Meet the Team

Dr. Nils Tilton

Director, Computational Fluid Dynamics Group

Dr. Nils Tilton is an Assitant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Colorado School of Mines. Dr. Tilton’s expertise is in theoretical and computational fluid mechanics with an emphasis on hydrodynamic stability and flow through porous media. He received his PhD in 2009 from McGill University, after which he was a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Aix-Marseille (2009–2011) and the University of Maryland (2011–2014). His research focuses on developing accurate analytical and numerical models of membrane filtration, carbon dioxide sequestration, and flow control for drag reduction. These applications play central roles in the water-energy-climate nexus, as well as the food, pharmaceutical, and petroleum sectors. Dr. Tilton’s numerical work focuses on spectral methods, fractional step methods, and multi-domain methods. His analytical work focuses on perturbation methods and volume-averaged models of flow through porous media.

Current Graduate Students

Mark Dudley

Master’s Candidate

Mark is a second-year master’s student in the group, working under a research assistantship. He received his BS in Engineering Physics at Mines in 2018, before moving into the Mechanical Engineering department. Prior to that, his background focused primarily on applications of laser physics in senior design and numerical modeling of ultrasound transducers in industry with Acertara Acoustic Laboratories. His current research centers on 3D computational modeling of a vacuum membrane distillation process where supplemental heat is applied to reduce temperature polarization, which is of interest to the Department of Energy. In particular, the DoE is interested in applying the heat via solar heating.

Jacob Johnston

Doctoral Candidate

A heated cylinder in an enclosed box causes fluid motion due to temperature dependent buoyancy changes.

Jacob is completing his doctorate degree in Mechanical Engineering at Mines. He graduated from the University of Portland with a BS in Mechanical Engineering in May 2017. His research focuses on enhancing numerical methods in computational simulations for membrane separation processes such as reverse osmosis (RO) and membrane distillation (MD). Using an approach known as immersed boundary methods, Jacob is working toward increasing the accuracy of fluid/solid interactions which are very important in MD systems.

Jincheng Lou

Doctoral Candidate

Jincheng’s expertise lies in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation with an emphasis on simulating membrane filtration systems. He received his BS degree in 2014 from the University of Science and Technology of China. He is now pursuing his PhD degree under supervision of Dr. Nils Tilton. Currently he works on CFD simulation of heat and mass transport in direct contact membrane distillation. He builds in-house a 2D/3D finite volume CFD solver for his project using a projection method and immersed boundary method.

Nick Yearout

Master’s Candidate

Nick Yearout began pursuing his master’s degree in Thermal Fluids in the fall of 2018. He graduated from Colorado State University with a BS in Mechanical Engineering in May 2017 and then spent a year working in industry as a systems engineer for Raytheon before returning to school. Nick is working on fluid dynamics with a focus on understanding reverse osmosis processes through experimental and computational modeling. Computational fluid dynamics is an area of interest for Nick, and he hopes to use those skills in industry one day. In his free time Nick likes to climb mountains, ski and backpack.

Group Alumni

Liam Poacher

Liam received a degree in Engineering Physics in May 2018. He currently does research full time while he waits for the wheels of bureaucracy to turn. He likes research because it allows him to better understand and analyze the physical mechanisms behind interesting phenomena. This, in turn, allows him to fully internalize and use the education the he has received, and learn and understand more of what could be applicable in his chosen career path. He likes lifting weights, running, hiking, and reading in his spare time.

Mitchell White

CAD rendering of a feed spacer

Mitchell was an undergraduate student in the group in his senior year at Mines pursuing a Mechanical Engineering degree. His research experimentally investigated membrane distillation (MD), a separation process driven by vapor pressure difference across a hydrophobic membrane. His focus is on feed spacer optimization for MD systems. Feed spacers play a crucial role in total water recovery and efficiency in MD systems. Mitchell leverages 3D printing technology to manufacture feed spacers for experimental testing.