Fluid dynamics

Engineers at MIT have come up with a scaling law to describe how objects move through sand. The scaling law can be used to predict how large trucks and cars drive through this material, based on how toy versions of those vehicles drive through an experimental sandbox containing the same grains.

New scaling law predicts how wheels drive over sand

Formula could help optimize construction vehicles, military tanks, and rovers on Mars.

May 29, 2017

“I’m driven by developing methodology that will be broadly useful,” says Youssef Marzouk, associate professor of aeronautics and astronautics at MIT.

Illuminating uncertainty

Youssef Marzouk aims to improve predictions of everything from underground pollution to daily weather.

May 11, 2017

Engineers at MIT have found a way to cut the cost of solar-powered drip systems by half, by optimizing the drippers. Furthermore, these new drippers can halve the pumping power required to irrigate, lowering energy bills for farmers. Pictured is an example of a current drip system.

Watering the world

New design cuts costs, energy needs for drip irrigation, bringing the systems within reach for more farmers.

April 19, 2017

In addition to spit-shooting, an archer fish, pictured here, can launch itself from a near standstill, out of the water to a height of more than two times its body length. “Unlike, say, a shark that comes barreling up from the bottom to catch its prey, an archer fish’s initial momentum is zero,” says Alexandra Techet, associate professor of mechanical engineering at MIT.

High-speed images capture archer fish’s rocket-like launch

Insights into the hydrodynamics of the move may improve underwater vehicle design.

April 19, 2017

Engineers have designed a microfluidic device they call a “tree-on-a-chip,” which mimics the pumping mechanism of trees and other plants.

Engineers design “tree-on-a-chip”

Microfluidic device generates passive hydraulic power, may be used to make small robots move.

March 20, 2017

Researchers at MIT have devised tiny “microlenses” from complex liquid droplets, such as these pictured here, that are comparable in size to the width of a human hair.

Scientists make microscopes from droplets

With chemistry and light, researchers can tune the focus of tiny beads of liquid.

March 10, 2017

A raindrop, splashing on a porous surface, can release thousands of aerosols, as captured here in high-speed imaging experiments.

A light rain can spread soil bacteria far and wide, study finds

Global precipitation may account for 1 to 25 percent of bacteria emitted from land.

March 7, 2017

A map of a seamount in the Arctic Ocean created by gathering data with a multibeam echo sounder. Researchers have found that such topographic features can trap deep waters and produce turbulence.

Underwater mountains help ocean water rise from abyss

Turbulence from seafloor topography may explain longstanding question about ocean circulation.

March 6, 2017

“Hydrogels are soft, wet, biocompatible, and can form more friendly interfaces with human organs,” says Xuanhe Zhao, associate professor of mechanical engineering and civil and environmental engineering at MIT.

Transparent, gel-based robots can catch and release live fish

Made from hydrogel, robots may one day assist in surgical operations, evade underwater detection.

February 1, 2017

Engineers at MIT can now predict a liquid’s droplet size distribution, including the likelihood of producing very big and very small droplets, based on one main property: the liquid’s viscoelasticity, or stickiness.

Spray tuning

New method determines distribution of droplet sizes for wide range of sticky fluids.

November 9, 2016

“We are particularly interested in wetsuits for surfing, where the athlete moves frequently between air and water environments,” says Anette (Peko) Hosoi, a professor of mechanical engineering and associate head of the department at MIT. “We can control the length, spacing, and arrangement of hairs, which allows us to design textures to match certain dive speeds and maximize the wetsuit's dr...

Beaver-inspired wetsuits in the works

Rubbery hair-lined wetsuits may help keep surfers warm.

October 5, 2016

Ocean engineers from MIT, the University of Minnesota at Duluth, and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution have accurately simulated the motion of internal tides along a shelf break called the Middle Atlantic Bight — a region off the coast of the eastern U.S. that stretches from Cape Cod in Massachusetts to Cape Hatteras in North Carolina.

Researchers find explanation for interacting giant, hidden ocean waves

Better simulations of internal tides may benefit sonar communications, protect offshore structures, and more.

September 28, 2016

“I try to guide my research by ... asking myself the question, ‘What can we do today that will have a lasting impact and be conducive to a sustainable human civilization?’” says Rohit Karnik, an associate professor in MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering.

Rohit Karnik seeks sustainable solutions through nanotechnology

Engineer’s designs may help purify water, diagnose disease in remote regions of world.

September 1, 2016

The photograph shows a square-shaped “intruder” plunging through various material, including coarse, salt-like grains (white) and fine sand (blueish green), as well as more viscous (green) and pasty (blue) materials.

Pushing through sand

Simple equation predicts force needed to push objects through granular and pasty materials.

August 29, 2016

“This place is remarkable,” Alfredo Alexander-Katz, the Walter Henry Gale Associate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, says of MIT. “You can throw any crazy idea out there” and then pursue it.

Seeing nature through a molecular engineer’s eye

Alfredo Alexander-Katz probes systems in action, from clotting blood to walking molecules.

August 22, 2016

MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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