Caltech Hosts Science Journey Event on Chaos, Turbulence, and the Beauty of Uncertainty

Caltech’s Science Journeys, sponsored by the Division of Engineering and Applied Science, features Aerospace graduate student Tanner D. Harms on Friday, Feb. 23, as he delves into the intricacies of turbulence and the fascinating allure of uncertainty in complex systems.

The event, which begins at 10 a.m., will feature the Ph.D. candidate as he leads the community on a captivating exploration of fluid mechanics and shares his insights into the fundamental challenges that aerospace engineers encounter when studying turbulence.

“When people hear the word ‘turbulence,’ they typically think of experiences that they’ve had on airplanes,” Harms said. “The ride is really bumpy, they grip the armrests more tightly because things are shaking around. That’s not turbulence itself. It’s actually the effect of turbulence on the airplane.”

Turbulence, he said, is really just the chaotic motion of fluids – fluids being air, water, clouds, and gases.

“Whenever you fly through a fluid that has turbulence, you’re going to experience different gusts on the plane that it’s going to cause it to shake around a little bit,” Harms said. “Understanding turbulence and studying turbulence can really have an effect in the aviation industry.”

At Caltech, Harms said the interdisciplinary nature of his research merges mathematics, computer science, and experimental techniques. Beyond aerospace science, turbulence is often present in natural phenomena and in industrial processes.

“Turbulence is happening in the sun. It happens in the ocean and the atmosphere, when we fly planes and things like that,” Harms said. “It happens in our lungs when we breathe, it happens in our blood flow to mix things in with our hearts. Really, the truth is the turbulence is everywhere.”

He will talk about these things on Friday, but will also discuss what he’s doing in research in general, identifying particles that are in a flow and using their motion to understand what’s happening in the flow.

“There’s a lot of math in theory that goes into what you can learn from flow by looking at how things move in it,” he said. “That’s where my research is now.”

Caltech’s Science Journeys aims to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers and offers middle- and high-school students an opportunity to engage with cutting-edge scientific exploration. Harms said that by demystifying turbulence and relating it to everyday experiences, he hopes to ignite a passion for STEM education.

The series is open to the public, including teachers, parents, and Caltech community members. Participation is free, but reservations are required.

To sign up for the event, visit Caltech’s Science Journeys webpage, www.caltech.edu/campus-life-events/calendar/science-journey-tanner-harms-turbulence-fluid-mechanics.