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I am an applied mathematician and fluid dynamicist, and I am interested in using mathematics to model and understand physical processes in the world around us. I am a Research Fellow, College Tutor and (from 2019) College Lecturer at Gonville and Caius College, and a member of the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at the Univertisty of Cambridge.

Research interests

If you are interested in studying for a PhD or holding a postdoctoral postition in DAMTP, or if you are an undergraduate interested in a summer project, please get in touch with me. Research areas in which I have worked and topics of current interest include:

  • Fluid mechanics of structured fluids: geophsyical applications (mudslides, magmatic systems, mud volcanism); industrial applications (mine tailings, batch processing, cleaning)

  • Viscoplasticity: channel flow; clogging and jamming; displacement flows; viscoplastic boundary layers; locomotion through viscoplastic fluids

  • Poro-elasticity and flow through/of deformable media: applications in geophysics (subsidence, sub-glacial till, liquefaction) and industry (pulp and paper)

  • Thixotropy, liquefaction, two-phase flow

  • Convection in porous media: impact of heterogeneity; plume dynamics; dissolution and CO2 sequestration; astrophysical convection and internal heat

  • Mixing in porous media; viscous fingering

  • Double-diffusion in geological settings: mid-ocean ridge dynamics, porous media, magma chambers

Publications

  1. Hewitt, D.R., and Balmforth, N.J. Viscoplastic slender-body theory, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 2018 856 (870-897) [pdf] (see also 'Focus on Fluids' review article Dropping slender-body theory into the mud by Saverio Spagnolie)

  2. Hewitt, D.R., Chini, G.P. and Neufeld, J.A. The influence of a poroelastic till on rapid subglacial flooding and cavity formation, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 2018 855 (1170-1207) [pdf]

  3. Nijjer, J.S., Hewitt, D.R., and Neufeld, J.A. The dynamics of miscible viscous fingering from onset to shutdown, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 2018 837 (520-545) [pdf]

  4. Hewitt, D.R., and Lister, J.R., Stability of columnar convection in a three-dimenional porous medium, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 2017 829 (89-111) [pdf]

  5. Hewitt, D.R., and Balmforth, N.J., Taylor's swimming sheet in a yield stress fluid, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 2017 828 (33-56) [pdf]

  6. Kvick, M., Martinez, D.M., Hewitt, D.R., and Balmforth, N.J., Imbibition with swelling: Capillary rise in thin deformable porous media, Physical Review Fluids, 2017 2 (074001) [pdf]

  7. Balmforth, N.J., Craster, R.V., Hewitt, D.R., Hormozi, S., and Maleki, A., Viscoplastic boundary layers, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 2017 813 (929-954) [pdf]

  8. Liu, Y., Balmforth, N.J., Hormozi, S. and Hewitt, D.R., Two-dimensional viscoplastic dambreaks, Journal of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics, 2016 238 (65-79) [pdf]

  9. Hewitt, D.R., Paterson, D.T., Balmforth, N.J., and Martinez, D.M. Dewatering of fibre suspensions by pressure filtration, Physics of Fluids, 2016 28 (063304). [pdf]

  10. Hewitt, D.R., Nijjer, J.S., Neufeld, J.A., and Worster, M.G. Flow-induced compaction of a deformable porous medium, Physical Review E, 2016 93, 023116 [pdf]

  11. Hewitt, D.R., Balmforth, N.J., Dasani, M., and Martinez, D.M. Obstructed and channelized viscoplastic flow in a Hele-Shaw cell, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 2016 790 (173-204) [pdf]

  12. Hewitt, D.R., Neufeld, J.A., and Balmforth, N.J. Shallow, gravity-driven flow in a poro-elastic layer, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 2015 778 (335-360) [pdf]

  13. Hewitt, D.R., Neufeld, J.A., and Lister, J.R. High Rayleigh number convection in a porous medium containing a thin low-permeability layer, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 2014 756 (844-869) [pdf]

  14. Hewitt, D.R., Neufeld, J.A., and Lister, J.R. High Rayleigh number convection in a three-dimensional porous medium, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 2014 748 (879-895) [pdf]

  15. Hewitt, D.R., Neufeld, J.A., and Lister, J.R. Stability of columnar convection in a porous medium, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 2013 737 (205-231) [pdf]

  16. Hewitt, D.R., and Balmforth, N.J. Thixotropic gravity currents, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 2013 727 (56-82) [pdf]

  17. Hewitt, D.R., Neufeld, J.A., and Lister, J.R. Convective shutdown in a porous medium at high Rayleigh number, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 2013 719 (551-586) [pdf] (see also 'Focus on Fluids' review article by David Pritchard, and Front-cover picture)

  18. Hewitt, D.R., Neufeld, J.A., and Lister, J.R. Ultimate regime of high Rayleigh number convection in a porous medium, Physical Review Letters, 2012 108 (224503) [pdf]

Previously

I was a Killam Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Mathematics at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver (2014-2015).

I hold a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from the University of Cambridge; my PhD thesis, entitled 'High Rayleigh number Convection in a Porous Medium', can be found here.

My C.V. can be found here.

Teaching: website for MATH256, taught at UBC in 2014, can be found here.

Contacts

email: d.r.hewitt 'at' damtp.cam.ac.uk
Office: H1.07
Address: Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics,
Centre for Mathematical Sciences, Wilberforce Road, Cambridge CB3 0WA
Telephone: +44 1223 764067