Dr Pierre Ricco

Lecturer

Department of Mechanical Engineering
Sir Frederick Mappin Building
Mappin Street
Sheffield
S1 3JD
UK

Telephone: +44 (0) 114 222 7726
Fax: +44 (0) 114 222 7890

---

Profile

Pierre Ricco received his PhD in Applied Mathematics (Fluid Mechanics) from Imperial College London in 2006, and is a registered Professional Engineer. Before joining the department, he was a Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering at King's College London.

He obtained a MSc degree in Mechanical Engineering (Thermal/Fluids systems) at the University of Texas at Austin (2000), a five-year-long Laurea in Ingegneria Meccanica at Politecnico di Milano (2001), and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Environmental and Applied Fluid Dynamics at the von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics (2001).

He carried out his post-doc research at the Institute for Mathematical Sciences at Imperial College and he took part in the 2004 Summer Research Program at the Center for Turbulence Research at Stanford University.

Pierre's research focuses on fluid mechanics and he has used experimental, numerical and theoretical techniques. He has been interested in turbulent drag reduction by moving surfaces (spanwise wall oscillations and traveling waves), and in boundary-layer transition to turbulence induced by free-stream perturbations. He has also worked on the problem of attenuation of pressure waves generated by high-speed trains travelling through tunnels.

Research Interests

• Turbulent drag reduction
• Bypass transition to turbulence
• Klebanoff modes in laminar boundary layers
• Effect of free-stream disturbances on laminar boundary layers
• Receptivity of Tollmien-Schlichting waves
• Perturbation methods in applied mathematics

EPSRC Research funding

2011-2014 EP/I016015/1 Papadakis, G. Ricco, P. Whidborne, J.
Control of boundary layer streaks induced by free-stream turbulence using a novel velocity-pressure control
framework.
Duration: 3 years, starting 1 September 2011.
Researchers to be employed: 1 Ph.D. student and 1 post-doc for three years.

2011-2012 First-Grant EP/I033173/1 Ricco, P.
Control of a swept-wing boundary layer perturbed by free-stream turbulence.
Duration: 18 months, starting 1 October 2011.
Researcher to be employed: 1 post-doc for 12 months.

Selected Publications

• Laminar streaks with spanwise wall forcing,
  Ricco, P. (2011),
  Physics of Fluids, 23(6), 064103.
  Online (Open Access)

• Evolution and instability of unsteady nonlinear streaks generated by free-stream vortical disturbances,
  Ricco, P., Luo, J., & Wu, X. (2011)
  Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 677, pp. 1-38
  Online (Open Access)

• The laminar generalized Stokes layer and turbulent drag reduction,
  Quadrio, M., & Ricco, P. (2011)
  Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 667, p. 135-157
  Online (Open Access)

• The influence of wall suction and blowing on laminar boundary-layer streaks generated by free-stream vortical disturbances,
  Ricco, P., & Dilib, F. (2010),
  Physics of Fluids, 22, 044101, 2010
  Online (Open Access)

• The pre-transitional Klebanoff modes and other boundary layer disturbances induced by small-wavelength free-stream vorticity,
  Ricco, P. (2009),
  Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 638, pp. 267-303.
  Online (Open Access)

• Asymptotic theory of the pre-transitional laminar streaks and comparison with experiments,
  Ricco, P. (2009),
  Proceedings of the Seventh IUTAM Symposium on Laminar-Turbulent Transition, pp. 331-336, Stockholm, 23-26 June.

• Streamwise-traveling waves of spanwise wall velocity for turbulent drag reduction,
  Quadrio, M., Ricco, P., & Viotti, C. (2009),
  Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 627, p. 161-178, 2009.
  Online (Open Access)


• Wall heat transfer effects on Klebanoff modes and Tollmien-Schlichting waves in a compressible boundary layer,
  Ricco, P., Tran, D. L., & Ye, G. (2009),
  Physics of Fluids, 21(2), 024106.
  Online (Open Access)

• Wall-oscillation conditions for drag reduction in turbulent channel flow,
  Ricco, P., & Quadrio, M. (2008),
  International Journal of Heat Fluid Flow, 29, pp. 601-612, 2008.
  Online (Open Access)


• Modification of turbulent friction drag by streamwise-traveling waves of spanwise wall velocity,
  Ricco, P.,  Quadrio, M. &  Viotti, C. (2008),
  Abstract , Proceedings of the European Drag Reduction & Flow Control Meeting, Ostritz-St. Marienthal, Germany, 8-11 Sept.


• Response of a compressible laminar boundary layer to free-stream vortical disturbances,
  Ricco, P. & Wu, X. (2007).
  Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 587, pp. 97-138.
  Online (Open Access)


• Nature of pressure waves induced by a high-speed train travelling through a tunnel,
  Ricco, P., Baron, A. & Molteni, P. (2007),
  Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics, 95(8), pp. 781-808.
  Online (Open Access)


• Generation of highly-oblique TS waves in a laminar boundary layer by free-stream turbulence,
  Ricco, P. & Wu, X. (2006),
  Proceedings of the 6th Euromech Fluid Mechanics Conference - Stockholm, Sweden, 26-30 June.


• Critical assessment of turbulent drag reduction by spanwise wall oscillations,
  Quadrio, M. & Ricco, P. (2004), 
  Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 521, 251-271.
  Online (Open Access)


• Effect of free-stream turbulence on a compressible laminar boundary layer,
  Ricco, P. &  Wu, X. (2004)
  Proceeding of IUTAM Symposium on Laminar-Turbulent Transition - Bangalore, India 13-17 Dec.


• Modification of near-wall turbulence due to spanwise wall oscillations,
  Ricco, P. (2004)
  Journal of Turbulence, 5, 024.
  Online (Open Access)


• On the effects of lateral wall oscillations on a turbulent boundary layer,
  Ricco, P. & Wu, S. (2004)
  Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science, 29(1), 41-52.
  Online (Open Access)


• Initial response of a turbulent channel flow to spanwise oscillation of the walls,
  Quadrio, M. & Ricco, P. (2003)
  Journal of Turbulence, 4, 007.
  Online (Open Access)