[ Introduction ]

Outline of researches

 The fluid mechanics and fluid engineering treat fluid whose representatives are air and water filling biosphere of the earth. Therefore, fluid mechanics / engineering are most familiar study. The fluid mechanics/engineering is defined as study researching forces exerted on body in the fluid or surrounding the fluid when the fluid(gas or liquid) moves, inversely movement of fluid when force is applied to the fluid, and the fluid itself.

 Flow can be seen in a variety of aspect in everyday life as follows: water supply, city gas, blood circulation in a body, airflow in lung or airway, flows around airplane, car or ship, flows through fluid-machinery or propulsion-machinery such as pump, turbine, propeller, jet-engine, flows in flow-passage or container such as atomic reactor or power plants, and extremely ocean current or atmosphere circulation. These are research objects of fluid mechanics/fluid engineering/fluid science/fluid physics.

 Biomechanics is a study that applies way of thinking and technique in engineering to animals especially human, and researches mechanically function and structure of human body, organs, and tissues such as blood circulation system, respiratory system, bone, muscle, joint. Inversely, mechanism of locomotion's such as walking and running of animals, flight of birds and insects, swimming of fishes and whales are researched and the results are applied to engineering, biology, medical science, physical education, and so on.

In our laboratory, the followings are main research themes among the above two fields.

  1. Biomechanics of blood circulation system and respiratory system, and artificial organ
  2. Multi-phase flow, functional fluid, and intelligent fluid
  3. Biomechanics of swimming and flying of animals
  4.  Furthermore, in order to develop new experimental technique and numerical calculation method required to perform the research, the followings are researched with together.

  5. Flow visualization and measurement by laser
  6. Computational fluid dynamics

 Model experiment imitated as living body is more important than animal experiment in engineering research method. Therefore, development of new measurement technique and production is necessary of a variety of substances which is able to imitate mechanically component tissue of living body such as imitation blood vessel or imitation blood cell. Then, academic collaboration is necessary between medical science, physiology, anatomy, fluid mechanics, elastic mechanics, control engineering, high polymer chemistry, and so on. Our laboratory is collaborated with the research group for physiome and biosimulation in the life and human research division at the organization for research and development of innovative science and technology (ORDIST) of Kansai University, the laboratory of the national cardiovascular center, the faculty of medicine of Osaka University, Osaka Medical College, and several corporations.