The efficiency of modern transportation is severely compromised by the prevalence of turbulent drag. The high level of turbulent skin-friction occurring, e.g., on the surface of an aircraft, automobiles or the carriage of a high-speed train, is responsible for excess fuel consumption and increased carbon emissions. The environmental, political, and economic pressure to improve fuel efficiency and reduce carbon emissions associated with transportation means that reducing turbulent skin-friction drag is a pressing engineering problem.
Many of the assumptions that support the conventional treatment of fluids are quite not right when you consider very small systems. This research is about making sure we get the fluid dynamics right, and create reliable tools to help design future technologies.