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Engineering Physics Research

Computational Electromagnetic Physics

Collaborative research projects with Dartmouth's Department of Physics and Astronomy provide a broad spectrum of opportunities for research and advanced study in aerospace science and plasma physics. Dartmouth researchers in space physics are recognized for expertise in constructing world-class computer models of the global geospace system.

Computational plasma dynamics focuses on the development of computer models for diagnosing and predicting plasma, magnetofluid, and electromagnetic processes in the near-earth space environment.
(Faculty contacts: Lotko, Streltsov)

Geomagnetically-induced currents (GICs) can occur in technological networks such as railroads, power transmission lines, and pipelines. Large-scale currents flowing overhead in the ionosphere induce electric and magnetic fields on the surface of the Earth which in turn trigger GICs. During electromagnetic storm periods caused by the Sun these GICs can be large, often exceeding several hundred Amperes, and cause catastrophic consequences to the system in which they flow. Researchers are attempting to predict the occurence of GICs using physics-based models of the global magnetosphere, ionosphere, and Earth conductivity together with input from a satellite located in the upstream solar wind.
(Faculty contact: Shepherd)

Environmental Fluid Mechanics

Natural fluid systems are of particular interest as agents for the transport and dispersion of environmental contamination. Understanding transport and dispersion processes in natural fluid flows, from the microscale to the planetary scale, serves as the basis for the development of models aimed at simulations, predictions, and ultimately sustainable environmental management. Research within this scope is diverse and can involve a variety of scientific and engineering disciplines such as civil, mechanical, and environmental engineering, meteorology, hydrology, hydraulics, limnology, and oceanography.
(Faculty contact: Cushman-Roisin)

Interfacial Fluid Mechanics and Particulate Flows

Dispersions of a fluid (or solid) in another fluid are involved in many industrial processes, e.g., emulsions in food processing. The flow behavior of such particulate materials depends crucially on the mechanics of interfaces such as the boundaries between different phases. Our research develops novel theoretical analyses and numerical simulations in order to elucidate how interface properties affect particle-level dynamics and rheology of dispersions. Current projects include studies of particle migration in viscous flows, hydrodynamic interactions, and rheology of surfactant-laden emulsions.
(Faculty contact: Vlahovska)

Magnetospheric & Ionospheric Physics

Thayer School's space physics group is an active member of the Center for Integrated Space Weather Modeling (CISM), a multi-institutional program funded by the National Science Foundation. Dartmouth is the lead institution for magnetospheric modeling and CISM @ Dartmouth includes researchers from Thayer School and Dartmouth's Department of Physics and Astronomy.

Geospace environment modeling research strives to improve understanding of the ionosphere and the more tenuous magnetosphere which serves as the aerospace environment for hundreds of communication, navigation, meteorological, military, remote sensing, and research satellites.
(Faculty contact: Lotko)

Space plasma physics research is focused on:

generation and dynamics of ULF and ELF electromagnetic emissions in space
formation and dynamics of thin plasma current sheets and boundary layers in space
collisionless wave-particle acceleration processes and plasma heating
auroral and polar phenomena

Interests also include hardware efforts that focus on ground- and space-based instrumentation related to these topics as well as the development of a student-built satellite.
(Faculty contacts: Lotko, Streltsov)

Ionospheric electric fields, created by a combination of reconnection and viscous processes occurring at the magnetopause and in the magnetotail, map down geomagnetic field lines into the high-latitude ionosphere where they cause the plasma to drift. Together with scientists at the Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory researchers are using the SuperDARN incoherent scatter radars to study ionospheric convection and how it responds to changes in the solar wind. Measuring the motion of the ionospheric plasma can greatly increase our understanding of the magnetospheric processes responsible for the convection.
(Faculty contact: Shepherd)

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