PhD at Warwick under my supervision. I also commented on an early draft of manuscript.)
[23] / Merlen, A., Zoueshtiagh, F., THOMAS, P.J. & Thomy, V. 2007 Micrometric Ripples in a Capillary Tube, the Effect of Micro Gravity, Micrograv. Sci. Technol. vol. XIX/3-4, pp. 60-61.
(Contribution 25%, Paper is loosely realted to Zoushtiagh’s earlier PhD research at Warwick. He conducted experiments and data analysis, Merlen contributed a theoretical results. I contributed to data analysis.)
[22] / Rostami, M., Ardeshir, A., Ahmadi, G. & THOMAS, P.J. (2006) Can the History Force be Neglected for the Motion of Particles at High Subcritical Reynolds Number Range? Int. J. Eng., Trans. B: Applications, 19(1), 23-34.
(Contribution 20%, Rostami was visiting PhD student who carried out experimental part of his PhD at Warwick under my supervision. I also commented on an early draft of manuscript.)
[21] / Colley, A.J., Carpenter, P.W., THOMAS, P.J., Ali, R. & Zoueshtiagh, F. (2006) Experimental verification of Type-II-eigenmode destabilization in the boundary layer over a compliant rotating disk, Phys. Fluids 18, 054107 (10 pages).
(Contribution 40%; I was co-supervisor of Colley’s PhD, I made major contributions to final analysis of data in paper, produced all but two figures and wrote first draft of the manuscript.).
[20] / THOMAS, P.J. , Linden, P.F. & Marah, D. (2004) Modelling Oceanographic Coastal Currents in Small-Scale and Large-Scale Laboratory Experiments, extended abstract of talk presented at 21st Int. Cong. of Theor. and Appl. Mech., I.U.T.A.M. Warsaw, Poland, 15-21 August 2004, on CD-ROM appended to book Mechanics of the 21st Century, editors W. Gutkowski & T.A. Kowalewski, ISBN 1-4020-3456-3, Springer, 2005.
(Contribution 85%, I did all experiments, conducted data analysis with input from Linden and I wrote first draft of manuscript. Marah only assisted with going through some analytic work under my supervision.)