The “Institut de Mécanique des Fluides de Toulouse“ (IMFT) is a joint research laboratory between CNRS, the National Polytec hnic Institute of Toulouse (INPT) and the Paul Sabatier University (Toulouse 3). IMFT gathers about 200 people, including 65 academics, 35 engineers, technicians and administrative staff, 80 PhD students and 20 post-docs. It represents one of the major concentrations in France and even in Europe in terms of research and advanced training in fluid dynamics, both by its size and by the wide spectrum of scientific topics and applicative fields it addresses. Located in the heart of Toulouse on an island in the middle of the Garonne river, the laboratory develops a broad range of research activities covering fundamental aspects related to the physics of flows, as well as numerous engineering applications.
The research carried out in the laboratory combines mathematical models and intensive experimental and computational investigations. Research is in particular active along the following axes: external aero- and hydrodynamics (vortex dynamics, wakes, fluid-structure interaction, wall transfer), combustion in turbulent or heterogeneous media, dynamics of bubbles, drops and interfaces, two-phase flows with phase change, particulate flows, wet granular media, hydrology and waterway planning, hydrodynamic instabilities in homogeneous or heterogeneous fluids (including optimal perturbations and flow control), vegetated flow dynamics, biomechanics, microhydrodynamics (fractures, films, particles), heterogeneous media and change of scale, “non-standard“ turbulence (free surface/interfacial flows, stratified/variable-density flows, reactive flows) and turbulent mixing.
These research topics find applications in ground and aerial transportation, energy conversion and transportation, chemical and process engineering, biomedical engineering and environmental engineering.