Colm-cille Caulfield

Biography

Professor Colm-cille Caulfield holds a joint appointment in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics and the Institute for Energy and Environmental Flows. The IEEF is a multi-disciplinary research centre devoted to fundamental studies of problems related to the energy industry and associated environmental impacts, defined in the broadest sense. It brings together industrialists and academics with expertise in applied mathematics, earth sciences, engineering and chemistry.

Professor Caulfield is interested in working as part of such diverse teams to study various fluid flows in the environment, particularly in cases where density differences play a dynamical role. Of course, density differences, (due to temperature or composition variation) are ubiquitous in the environment. Understanding the fundamental properties of the associated fluid dynamics is key to ensuring sustainable human activity. To name just three important examples, understanding how density differences affect fluid flows can allow strategies to be developed to model the climate system, to deal with the dispersion of pollutants, or to minimise energy consumption within buildings.