The research group on CFD for Industrial & Environmental Flows (CIEF) is recently formed at the Department of Computational Engineering, within the Applied Mathematics research unit.
The group specializes in mathematical modeling and numerical methods for Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) using FEM-based techniques (see the book by Kuzmin, Hämäläinen: Finite Element Methods for Computational Fluid Dynamics: A Practical Guide, SIAM, 2014). Our mathematical models are based on fundamental physics, i.e., the conservation laws of mass, momentum, and energy, resulting in systems of partial differential equations (PDE). CFD can be integrated with optimization techniques to determine optimal shape designs or optimal controls.
CIEF focuses its research and teaching on industrial and environmental flows. Examples of these flows include multi-phase flows in industry, hydrodynamics of lakes and rivers, wind park’s air flow simulations, and urban pollution transport. Often, these flows are incompressible, isothermal, and turbulent. Now the group is involved in a project on pharmaceutical applications, including CFD for drug diffusion and dissolution.
The group is responsible for one Masters' and doctoral programme course titled Computational Fluid Dynamics for Environmental Flows (BM20A5104). The course will be first offered in Spring 2026 and will continue yearly. The industry can offer CFD-related topics for students to work on during their course projects. Projects for final theses at both master’s and doctoral levels are also most welcome.
The group is established and led by Professor Jari Hämäläinen, who served as vice president of research and innovation at LUT University from 2014 to 2024. Prior to this, he led a research group focused on CFD for Wind Energy at LUT from 2010 to 2014 and headed the Paper Physics Group at the University of Eastern Finland (UEF) from 2004 to 2010. The group consists of members from the Lahti and Lappeenranta campuses.
Group leader
Jari Hämäläinen
Publications
UNESCO Chair project (www pages under construction)
Group members
Pekka Neittaanmäki
Toni Karvonen
