About

Eric Paterson is the Rolls-Royce Commonwealth Professor of Marine Propulsion and the Department Head of the Kevin T. Crofton Department of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering at Virginia Tech. He holds a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Iowa, earned in 1994, along with a Master's and Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from the same institution. His research interests encompass fluid dynamics, heat transfer, computational physics, and high-performance computing, with a focus on applied research that directly impacts the design, analysis, and operation of real-world systems. Paterson's work involves developing fidelity physics-based simulation tools to enable engineers to explore concepts virtually, balancing resource use with project goals. His expertise spans areas such as CFD, fluid-structure interaction, free-surface waves, turbulence modeling, and turbo-machinery, with application areas including ships, submarines, AUVs, wind turbines, hydroturbines, space systems, cardiovascular devices, and biomimetic trace detectors. As a dedicated educator, he aims to engage and inspire students through fundamentals and experiential learning, emphasizing the use of open-source software. Paterson has held faculty positions at Penn State University and the University of Iowa, and has served in various professional service roles, including editor-in-chief of the Journal of Ship Research and leadership positions within AIAA and SNAME. His numerous awards include the Rolls-Royce Commonwealth Professorship, Fellow of SNAME, and ARL Publication Award for Best Paper.

Research topics

• Physics
• Mechanics
• Computer Science
• Aerospace engineering
• Meteorology
• Engineering
• Optics
• Statistical physics
• Physical chemistry
• Materials science
• Metallurgy
• Marine engineering
• Composite material
• Electrical engineering
• Chemistry

Selected publications

• A New Mechanism for Generation of Langmuir Circulations

  arXiv (Cornell University) · 2023-09-19

  preprintOpen accessSenior author

  A new mechanism has been identified that explains the generation of Langmuir circulations. A wind-driven current in the presence of surface waves gives rise to an instability where the emerging circulations redistribute the turbulence in the cross-wind direction. The non-uniform eddy-viscosity locally changes the rate of momentum transfer from the wind to the shear current, producing a non-uniform velocity field. The interaction of this non-uniform velocity field with the surface waves, due to the Craik-Leibovich vortex force, amplifies the circulations and creates a feedback mechanism. The currently accepted CL2 model of instability assumes a constant eddy-viscosity. This paper presents a model which explains the generation of Langmuir circulations and its predictions of both spatial and time scales are in good agreement with experimental results. The modeling approach combines a perturbation method with a RANS turbulence model. Through parametric variation of the perturbation, the growth rate and spatial scales of the circulations are extracted from the simulations.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• OpenFOAM computation of interacting wind turbine flows and control (I): free rotating case

  International Journal of Hydromechatronics · 2021 · 12 citations

  • Computer Science
  • Marine engineering
  • Mechanics
  PublisherDOI

• Selected Papers from the 15th OpenFOAM Workshop

  2021-10-21 · 3 citations

  bookOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  This Special Issue will publish selected papers from the 15th OpenFOAM Workshop, June 22–25, 2020 in Arlington, Virginia, USA. The workshop is hosted by the Crofton Department of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering at Virginia Tech. During this community driven event, conference presentations and poster sessions will be held and work in progress is gladly seen as well. In addition to the conference aspect, trainings on OpenFOAM technology and other related software tools are held mostly from users for users. This underlines one of the goals of the workshop: bringing users, developers and researchers together and providing a nurturing ground for open discussions and future projects. The conference will cover the following main topics: Aerodynamics; Civil engineering; Complex materials; Compressible flows; Fluid-structure interaction; General CFD; Heat and mass transfer;Lagrangian methods; Naval hydrodynamic; Offshore and renewable energy; Optimization and control; Porous media; Pre/post-processing; Reacting flows; Turbomachinery; Turbulence modeling. Papers presented in this workshop and having enough quality can be further considered for publication in Fluids. The papers will be peer-reviewed for the validation of research results, developments, and applications.

  PublisherDOI

• Multi-Scale Localized Perturbation Method in OpenFOAM

  Fluids · 2020-12-19 · 5 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  A modified set of governing differential equations for geophysical fluid flows is derived. All of the simulation fields are decomposed into a nominal large-scale background state and a small-scale perturbation from this background, and the new system is closed by the assumption that the perturbation is one-way coupled to the background. The decomposition method, termed the multi-scale localized perturbation method (MSLPM), is then applied to the governing equations of stratified fluid flows, implemented in OpenFOAM, and exercised in order to simulate the interaction of a vertically-varying background shear flow with an axisymmetric perturbation in a turbulent ocean environment. The results demonstrate that the MSLPM can be useful in visualizing the evolution of a perturbation within a complex background while retaining the complex physics that are associated with the original governing equations. The simulation setup may also be simplified under the MSLPM framework. Further applications of the MSLPM, especially to multi-scale simulations that encompass a large range of spatial and temporal scales, may be beneficial for researchers.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• OpenFOAM computation of interacting wind turbine flows and control (I): free rotating case

  International Journal of Hydromechatronics · 2020-01-01 · 3 citations

  article

  We develop high-fidelity blade resolved CFD for interacting turbine flows by the open source software OpenFOAM. Multi-turbine configurations are considered, aimed at a study of wind-turbine flows and their interactions. The preprocessing, coding, turbulence modelling and visualisation are discussed and described. An extension of our CFD work to a turbine operating in a two-phase flow is also included. Snapshots of interacting turbine flows are illustrated and dynamic motions can be viewed in animation videos. Two turbulence models, RANS k-e and LES, were used.

  PublisherDOI

• Anisotropic RANS Turbulence Modeling for Wakes in an Active Ocean Environment

  Fluids · 2020 · 6 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Physics
  • Mechanics
  • Meteorology

  The problem of simulating wakes in a stratified oceanic environment with active background turbulence is considered. Anisotropic RANS turbulence models are tested against laboratory and eddy-resolving models of the problem. An important aspect of our work is to acknowledge that the environment is not quiescent; therefore, additional sources are included in the models to provide a non-zero background turbulence. The RANS models are found to reproduce some key features from the eddy-resolving and laboratory descriptions of the problem. Tests using the freestream sources show the intuitive result that background turbulence causes more rapid wake growth and decay.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Anisotropic RANS Turbulence Modeling for Wakes in an Active Ocean Environment

  Preprints.org · 2020-11-16 · 2 citations

  preprintOpen accessSenior author

  The problem of simulating wakes in a stratified oceanic environment with active background turbulence is considered. Anisotropic RANS turbulence models are tested against laboratory and eddy-resolving models of the problem. An important aspect of our work is to acknowledge that the environment is not quiescent; therefore, additional sources are included in the models to provide a non-zero background turbulence. The RANS models are found to reproduce some key features from the eddy-resolving and laboratory descriptions of the problem. Tests using the freestream sources show the intuitive result that background turbulence causes more rapid wake growth and decay.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Multi-Physics Modeling of Electrochemical Deposition

  Fluids · 2020 · 6 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Materials science
  • Mechanics
  • Composite material

  Electrochemical deposition (ECD) is a common method used in the field of microelectronics to grow metallic coatings on an electrode. The deposition process occurs in an electrolyte bath where dissolved ions of the depositing material are suspended in an acid while an electric current is applied to the electrodes. The proposed computational model uses the finite volume method and the finite area method to predict copper growth on the plating surface without the use of a level set method or deforming mesh because the amount of copper layer growth is not expected to impact the fluid motion. The finite area method enables the solver to track the growth of the copper layer and uses the current density as a forcing function for an electric potential field on the plating surface. The current density at the electrolyte-plating surface interface is converged within each PISO (Pressure Implicit with Splitting Operator) loop iteration and incorporates the variance of the electrical resistance that occurs via the growth of the copper layer. This paper demonstrates the application of the finite area method for an ECD problem and additionally incorporates coupling between fluid mechanics, ionic diffusion, and electrochemistry.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Hybrid RANS/LES Turbulence Model Applied to a Transitional Unsteady Boundary Layer on Wind Turbine Airfoil

  Fluids · 2019-07-11 · 5 citations

  articleOpen access

  A hybrid Reynolds-averaged Navier Stokes/large-eddy simulation (RANS/LES) turbulence model integrated with a transition formulation is developed and tested on a surrogate model problem through a joint experimental and computational fluid dynamic approach. The model problem consists of a circular cylinder for generating coherent unsteadiness and a downstream airfoil in the cylinder wake. The cylinder flow is subcritical, with a Reynolds number of 64,000 based upon the cylinder diameter. The quantitative dynamics of vortex shedding and Reynolds stresses in the cylinder near wake are well captured, owing to the turbulence-resolving large eddy simulation mode that was activated in the wake. The hybrid model switched between RANS and LES modes outside the boundary layers, as expected. According to the experimental and simulation results, the airfoil encountered local flow angle variations up to ±50°. Further analysis through a phase-averaging technique found phase lags in the airfoil boundary layer along the chordwise locations, and both the phase-averaged and mean velocity profiles collapsed into the Law-of-the-wall in the range of 0 < y + < 50 . The features of high blade-loading fluctuations due to unsteadiness and transitional boundary layers are of interest in the aerodynamic studies of full-scale wind turbine blades, making the current model problem a comprehensive benchmark case for future model development and validation.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Effect of Ship-Induced Langmuir-Type Circulations on Distribution of Surface-Active Substances and Damping of Short Wind Waves

  Journal of Ship Research · 2019-11-06

  articleSenior author

  It has recently been shown that the interaction of ship-generated nonuniform currents with ambient surface waves can lead to the generation of Langmuir-type circulations (LTCs) (Basovich 2011) and a persistent wake (Somero et al. 2018). Based on this work, it is shown here that the LTC and surface currents of the persistent wake are responsible for the redistribution of surface-active substances (SAS) and a corresponding change in the damping of short surface waves. The persistent wake is a region of the ship wake, where initial ship-generated perturbations have mostly decayed. The LTCs are similar in nature to Langmuir circulations which arise as a result of instability of wind-driven current. LTCs produce a secondary flow with velocity transverse to the direction of the ship, and width significantly larger than the ship beam. Because LTCs are generated in large scale, they persist for a long time after the passage of the ship. Transverse surface currents produced by LTCs in the ship wake redistribute the SAS films at the sea surface. These currents create strong convergence and divergence zones which in turn produce streaks with different concentrations of SAS. The change in concentration of SAS affects the film pressure and the damping effect of SAS on the short surface waves. This effect is represented by a damping factor and is a crucial parameter in determination of the spectral density of short wind waves. Therefore, the damping effect of the film, as represented by the damping factor, is responsible for sea surface roughness modification and is important for prediction of synthetic-aperture RADAR (SAR) imagery of ship wakes on the ocean surface. In this article, we present the mathematical and computational methods, along with simulation results for a naval surface combatant operating in calm, head, and following seas. The simulation results clearly show that the convergence and divergence zones strongly influence the relative SAS concentration and the spatial distribution of the damping factor, the latter of which defines the structure of SAR images of the persistent wake. Comparisons of the magnitude of the damping factor with available SAR data are shown to be in good agreement.

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Adam Lavely

  15 shared

• Ganesh Vijayakumar

  National Renewable Energy Laboratory

  15 shared

• James G. Brasseur

  15 shared

• Brent A. Craven

  Pennsylvania State University

  13 shared

• Keefe B. Manning

  Pennsylvania State University

  12 shared

• Richard B. Medvitz

  Applied Research Laboratory at Penn State

  11 shared

• Steven Deutsch

  10 shared

• Michael Kinzel

  University of Central Florida

  10 shared

Labs

• Aerospace and Ocean Engineering, Virginia TechPI

Awards & honors

• Rolls-Royce Commonwealth Professor of Marine Propulsion (201…
• ARL Publication Award for Best Paper of 2011, “Fluid–structu…
• Royal Academy of Engineering Distinguished Visiting Fellowsh…
• FDA Group Recognition Award, as a member of The Critical Pat…
• Hunter Rouse Fellow of Fluid Mechanics, Hydraulics, and Hydr…