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Biography

Duncan Lockerby is Professor in the Fluid Dynamics Research Centre at the University of ÌÇÐÄTV, where he has been since 2006. His research interests lie in: micro and nano-particle flows, nanoscale fluid mechanics; multiscale modelling; microscale (rarefied) gas dynamics; flow control and drag reduction; and biological fluid mechanics. He has worked in partnership with a number of UK institutions, over a number of years, on the multiscale modelling of micro and nanoflows. Recent published work includes developing a new approach to predicting the drag on airborne particulates (.

Research Interests

Fluid flows at the micro and nano-scale are characterised by non-equilibrium and non-continuum effects that place them beyond the modelling scope of conventional Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). Typically, a molecular or particle treatment of the liquid or gas, and any bounding surface, is required to accurately resolve such flows. However, the cost of these particle-based simulations is prohibitively costly for all but the simplest cases. In my research I explore a number of approaches to tackle these modelling challenges and use them to investigate the fundamental physics of fluid mechanics at the micro/nano scale. Three approaches I have been particularly interested in are: the ‘hybrid’ approach, which combines the efficiency of CFD with the accuracy of particle simulation; extended hydrodynamics, whereby continuum equations are solved that reach beyond the scale limitations of the Navier-Stokes model; and fluctuating hydrodynamics, where thermal noise is incorporated into continuum models to capture important nanoscale interfacial phenomena.

Teaching Interests

Selected Publications

(for complete list see )

G Tatsios, N Vasileiadis, L Gibelli, MK Borg, DA Lockerby (2025) A far-field boundary condition for measuring drag force on micro/nano particles. Journal of Computational Physics, 114034

G Tatsios, AK Chinnappan, A Kamal, N Vasileiadis, SY Docherty, C White, L Gibelli, MK Borg, JR Kermode, DA Lockerby (2025) A DSMC-CFD coupling method using surrogate modelling for low-speed rarefied gas flows. Journal of Computational Physics, 113500

DA Lockerby (2025) First-order analysis of slip flow for micro and nanoscale applications, Flow, 5, E3

JJP Jordan, DA Lockerby (2025) The method of fundamental solutions for multi-particle Stokes flows: Application to a ring-like array of spheres, Journal of Computational Physics 520, 113487

J Liu, C Zhao, DA. Lockerby, and JE. Sprittles (2023) Thermal capillary waves on bounded nanoscale thin films Phys. Rev. E 107, 015105

Y Zhang, JE Sprittles, DA Lockerby (2021) Thermal capillary wave growth and surface roughening of nanoscale liquid films. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 915, ,

AS Rana, S Saini, S Chakraborty, DA Lockerby, JE Sprittles (2021) Efficient simulation of non-classical liquid–vapour phase-transition flows: a method of fundamental solutions. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 919, A35. doi:10.1017/jfm.2021.405. .

MV Chubynsky, KI Belousov, DA Lockerby, JE Sprittles (2020) Bouncing off the walls: The influence of gas-kinetic and van der waals effects in drop impact. Physical Review Letters, 124, 084501, .

C Zhao, DA Lockerby, JE Sprittles (2020) Dynamics of liquid nanothreads: Fluctuation-driven instability and rupture, Physical Review Fluids, 5(4), 044201,

AS Rana, DA Lockerby, JE Sprittles (2019) Lifetime of a Nanodroplet: Kinetic Effects and Regime Transitions. Physical Review Letters, 123, 154501.

C Zhao, JE Sprittles, and DA Lockerby (2019) Revisiting the Rayleigh-Plateau instability for the nanoscale. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 861. R3. doi:

R Claydon, A Shrestha, AS Rana, JE Sprittles, DA Lockerby (2017) Fundamental solutions to the regularised 13-moment equations: Efficient computation of three-dimensional kinetic effects. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 833, R4.  

DA Lockerby, B Collyer (2016) Fundamental solutions to moment equations for the simulation of microscale gas flows. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 806: 413-436.

D Stephenson, DA Lockerby (2016) A generalized optimization principle for asymmetric branching in fluidic networks. Proceedings of the Royal Society A, 472: 20160451.

DA Lockerby, A Patronis, MK Borg, JM Reese (2015) Asynchronous coupling of hybrid models for efficient simulation of multiscale systems. Journal of Computational Physics, 284: 261-272.

DA Lockerby & JM Reese (2008) On the modelling of isothermal gas flows at the micro scale. Journal of Fluid Mechanics. 604, pp. 235-261. .

CA Duque-Daza, MF Baig, DA Lockerby, SI Chernyshenko & C Davies (2012) Modelling turbulent skin-friction control using linearized Navier-Stokes equations. Journal of Fluid Mechanics. 702, pp. 403-414.

DA Lockerby, CA Duque-Daza, MK Borg & JM Reese (2013) Time-step coupling for hybrid simulations of multiscale flows. Journal of Computational Physics, 237:344-365. Preprint

MK Borg, DA Lockerby & JM Reese (2013) A multiscale method for micro/nano flows of high aspect ratio. J. Comp. Phys. 233, pp 400-413

A Patronis and DA Lockerby (2014) Multiscale simulation of non-isothermal microchannel gas flows. J. Comp. Phys. 270, pp 532-543. (PDF - Open Access)

Projects and Grants

• EPSRC project: "" with Univ. Edinburgh and Univ. Glasgow. EP/V01207X/1; value £434k.
• EPSRC-CBET project: "" with JE Sprittles (PI, Maths), Univ. Oxford and Univ. Minnesota . EP/S029966/1; value £539k.

Past Grants

• EPSRC Programme Grant: with Univ. Edinburgh and STFC Daresbury Laboratory. EP/N016602/1. FEC value: (£4.1M)

• EPSRC project: EP/K038664/1, with Univ. Edinburgh and STFC Daresbury Laboratory. FEC value: ~£1.1m.
• Leverhulme Trust Research Project Grant:
• EPSRC Programme Grant: EP/I011927/1, with Univ. Strathclyde and STFC Daresbury Laboratory. FEC value: £2.75m.
• EPSRC project (with Dstl): "Extended Continuum Models for Transient and Rarefied Hypersonic Aerothermodynamics" EP/F014201/1. FEC value: 78k (total project 506k)
• EPSRC project (with EADS and Airbus): "Investigation of alternative drag-reduction strategies in turbulent boundary layers by using wall forcing" (July 2009-June 2012) . FEC value: £535k (total project £1.1m)
• EPSRC project (with Airbus): "Scalable Wirelessly Interconnected Flow-control Technology (SWIFT)" (Dec 2008-Nov 2009). FEC value: £216k (total project 446k)
• EPSRC project (with Airbus): "Novel passive techniques for reducing skin-friction drag" EP/F004753/1 (Nov 2007-Oct 2008). FEC value: £228k.
• Daiwa Foundation Small Grant "Japanese/UK collaboration on micro-scale fluid dynamics", 2008 (£1,300)
• Nuffield Foundation project: "Simulation of Drag Reduction by the Use of Micro Devices" NAL/32662 (May 2005-Apr 2008). Value ~5k.