<p>Hi, I am not an engineering major, but are considering doing graduate studies in engineering. I would like to know which discipline of engineering would research in the fields of fluid mechanics/dynamics fall under? I am mostly interested in topics such as turbulence but also have an interest in quantum hydrodynamics. All suggestions and advice is appreciated.</p>
<p>Mechanical engineering</p>
<p>you can always go for physics. in astrophysics there is magneto-hydrodynamics for sun and stars. hope you know what it is. its awesome.</p>
<p>Also aerospace engineering, often in the same department as mechanical.</p>
<p>Mechanical and aerospace are your best bets.</p>
<p>No mention for Chemical? It depends on the application of the fluid mechanics.</p>
<p>^ oh come on. chemical engineering, in my opinion, is way less cooler than aeronautical and astronautical engineering. no offence though in case you are studying chemical engineering yourself. it was just my opinion.</p>
<p>It is hard to be cooler than space!<br>
IMNSHO, all engineering is build from Mechanical, Chemical and Electrical. Civil that is Mechanical that doesn’t move. Computer that is applied electrical. Materials is a combo of mech and chemical. Nuclear is another combo probably of all 3. Mining, Petro, Geological applied Mechanical. All of which is based off either Physics or Chemistry. So do you want to research the pure science or an application?</p>
<p>^ im betting that you are punning on the word “cool”, arent you?:D</p>
<p>You won’t find much fluids research in the pure sciences though. You will find it almost exclusively in mechanical and aerospace or in any universities that have theoretical and applied mechanics departments. There aren’t a ton of pure physicists working on it.</p>
<p>Nuclear of course has a bit of research in the area, but it is generally in conjunction with mechanical engineering departments, and chemical likes to pretend they do fluid mechanics but we all know that their version of fluid mechanics is wacky and kind of backwards. ;-)</p>
<p>^ well i dont think magneto-hydrodynamics and electro-hydrodynamics has anything to do with either aerospace or mechanical. its pure science. </p>
<p>but then again, it is not an area as well researched as aerospace or mechanical engineering. </p>
<p>btw i love the astronautical part of aerospace engineering:)</p>
<p>magnetohydrodynamics and electrohydrodynamics do get used in aerospace and mechanical engineering to be honest. It is the same equations with basically some extra terms in them to couple them to the equations for the electro- or magneto- portion of the field. It isn’t that much different. On top of that, there aren’t a lot of physicists doing it compared to the “engineers”, who are essentially physicists themselves at that level.</p>
<p>I’m still not sure if I want to stay in physics for graduate school or switch to engineering. I am currently doing my undergrad in physics. I’ve asked this to my profs and some have told me to stay in physics in specialize in condensed matter or plasma physics, while others have told me it would be better to switch to engineering for graduate studies.</p>
<p>Condensed Matter and Plasma Physics. woooooh. id live to specialize in them had there been no such subject called Astrophysics.:)</p>
<p>
Ah, so you’re an astrophysicist? Interesting. So, what is your personal take on the matter? If I want to be at the forefront of fluid dynamics/mechanics research, would it be better for me to stay in physics and specialize in plasma and condensed matter or switch to engineering?</p>
<p>most people don’t think of civil but theres a lot of CFD in the subfield water resources.</p>