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Clara O'Farrell

Graduate Student
Control and Dynamical Systems
California Institute of Technology

Welcome! You've stumbled upon Clara O'Farrell's webpage. I'm currently a second year graduate student in Control and Dynamical Systems at Caltech. I am a member of John Dabiri's group, the Biological Propulsion Lab.

This page is under major construction, but it will hopefully soon include some (again, hopefully) helpful information about myself and my research.

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Research Interests

I am interested in controls, dynamical systems, fluid dynamics, and (most importantly) in the intersection of these three. Clearly, these three interests could only converge on one thing: jellyfish. Why jellyfish? In John's words, jellyfish are "an integral component of ocean ecology and also represent one of the oldest forms of biological propulsion still in existence. Their simple morphology and body kinematics make them a promising candidate for studies aimed at uncovering design principles that have led to the success of these and more complex biological propulsion systems."

As a undegraduate, I worked on methods for identifying and tracking hairpin packets in direct numerical simulation (DNS) data of hypersonic turbulent boundary layers under the direction of Pino Martin at the CRoCCo Lab.

At the Dabiri Lab, I have worked on computing the Lagrangian Coherent Structures (LCS) in biological and bio-inspired flows, and on applying LCS methods vortex dynamics problems in biological and ocean flows.

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Projects (past and present)

2009
An LCS Approach to Vortex Pinch-Off

2007–2008
Identifying Hairpin Packets in Turbulent Boundary Layers

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Publications

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Peer-Reviewed Publications

A Lagrangian approach to identifying vortex pinch-off

C. O'Farrell and J. O. Dabiri (2009)
Submitted. Chaos: an Interdisciplinary Journal of Nonlinear Science (focus issue on Lagrangian Coherent Structures in Fluid Flows).

Chasing eddies and their wall signature in DNS data of turbulent boundary layers

C. O'Farrell and M. P. Martin (2009)
Journal of Turbulence. Vol. 10, N 15.

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Conference Proceedings and Abstracts

A Lagrangian approach to identifying vortex pinch-off

C. O'Farrell and J. O. Dabiri (2009)
To appear. Bulletin of the American Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics Meeting. November 22-24, Minneapolis, MN.

The wall signature of hairpin packets in turbulent boundary layers

C. O'Farrell, S. Priebe and M. P. Martin (2007)
Bulletin of the American Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics Meeting. November 18-20, Salt Lake City, UT.

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