About

Justin Jaworski is an Associate Professor in the Kevin T. Crofton Department of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering at Virginia Tech. He holds a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Duke University, earned in 2009, and has a background that includes a B.S.E. in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science from Duke University. His research expertise encompasses fluid-structure interactions, aeroacoustics, unsteady aerodynamics, nonlinear dynamics, and power generation. He directs the Unsteady Fluid Mechanics and Acoustics Laboratory, focusing on unsteady fluid mechanics and acoustics with applications in aerospace and biological systems. Jaworski has contributed to the field through his involvement in professional societies such as the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the Royal Aeronautical Society. He has received numerous honors, including being named a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society in 2026, a Fellow of ASME in 2024, and an Associate Fellow of AIAA in 2022. His service to the profession includes roles such as AVT Team Member and Chair for NATO, and participation in various technical committees and symposia. His professional history includes positions at Lehigh University and Virginia Tech, as well as research fellowships at the University of Cambridge and the Air Force Research Laboratory.

Research topics

• Physics
• Mechanics
• Computer Science
• Engineering
• Acoustics
• Aerospace engineering
• Mathematics
• Mathematical analysis
• Geology
• Structural engineering
• Marine engineering
• Geometry
• Mechanical engineering
• Environmental science
• Aeronautics

Selected publications

• Meshless projection model-order reduction via reference spaces for smoothed-particle hydrodynamics

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2026-01-01

  preprintOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• Scattering by composite poroelastic–rigid plates in flow using the unified transform method

  International Journal of Aeroacoustics · 2026-03-10

  articleSenior author

  The Unified Transform Method (UTM) is applied for the first time to acoustic scattering by poroelastic plates in uniform grazing flow. We extend the UTM framework to incorporate low-Mach-number flow over either a finite poroelastic plate or a composite plate composed of alternating impermeable rigid and poroelastic sections. The method captures edge singularities through tailored basis functions and avoids the kernel factorization difficulties of Wiener–Hopf approaches, while remaining computationally efficient. A flow-dependent Rayleigh conductivity is introduced to quantify how porosity effects are modified by grazing flow under both plane-wave and point quadrupole excitation. Results reveal a Strouhal-controlled regime in which flow can modulate the noise-reducing properties of pores, but beyond this limit the effects of pores are nullified completely. For composite plates, the placement and length of poroelastic inserts and their rigid supports relative to the trailing edge are critical: downstream inserts, when sufficiently long, provide the most effective suppression of trailing-edge noise and elastic insert displacement. These findings demonstrate the UTM as a versatile semi-analytical framework for analyzing noise-control strategies with poroelastic surfaces in flow.

  PublisherDOI

• On the Evolution of Unequal Counter-Rotating Vortex Pairs

  2025-07-16

  article

  The influence of upstream inflow boundary perturbations on the evolution of counter-rotating vortex pairs with unequal strength and size is investigated using implicit large-eddy simulations. Lamb-Oseen vortex pairs are generated at a time-varying inflow boundary condition with parameters based on published experimental work. Previous research efforts indicate rapid, localized pressure drops in the weaker (secondary) vortex, motivating the present investigation into the dynamics and mechanisms leading to this phenomenon. Three perturbation amplitudes are applied to the vortices' time-dependent motion at the inflow boundary to determine their effect on the growth of long-wavelength instabilities and their subsequent dynamics. The results demonstrate a direct correlation between the initial perturbation amplitude and the streamwise location of the precipitous pressure drop in the secondary vortex. Specifically, larger amplitudes of the inflow vortex boundary accelerate the growth of the Crow instability, leading to more rapid and intense vortex interactions. This causes the secondary vortex to deform and stretch, culminating in the precipitous pressure reduction closer to the inflow boundary. These computational results provide a qualitative comparison to the experimental observations and offer a detailed analysis of the fluid dynamics that would lead to cavitation inception in vortex-dominated liquid flows.

  PublisherDOI

• Porous Edges for Flow Noise Reduction: From Theory to Application

  2025-01-01

  book-chapter
  PublisherDOI

• Correction: On the Evolution of Unequal Counter-Rotating Vortex Pairs

  2025-07-29

  article
  PublisherDOI

• An Efficient and Versatile Semi-Analytical Method for Acoustic Wave Scattering by Periodic Structures in Flow

  2025-07-16 · 1 citations

  articleSenior author

  The unified transform method is applied to industrially-motivated variations of the classical semi-infinite grating scattering problem. Previous applications of the unified transform method to scattering problems ignore the effects of flow, which limits their applicability to several important examples in engineering. Careful consideration is taken to implement mean flow into a periodic unit cell that has previously been used to represent porous structures in existing literature. An efficient and versatile analytical tool is constructed to investigate the scattering of an incident wave along a (potentially multi-layered) periodic grating in flow with the goal of producing a theoretical framework to improve the acoustic designs of scattering media in fluid flow. Initial results show that scattered noise can be mitigated by varying important geometrical properties of a suggested unit cell, such as the spacing between grating layers or the spacing between apertures. This methods paper brings attention to the procedure of the new technique based on the unified transform and highlights its versatility to varying geometries and plate parameters in scattering problems.

  PublisherDOI

• On the Effects of Vortex Core Modeling for Isolated and Paired Vortex Systems

  2025-07-16

  article

  Analytical models of unequal-strength vortex pairs are essential tools in the study of slender filament dynamics in engineering applications. However, these models typically assume an identical core size and structure for each vortex, despite physical examples demonstrating that distinct core properties can strongly affect the dynamics of the vortex pair. This paper investigates how vortices with distinct cores influence the self-induced motion of isolated filaments and the dynamics of interacting vortex pairs. Specifically, we revisit the Klein–Majda (K–M) model for single- and double-vortex systems, which includes the effects of the viscous vortex core and balances local self-induction asymptotically with higher-order self-stretching and interaction effects. However, the K–M model does not incorporate distinct core properties and asymmetries in the initial perturbation of vortex filaments. We suggest a model amendment to incorporate distinct vortex features in the double-vortex case. Our results demonstrate that differences in vortex core size, core velocity profiles, and initial perturbation amplitudes and wavelengths can significantly alter the evolution of interacting vortices at the leading order, challenging assumptions that are commonly made in asymptotic vortex models.

  PublisherDOI

• Meshless projection model-order reduction via reference spaces for smoothed-particle hydrodynamics

  ArXiv.org · 2025-07-10

  preprintOpen access

  A model-order reduction framework for the meshless smoothed-particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method is presented. The proposed framework introduces the concept of modal reference spaces to overcome the challenges of discovering low-dimensional subspaces from unstructured, dynamic, and mixing numerical topology that occurs in SPH simulations. These reference spaces enable a low-dimensional representation of the field equations while maintaining the inherent meshless qualities of SPH. Modal reference spaces are constructed by projecting snapshot data onto a reference space where low-dimensionality of field quantities can be discovered via traditional modal decomposition techniques (e.g., the proper orthogonal decomposition (POD)). Modal quantities are mapped back to the meshless SPH space via scattered data interpolation during the online predictive stage. The proposed model-order reduction framework is cast into the meshless Galerkin POD and the Adjoint Petrov-Galerkin projection model-order reduction (PMOR) formulation. The PMORs are tested on three numerical experiments: 1) the Taylor--Green vortex; 2) the lid-driven cavity; and 3) the flow past an open cavity. Results show good agreement in reconstructed and predictive velocity fields, which showcase the ability of this framework to evolve the field equations in a low-dimensional subspace on an unstructured, dynamic, and mixing numerical topology. Results also show that the pressure field is sensitive to the projection error due to the stiff weakly-compressible assumption made in the current SPH framework, but this sensitivity can be alleviated through nonlinear approximations, such as the APG approach. The proposed meshless model-order reduction framework reports up to 90,000x dimensional compression within 10% error in quantities of interest, marking a step toward drastic cost reduction in SPH simulations.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Experimental Study of Trailing-Edge Bluntness Noise Reduction by Porous Plates

  AIAA Journal · 2024-08-05 · 4 citations

  article

  The acoustic and aerodynamic fields of blunt porous plates are examined experimentally in an effort to mitigate trailing-edge bluntness noise. The plates are characterized by a single dimensionless porosity parameter identified in previous works that controls the influence of porosity on the sound field. Hot-wire anemometry interrogates the velocity field to connect turbulence details of specific regions to flow noise directivity and beamforming source maps. Porous plates are demonstrated to reduce the bluntness-induced noise by up to 17 dB and progressively suppress broadband low-frequency noise as the value of the porosity parameter increases. However, an increase in this parameter also increases the high-frequency noise created by the pores themselves. The same highly perforated plate characterized by a large value of the porosity parameter reduces the bluntness-induced vortex shedding that is present in the wake of the impermeable plate. Lastly, pore shape and positional alignment are shown to have a complex effect on the acoustic field. Among the porosity designs considered, plates with circular pores are most effective for low-frequency noise reductions but generate high-frequency noise. No meaningful difference is found between the acoustic spectra from plates of the same open-area fraction with pores aligned along or staggered about the flow direction.

  PublisherDOI

• Construction of a Real-Time Hybrid Simulation Testing Facility and Validation for Offshore Wind Turbine System Behavior under Realistic Wind and Wave Loading Conditions

  2024-02-22 · 1 citations

  articleCorresponding

  Wind, wave, 1P, and 3P loading subject the offshore wind turbine (OWT) structure to multidirectional long-term cyclic loads that have varying amplitudes, frequencies, and patterns. Therefore, studying the soil-foundation-structure interaction (SFSI) under realistic loading is required to understand the response of the entire OWT during the service life of the structure. This paper presents the establishment and capabilities of a new large-scale multidirectional offshore wind SFSI testing facility at the Advanced Technology for Large Structural Systems (ATLSS) research center at Lehigh University. The new testing facility has unique multidirectional loading capabilities that allow for simultaneous application of realistic wind, wave, gravity loads, and their induced moments at the top of the OWT foundations (i.e., mudline). The capabilities of the new testing facility also include large-scale real-time hybrid simulation (RTHS) testing. These capabilities provide the ability to evaluate the response of the whole OWT structure under loading. In addition to presenting the design, concepts, and framework of the facility, this paper presents validation results for the RTHS framework of OWTs using small-scale tests. These small-scale RTHS tests are used as a first step to prepare for conducting large-scale RTHS tests.

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• CAREER: Flow distortions of quiet serrated structures

  NSF · $565k · 2019–2023

• International Research Fellowship Program: Aeroacoustic Model for an Elastic Lifting Surface with a Soft, Sound Absorbant Coating: The Silent Flight of Owls

  NSF · $140k · 2011–2013

• Collaborative Research: Aerodynamic-aeroacoustic performance of poroelastic wings inspired by the silent plumage of owls

  NSF · $319k · 2018–2022

Frequent coauthors

• Rozhin Hajian

  University of Massachusetts Lowell

  16 shared

• Steven N. Rodriguez

  United States Naval Research Laboratory

  15 shared

• Huansheng Chen

  13 shared

• N. Peake

  University of Cambridge

  13 shared

• Nathan Wagenhoffer

  Pennsylvania State University

  11 shared

• Keith W. Moored

  10 shared

• Earl H. Dowell

  Duke University

  8 shared

• John G. Michopoulos

  7 shared

Labs

• Unsteady Fluid Mechanics and Acoustics LaboratoryPI

Awards & honors

• Fellow, Royal Aeronautical Society, 2026
• Fellow, ASME, 2024
• Associate Fellow, AIAA, 2022
• NSF CAREER Award, 2019
• AFRL Summer Faculty Fellowship, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2023