Notre Dame, Indiana - The University of Notre Dame’s Institute for Flow Physics and Control – or FlowPAC – is the largest fluid dynamics laboratory in the United States. Known for its signature areas of research in turbo-machines, acoustics, optics, fluid-structure interactions, multi-phase flows, plasma dynamics, and wind energy, researchers at FlowPAC are both developing these core strengths and adding a new focus on hypersonic aerodynamics.

Speaking about FlowPAC’s evolution and momentum, FlowPAC Director, Thomas Corke, Clark Equipment Professor of Engineering, said, “At FlowPAC, we are always working to anticipate the next big problem so that Notre Dame researchers can be part of the solution. Together with fellow Notre Dame faculty in Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, like Thomas Juliano, FlowPAC is actively working to advance research in the area of hypersonic flight, which, when realized, has the potential to revolutionize travel, security, and many other applications. Not only does this fit neatly in with the work of our other FlowPAC colleagues, such as Flint Thomas, Sergey Leonov, and Hirotaka Sakaue, hypersonic flight truly represents the next frontier for Notre Dame’s near-century of aerodynamics research here on campus.”

Corke discusses FlowPAC’s historically strong and emerging areas of research, the plan for growth in both faculty and graduate students numbers, and the future development of the country’s largest quiet hypersonic research wind tunnels at the University in a new video.

To watch the video and learn more about hypersonics research within the Institute for Flow Physics and Control at Notre Dame, please click