Publications

2025

Xu, X., Tan, S., Qi, Y., & Ni, R. “Experimental investigation of turbulence modulation by deformable bubbles.” Physical Review Fluids. 10, 033605.

2024

Xu, X., Qi, Y., Zhong, S., Tan, S., Wu, Q., & Ni, R. (2024). “Intermittency of bubble deformation in turbulence.” Physical Review Letters, 133(21), 214001.
X Ruan, MT Gorman, R Ni. “Effects of electrostatic interaction on clustering and collision of bidispersed inertial particles in homogeneous and isotropic turbulence.” Journal of Fluid Mechanics 980, A29
M Gorman, X Ruan, R Ni. “Electrostatic interactions between rough dielectric particles.” Physical Review E 109 (3), 034902
Y. Zhang, H. Ko, M.A. Calicchia, R. Ni, G.V. Lauder. “Collective movement of schooling fish reduces the costs of locomotion in turbulent conditions.” PLoS Biol 22(6):e3002501.
S. Zhong, R. Ni. “On the breakup frequency of bubbles and droplets in turbulence: A compilation and evaluation of experimental data.” International Journal of Multiphase Flow. Pre-proof, 104842.
M.T. Gorman, X. Ruan, R. Ni. “Electrostatic interactions between rough dielectric particles.”
Physical Review E. 109 (3), 034902.
Y. Qi, X. Xu, S. Tan, S. Zhong, Q. Wu, R. Ni. “Breaking bubbles across multiple time scales in turbulence.”
Journal of Fluid Mechanics. 983, A24.
X. Ruan, M.T. Gorman, R. Ni. “Effects of electrostatic interaction on clustering and collision of bidispersed inertial particles in homogeneous and isotropic turbulence.“
Journal of Fluid Mechanics. 980, A29.
R. Ni. “Deformation and breakup of bubbles and drops in turbulence.”
Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics. 56, 319-347.

2023

M.T. Gorman, J.S. Rubio, M.X. Diaz-Lopez, W.A. Chambers, A.M. Korzun, J. Rabinovitch, R. Ni. “Scaling laws of plume-induced granular cratering.”
PNAS Nexus. 2(9), pgad300.
S. Zhong, R. Ni. “On the breakup frequency of bubbles and droplets in turbulence: a compilation and evaluation of experimental data.”
arXiv preprint. arXiv:2308.13990.
J. Lu, X. Xu, S. Zhong, R. Ni, G. Tryggvason. “The dynamics of suspensions of prolate spheroidal particles—Effects of volume fraction.”
International Journal of Multiphase Flow. 165, 104469.
M.A. Calicchia, R. Mittal, J. Seo, R. Ni. “Reconstructing the pressure field around swimming fish using a physics-informed neural network.”
Journal of Experimental Biology. 226, jeb244983. Download
Y. Qi, C. Meneveau, G. Voth, R. Ni. “Folding dynamics and its intermittency in turbulence.”
Physical Review Letters. 130, 154001. Download
Selected as the cover article.
S. Tan, S. Zhong, R. Ni. “3D Lagrangian tracking of polydispersed bubbles at high image densities.”
Experiments in Fluids. 64(4), 85.
S. Tan, X. Xu, Y. Qi, R. Ni. “Scalings and decay of homogeneous, nearly isotropic turbulence behind a jet array.”
Physical Review Fluids. 8, 024603. Download
Selected as Editors’ Suggestion.

2022

X. Ruan, M.T. Gorman, S. Li, R. Ni. “Surface-resolved dynamic simulation of charged non-spherical particles.”
Journal of Computational Physics. 466, 111381. Download
S. Tan, R. Ni. “Universality and intermittency of pair dispersion in turbulence.”
Physical Review Letters. 128 (11), 114502. Download
Y. Qi, S. Tan, N. Corbitt, C. Urbanik, A.K.R., Salibindla, R. Ni. “Fragmentation in turbulence by small eddies.”
Nature Communications. 13. Download
M.X. Diaz-Lopez, M.T. Gorman, J.S. Rubio, R. Ni. “Plume-surface interaction physics focused ground test 1: Diagnostics and preliminary results.”
AIAA SCITECH 2022 Forum.
J.S. Rubio, M.T. Gorman, M.X. Diaz-Lopez, R. Ni. “Plume-surface interaction physics focused ground test 1: Setup and preliminary results.”
AIAA SCITECH 2022 Forum.

2021

A.U.M. Masuk, Y. Qi, A.K.R. Salibindla, R. Ni. “Towards a phenomenological model on the deformation and orientation dynamics of finite-sized bubbles in both quiescent and turbulent media.”
Journal of Fluid Mechanics. 920. Download
X. Li, S. Huang, R. Ni, K. Xia. “Lagrangian velocity and acceleration measurements in plume-rich regions of turbulent Rayleigh-Bénard convection“.
Physical Review Fluids. 6 (5), 053503
A.U.M. Masuk, A.K.R. Salibindla, R. Ni. “The oriental dynamics of deformable finite-sized bubbles in turbulence.“
Journal of Fluid Mechanics. 915. Download
A.K.R. Salibindla, A.U.M. Masuk, R. Ni. “Experimental investigation of the acceleration statistics and added-mass force of deformable bubbles in intense turbulence.”
Journal of Fluid Mechanics. 912. Download
A.U.M. Masuk, A.K.R. Salibindla, R. Ni. “Simultaneous measurements of deforming Hinze-scale bubbles with surrounding turbulence.”
Journal of Fluid Mechanics. 910. Download

2020

Y. Qi, Mohammad Masuk AU, R. Ni. “Towards a model of bubble breakup in turbulence through experimental constraints.”
International Journal of Multiphase Flow. 132. Download
S. Tan, A. Salibindla, A. U. M. Masuk, and R. Ni. “Introducing OpenLPT: new method of removing ghost particles and high-concentration particle shadow tracking.“
Experiments in Fluids. 61. Download
R. Mittal, R. Ni, J.H. Seo. “The flow physics of COVID-19.”
Journal of Fluid Mechanics. 894. Download
A.K.R. Salibindla, A.U.M. Masuk, S. Tan, R. Ni. “Lift and drag coefficients of deformable bubbles in intense turbulence determined from bubble rise velocity.“
Journal of Fluid Mechanics. 894. Download

2019

A. U. M. Masuk, A. Salibindla, and R. Ni. “A robust virtual-camera 3D shape reconstruction of deforming bubbles droplets with additional physical constraints.”
International Journal of Multiphase Flow, 120, 103088 (2019). Download
A.U.M. Masuk, A. Salibindla, S. Tan, R. Ni. “V-ONSET (Vertical Octagonal Noncorrosive Stirred Energetic Turbulence): A vertical water tunnel with a large energy dissipation rate to study bubble/droplet deformation and breakup in strong turbulence“.
Review of Scientific Instruments, 90 (8), (2019) Download
M. Sinhuber, K. Van Der Vaart, R. Ni, J. Puckett, D. Kelley, N. Ouellette. “Three-dimensional time-resolved trajectories from laboratory insect swarms“.
Scientific Data, 6 (1), 1-8 (2019). Download
L. Zhao, K. Gustavsson, R. Ni, S. Kramel, G. Voth, H. Andersson, B. Mehlig. “Passive directors in turbulence“.
Physical Review Fluids, 4 (5), 054602 (2019). Download

2018

A. K. Salibindla, R. Subedi, V. C. Shen, A. U. Masuk, and R. Ni. “Dissolution-driven convection in a heterogeneous porous medium“. Journal of Fluid Mechanics 857 (2018) Download
V. Vohra, M. Wahba, G. Akarslan, R. Ni, and S. Brennan. “An examination of vehicle spacing to reduce aerodynamic drag in truck platoons“. 2018 IEEE Vehicle Power and Propulsion Conference (VPPC). IEEE. (2018) Download

2017

J. Shen, R. Ni, “Experimental investigation of clogging dynamics in homogeneous porous medium”. Water Resources Research 53 1879–1890 (2017). Download
T. T. Truscott, J. Belden, R. Ni, J. Pendlebury, B. McEwen, “Three-dimensional microscopic light field particle image velocimetry”. Experiments in Fluids 58 16 (2017). Download

2016

Cole, B. C., Marcus, G. G., Parsa, S., Kramel, S., Ni, R., Voth, G. A., “Methods for Measuring the Orientation and Rotation Rate of 3D-printed Particles in Turbulence”. Journal of Visualized Experiments (2016).
Gorbonos, D., Ianconescu, R., Puckett, J. G., Ni, R., Ouellette, N. T., Gov, N. S., “Long-range acoustic interactions in insect swarms: an adaptive gravity model”. New Journal of Physics 18 073042(2016).
Ni, R., Ouellette, N. T., “On the tensile strength of insect swarms”. Physical Biology 13 045002 (2016).
Venugopal, K., Kelly, P., Jamaluddin, A., McConnell, C., Alger, M., Morgan, E., Ni, R., Dunn, R., Grasselli, G., “The PetroChallenge–An Innovative E&P Learning Experience Using an Interactive Learning Simulation”. SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition. Society of Petroleum Engineers. 2016.
Zhou, Q., Huang, Y.-X., Lu, Z.-M., Liu, L., Ni, R., “Scale-to-scale energy and enstrophy transport in two-dimensional Rayleigh–Taylor turbulence”. Journal of Fluid Mechanics 786 294– 308 (2016).

2015

Y.-C. Xie, S.-D. Huang, D. Funfschilling, X.-M. Li, R. Ni and K.-Q. Xia, “Effects of polymer additives in the bulk of turbulent thermal convection,” Journal of Fluid Mechanics 784 R3 (2015)
R. Ni and N. T. Ouellette, “Velocity correlations in laboratory insect swarms,” Eur. Phys. J. Special Topics 224 3271–3277 (2015).
R. Ni, M. H. Michalski, E. Brown, N. Doan, J. Zinter, N. T. Ouellette, and G. M. Shepherd, “Optimal directional volatile transport in retronasal olfaction,” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 112 14700–14704 (2015).
R. Ni, J. G. Puckett, E. R. Dufresne, and N. T. Ouellette, “Intrinsic fluctuations and driven response of insect swarms,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 118104 (2015).
J. G. Puckett, R. Ni, and N. T. Ouellette, “Time-frequency analysis reveals pairwise interactions in insect swarms,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 114, 258103 (2015).
R. Ni, S. Kramel, N. T. Ouellette, and G. A. Voth, “Measurements of the coupling between the tumbling of rods and the velocity gradient tensor in turbulence,” J. Fluid Mech. 766, 202-225 (2015).
R. Ni, S.-D. Huang, and K.-Q. Xia, “Reversals of the large-scale circulation in quasi-2D Rayleigh–Bénard convection,” J. Fluid Mech. 778, R5 (2015).

2014

R. Ni, G. Voth, N. Ouellette. “Extracting turbulent spectral transfer from under-resolved velocity fields.”
Physics of Fluids, 26, 105107 (2014).
R. Ni, N. Ouellette, G. Voth. “Alignment of vorticity and rods with Lagrangian fluid stretching in turbulence.”
Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 743, R3 (2014).
G. Marcus, S. Parsa, S. Kramel, R. Ni, G. Voth. “Measurements of the solid-body rotation of anisotropic particles in 3D turbulence.”
New Journal of Physics. 16, 102001 (2014).
P. Wei, T. Chan, R. Ni, X. Zhao, K. Xia. “Heat transport properties of plates with smooth and rough surfaces in turbulent thermal convection.”
Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 740, 28-46 (2014).
S. Huang, M. Kaczorowski, R. Ni, K. Xia. “Confinement-induced heat-transport enhancement in turbulent thermal convection.”
Physical Review Letters, 16, 102001 (2014).
Selected as Recommendation in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics Letters.

2013

R. Ni, K. Xia. “Experimental investigation of pair dispersion with small initial separation in convective turbulent flows.”
Physical Review E, 87, 6 (2013).
R. Ni, K. Xia. “On the Kolmogorov Constants for the Second-Order Structure Function and the Energy Spectrum.”
Physical Review E, 87, 2 (2013).

Before 2012

P. Wei, R. Ni and K.-Q. Xia, “Enhanced and Reduced Heat Transport in Turbulent Thermal Convection with Polymer Additives,” Phys. Rev. E 86, 1 (2012).
R. Ni, S.-D. Huang and K.-Q. Xia, “Lagrangian acceleration measurements in convective thermal turbulence,” J. Fluid Mech. 692, 395 (2012).
R. Ni, S.-D. Huang and K.-Q. Xia, “Local energy dissipation rate balances local heat flux in the center of turbulent thermal convection,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 174503 (2011).
R. Ni, S.-Q. Zhou, K.-Q. Xia, “An experimental investigation of turbulent thermal convection in water-based alumina nanofluid,” Phy. Fluids 23, 022005 (2011).
D. C. Venerus, J. Buongiorno, R. Christianson, et al. R. Ni, “Viscosity measurements on colloidal dispersions (nanofluids) for heat transfer applications,” Appl. Rheol. 20, 4, 44582 (2010)
K. Sugiyama, R. Ni, R. J. A. M. Stevens, T. S. Chan, S.-Q. Zhou, H.-D. Xi, C. Sun, S. Grossmann, K.-Q. Xia and D. Lohse, “Flow reversals in thermally driven turbulence,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 034503 (2010).
S.-Q. Zhou, R. Ni and D. Funfschilling, “Effects of shear rate and temperature on viscosity of alumina polyalphaolefins nanofluids,” J. Appl. Phys. 107, 054317 (2010).
J. Buongiorno, D. C. Venerus et al. (R. Ni), “A benchmark study on the thermal conductivity of nanofluids,” J. Appl. Phys. 106, 094312 (2009).
S.-Q. Zhou and R. Ni, “Measurement of the specific heat capacity of water-based Al2O3 nanofluid,” Appl. Phys. Lett. 92, 093123 (2008).This paper was selected for the March 24, 2008 issue of Virtual Journal of Nanoscale Science & Technology.