Bernd Noack

Bernd Rainer Noack (born 17 February 1966, Korbach, Germany) is a German scientist. His research and teaching area is closed-loop flow control for transport systems. Focus is placed on machine learning control and model-based nonlinear control using reduced-order modelling and nonlinear (attractor) closures. Currently investigated configurations include wakes, mixing layers, jets, combustor mixing and aerodynamic flows around cars and airplanes. Another main area is thermodynamic formalisms for turbulence modeling.

Life

He^[1] received his degree as diplom physicist from the Georg-August-University, Göttingen, in 1989. He stayed on to receive his physics doctorate in 1992 under Helmut Eckelmann. In the sequel, he had positions at the Max-Planck-Institut für Strömungsforschung, Göttingen, the German Aerospace Center, Göttingen, the Göttingen University, and the United Technologies Research Center (East Hartford, CT, USA) before he joined the Berlin Institute of Technology. There, Professor Noack has headed the group "Reduced-Order Modelling for Flow Control" at the School V "Transport and Machine Systems". Currently, he is Director of Research CNRS at Institut Pprime, Poitiers, France and Professor at the Technische Universität Braunschweig, Germany.

Scientific Work

At the center of Noack's scientific investigations is the grand challenge of developing consistent modeling frameworks, enabling the simplest possible, physically meaningful and accurate representations of phenomena, as complex as fluid dynamics systems can be. Within that wide context, his work has focused primarily on developing the theoretical foundations for models and modeling tools, building on the Galerkin method approach, originally proposed by Boris Galerkin. A guiding principle, underlying his work is the premise that in order to generate a low order model of a complex physical phenomenon, it is necessary to first identify the simplest representation of the dominant physical principles, governing that phenomenon. To do so, Noack integrated ideas and methods across a wide breadth of approaches and lately, across disciplines. One notable example^[2] is the integration of the efficiency of the proper orthogonal decomposition the Galerkin of mean field theory, early ideas of Lev Davidovich Landau and their later refinement by J. T. Stuart^[3] and J. Watson. A more recent example^[4] is the connection between ideas in finite time non-equilibrium thermodynamics (FTT) and Galerkin models.

In addition to his primary theoretical work on Galerkin models, Bernd Noack's diverse research activities include theoretical studies in Lagrangian vortex models, numerical methods in computational fluid dynamics, and innovative approaches to flow visualization,^[5] to name a few examples. This breadth builds on a network of cross disciplinary collaborations,^[6] in Poitiers, Berlin and internationally.

References