Teaching Interests
Peter Simpkins
University Professor
Research Interests
My primary interests are in applied mechanics in general and in fluid mechanics in particular. I have studied a broad variety of problem areas ranging from two-phase flows and buoyancy-driven motions to chemically reacting boundary layers, and in addition to wave propagation in solids and the fracture mechanics of brittle materials. A number of these topics arose from issues involved in the manufacture and handling of precision optical fiber waveguides. Others were stimulated by transport phenomena related to materials processing, e.g. high purity crystal growth from the melt and vapor growth of organic semiconductors. Some of my recent my research has been directed toward understanding the mechanics of coatings, coating defects and problems associated with the motion of a dynamic contact-line, for example, air entrapment, film skipping and delamination events.
Teaching Interests
Gas Dynamics
Recent Publications
“Fiber Coating: Non-unique Solutions at Low Capillary Numbers”, (with P. A. Blythe). J. Fluid Mech. 515, 353-70, (2004).
“Track of the fiber fuse: a Rayleigh instability in optical waveguides”, (with R. M. Atkins & A. D. Yablom). Optics Letters, 28, 974-76, (2003).
“Air Entrapment in Coatings”, (with V. J. Kuck). J. Coll. Interface Sci. 263, 562-571, (2003).
“Air Entrapment from a Highly Distorted Free Surface”, (with V. J. Kuck) Visualizn. Soc. Japan Album 17, (2000).
“Air Entrapment in Coatings by way of a Tip Streaming Meniscus”, (with V. J. Kuck). Nature, 403, 641-643, (2000).