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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. Nijjer, J.S., Hewitt, D.R., and Neufeld, J.A. Stable and unstable layered miscible displacements in layered porous media, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 2019 (in press)

  2. 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)

  3. 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]

  4. 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]

  5. 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]

  6. 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]

  7. 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]

  8. 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]

  9. 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]

  10. 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]

  11. 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]

  12. 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]

  13. 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]

  14. 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]

  15. 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]

  16. 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]

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

  18. 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)

  19. 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