Biography

Ferrante is an Associate Professor of the William E. Boeing Department of Aeronautics & Astronautics at the University of Washington.

In 2004, he received the Ph.D. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from the University of California, Irvine, where he continued his research as Postdoctoral Scholar until 2007. From 2007 to 2009, before joining the UW, he was Postdoctoral Scholar in Aeronautics at the California Institute of Technology (GALCIT).

NSF CAREER Award (2011) for studying droplet-laden turbulence and is an Associate Fellow of the AIAA (2022).

Education

• Ph.D., Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, UC, Irvine
• M.S., Aeronautics and Aerospace, von Karman Institute
• B.S., Aeronautical Engineering, Universita' di Napoli Federico II

Research Statement

Ferrante's research is in the area of Computational Fluid Mechanics (CFM). His research is mainly focused on studying single-phase and multi-phase turbulent flows relevant to engineering applications, e.g., internal and external aerodynamics, propulsion, and to natural phenomena with the goal of helping the environment by reducing anthropogenic CO2 emissions. His research group develops numerical methods and algorithms for high-performance computing (HPC) to perform state-of-the-art Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS) and Large Eddy Simulations (LES) of turbulent flows. His recent work includes the discovery of the law of incipient separation for turbulent flows, the pathways of turbulence kinetic energy in droplet-laden turbulence, a new approach to LES for droplet-laden flows mixed with artificial neural networks, and the development of efficient computational methodologies for wall-bounded and multiphase flows.

Select publications

1. Aithal A., Tipirneni M. & Ferrante A. (2023) "Temporal accuracy of FastRK3" Journal of Computational Physics, Vol. 475, 111853, pp. 1-18
2. Huang S., Aithal A. & Ferrante A. (2022) "Law of incipient separation over airfoils as inferred by Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes" Physics of Fluids, Vol. 34, 085117, pp. 1-20
3. Freund A. & Ferrante A. (2021) “Large-eddy simulation of droplet-laden decaying isotropic turbulence using artificial neural networks” International Journal of Multiphase Flows, Vol. 142, 103704, pp. 1-25
4. Dodd M., Khorassani D.M., Ferrante A. & Ihme M. (2021) “Analysis of droplet evaporation in isotropic turbulence through droplet-resolved DNS” International Journal of Heat & Mass Transfer, Vol. 172, pp. 1-10
5. Lu D., Aithal A. & Ferrante A. (2021) “Law of incipient separation over curved ramps as inferred by Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes” AIAA J., Vol. 59, No. 1, pp. 196-214
6. Aithal A. & Ferrante A. (2020) “A fast pressure-correction method for incompressible flows over curved walls” J. Comput. Physics, Vol. 421, pp. 1-28
7. Freund A. & Ferrante A. (2019) “Wavelet-spectral analysis of droplet-laden isotropic turbulence” J. Fluid Mechanics, Vol. 875, pp. 914-928
8. Dodd M.S. & Ferrante A. (2016) “On the interaction of Taylor lengthscale size droplets and isotropic turbulence” J. Fluid Mechanics, Vol. 806, pp. 356-412
9. Dodd M.S. & Ferrante A. (2014) “A fast pressure-correction method for incompressible two-fluid flows” J. Comput. Physics, Vol. 273, pp. 416–434
10. Baraldi A., Dodd M.S. & Ferrante A. (2014) “A mass-conserving volume-of-fluid method: volume tracking and droplet surface-tension in incompressible isotropic turbulence” Computers & Fluids, Vol. 96, pp. 322-337
11. Lucci F., Ferrante A. & Elghobashi S. E. (2010) “Modulation of isotropic turbulence by particles of Taylor-length-scale size” J. Fluid Mechanics, Vol. 650, pp. 5-55
12. Ferrante A. & Elghobashi S. E. (2005) “Reynolds number effect on drag reduction in a microbubble-laden spatially-developing turbulent boundary layer” J. Fluid Mechanics, Vol. 543, pp. 93-106
13. Ferrante A. & Elghobashi S. E. (2004) “On the physical mechanisms of drag reduction in a spatially developing turbulent boundary layer laden with microbubbles” J. Fluid Mechanics, Vol. 503, pp. 345-355
14. Ferrante A. & Elghobashi S. E. (2004) “A robust method for generating inflow conditions for direct numerical simulations of spatially-developing turbulent boundary layers” J. Comput. Physics, Vol. 198, pp. 372-387
15. Ferrante A. & Elghobashi S. E. (2003) “On the physical mechanisms of two-way coupling in particle-laden isotropic turbulence” Physics of Fluids, Vol. 15 (n.2), pp. 315-329

Honors & awards

• AIAA Associate Fellow (2022)
• NSF CAREER Award (2011)
• Belgian Government Prize, von Karman Institute (1997)
• AIAA Associate Fellow (2022)
• APS
• AIAA

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