Junlin Yuan
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Associate Professor
Biography
Junlin Yuan is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Michigan State University and director of the Turbulence Simulation & Modeling Lab. Her group uses large-scale, high-fidelity simulations to study wall-bounded turbulence where roughness, pressure gradients, permeability, and body motion challenge standard models. Her work combines physics-guided and data-driven turbulence modeling across non-equilibrium flows, hyporheic exchange and reactive transport, fan aeroacoustics, and fluid-structure interaction in bio-inspired swimming. Applications include engineering systems, environmental transport, underwater locomotion, and quiet fans. Her group develops roughness-aware closures, open flow datasets, pore-resolved reactive-flow models, noise-prediction tools, and reduced-order swimming models. Yuan earned MS and PhD degrees from Queen’s University, Canada, and a BEng from Northwestern Polytechnical University, China. Her work has been supported by ONR, NSF, and a university-industry consortium.
Education
- Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering, 2015, Queen's University, Canada
- M.S., Mechanical Engineering 2011, Queen's University, Canada
- B.Eng., Aerospace Engineering 2009, Northwestern Polytechnical University, China
Research Interests
- Non-Equilibrium Turbulence
- Wall Roughness
- Wall Permeability
- Turbulence-Induced Noise
- Fluid-Structure Interaction
Research Lab
Turbulence Simulation & Modeling LabResearchGate
Selected Publications
- J. Yuan, A. A. Mishra, G. J. Brereton, G. Iaccarino, and M. Vartdal. “Single-point structure tensors in turbulent channel flows with smooth and wavy walls.” Physics of Fluids, 31, 125115, 2019.
- M. Aghaei-Jouybari, J. Yuan, G. J. Brereton, and M. S. Murillo. “Data-driven prediction of the equivalent sand-grain height in rough-wall turbulent flows.” Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 912, A8, 2021.
- S. C. Mangavelli, J. Yuan, and G. J. Brereton. “Effects of surface roughness topography in transient channel flows.” Journal of Turbulence, 22, 434–460, 2021.
- M. Aghaei-Jouybari, J. Yuan, Z. Li, G. J. Brereton, and F. A. Jaberi. “Supersonic turbulent flows over sinusoidal rough walls.” Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 956, A3, 2023.
- G. Shen, J. Yuan, and M. S. Phanikumar. “Quantifying the effects of bed roughness on transit time distributions via direct numerical simulations of turbulent hyporheic exchange.” Water Resources Research, 58, e2021WR030503, 2022.