Skip to content

 

Fellows Directory

Michael Gaster

Michael Gaster

Professor Michael Gaster FRS

Fellow


Elected: 1985

Biography

Michael Gaster’s work focuses on the mechanism of transition in a boundary layer. He elucidated the relationship between temporal and spatial instabilities by means of a group velocity and made a quantitative prediction of the development of waves in growing boundary layers. He has measured the evolution of localised wave packets and demonstrated a substantial measure of agreement with his theory. He has shed valuable light on aspects of leading edge separation on thin wings, especially on the question of transition to turbulence and reattachment. He has also made important contributions to problems of vortex shedding, turbulent wedges and the spectral analysis of random signals. His work is marked by a unification of theoretical ideas with experiment, partly brought about by ingenious use of computational methods.

Interest and expertise

Subject groups

  • Engineering
    • Fluid dynamics, Engineering, aeronautical
Was this page useful?
Thank you for your feedback
Thank you for your feedback. Please help us improve this page by taking our short survey.