On May 5th, Christian Narváez successfully defended his PhD thesis entitled "Towards Computational Modeling of ElectroHydroDynamics in Microfluidics-based Manufacturing", an outstanding research on manufacturing technologies qualified as an Excellent (Cum Laude still pending of confirmation) by the examination committee. This work has been supervised by Dr. Pavel Ryzhakov and Dr. Jordi Pons-Prats.

From left to right: Prof. Riccardo Rossi (secretary of the examination committee), Dr. Pavel Ryzhakov (co-supervisor), Prof. Katherine Smith (vocal of the examination committee, online) and Prof. Marc Secanell (President of the examination committee, online), the (at that time) PhD candidate Mr. Christian Narváez, and Dr. Jordi Pons-Prats (co-supervisor)

ABOUT THE THESIS

The high precision controllability and versatility of Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) processes are enabling and accelerating the development of novel microfluidic-based manufacturing techniques. This technology relies on fluid manipulation by an electric field, which gives rise to EHD-flow patterns that can be adapted for manufacturing either particles or fibers. EHD-based manufacturing is increasingly popular for specialized applications due to its ability to tailor various materials with desired morphology at the micro- and nano-scales. To optimize the performance of this advanced manufacturing process, extensive experimental studies have been conducted, and numerical simulations have been developed to predict and analyze the behavior of EHD-flows.