Chemical and Biological Engineering

Julio M. Ottino

Walter P. Murphy Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering and (by courtesy) Mechanical Engineering

Dean

Research Interests

Complex systems, dynamics of granular matter, mixing and segregation

Current topics of interest include investigations of a broad class of problems where there is a competition between order and disorder, such as in mixing and segregation of granular matter or fluid mixing and, more generally, problems in the realm of complex systems involving tools such as agent-based models and network theory.

The interest in basic understanding of mixing lies in the ubiquity of mixing processes in technology and nature; examples are found in chemical, mechanical, and aeronautical engineering, but also in geophysics, physiology, oceanography, polymer engineering, and environmental sciences.

The work in granular dynamics involves a blend of theory, computations, and experimental work that reaches into applications. While important to a wide range of industries, our understanding of solid mixing and segregation is primitive. Some key questions we are currently addressing are: What features of mixing can be predicted computationally? What causes demixing and how it interplays with mixing? How can mixing be optimized?

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Significant Recognition

• Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2003
• Ernest W. Thiele Award (AIChE, Chicago section), 2002
• William H. Walker Award, American Institute of Chemical Engineers, 2001
• John S. Guggenheim Fellowship, 2001
• Paul J. Flory Lecturer, Stanford University, 2001
• Danckwerts Memorial Lecture, London, England, 1999
• Member, National Academy of Engineering, 1997
• Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1996
• Sigma Xi Distinguished Lecturer, 1996-1999
• Alpha Chi Sigma Award, American Institute of Chemical Engineers, 1994
• Fellow, American Physical Society, Division of Fluid Dynamics, 1993
• Finalist Scientific Prize, Art for Science, LV-MH, Paris, France, 1989
• Presidential Young Investigator Award (NSF), 1984

Selected Publications

• G. Juarez, I. C. Christov, J. M. Ottino and R. M. Lueptow, “Mixing by cutting and shuffling 3D granular flow in spherical tumblers”, Chemical Engineering Science, (2012)
• I. C. Christov, J. M. Ottino and R. M. Lueptow, “From streamline jumping to strange eigenmodes: Bridging the Lagrangian and Eulerian pictures of the kinematics of mixing in granular flows”, Physics of Fluids, (2011)
• Julio M. Ottino, “Chemical Engineering in a Complex World: Grand Challenges, Vast Opportunities”, Aiche Journal, (2011)
• IC Christov;RM Lueptow;JM Ottino, “Stretching and folding versus cutting and shuffling: An illustrated perspective on mixing and deformations of continua”, American Journal of Physics, (2011)
• Ottino, J. M.; Khakhar, D. V.; McCarthy, J. J., “Mixing and segregation of granular materials in chute flows”, Chaos, (2011)
• Amaral, L. A. N.; Ottino, J. M., “Complex networks: Augmenting the framework for the study of complex systems”, European Physical Journal B, (2011)
• Ottino, J. M.; Jain, N.; Lueptow, R. M., “Effect of interstitial fluid on a granular flowing layer”, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, (2011)
• Pengfei Chen;Julio M. Ottino;Richard M. Lueptow, “Granular axial band formation in rotating tumblers: a discrete element method study”, New Journal of Physics, (2011)