Some Complex Phenomena in Fluid and Solid Mechanics (eBook)

Stephane Champmartin, Jaafar Khalid Naciri, Abdelghani Saouab (Herausgeber)

eBook Download: EPUB

2024
460 Seiten
Wiley (Verlag)
978-1-394-33232-8 (ISBN)

Infos

This book is a tribute to Professor Abdelhak Ambari and brings together ten chapters written by colleagues who were fortunate enough to work with him.
The contributions presented in this book cover the research themes in which Abdelhak Ambari was interested, and to which he made valuable experimental and theoretical contributions. For example: rheology of complex fluids and polymers; hydrodynamic interactions; flows at low Reynolds numbers; characterization of porous media; hydrodynamic instabilities and solid mechanics; electrochemical metrology.
Some Complex Phenomena in Fluid and Solid Mechanics is aimed at a wide community of readers wishing to delve deeper into these scientific themes: since it is oriented toward the world of research, it will be a valuable tool for doctoral students and beyond. The book also provides undergraduate and graduate students with a good introduction to the techniques and approaches developed in fundamental and applied research in the fields of fluid mechanics, solid mechanics and instrumentation.

Abdelghani Saouab is Professor at the Université Le Havre Normandie, France. His research interests include composite materials, bio-composite and the manufacturing processes of composite materials.
Stéphane Champmartin is HDR Associate Professor at the École Nationale des Arts et Métiers, Angers, France. His research focuses on complex flows, suspensions and hydrodynamic interactions.
Jaafar Khalid Naciri is Professor Emeritus at Faculté des sciences Aïn Chock, Université Hassan II de Casablanca, Morocco. His research interests include fluid mechanics, deformable tubes flows and asymptotic methods in fluid mechanics.

Textauszug

Preface

This preface aims to briefly outline the career path and portrait of the professor, researcher and exceptional human being Abdelhak Ambari.

Abdelhak Ambari (1950–2022) passed away at the age of 71. His life was shared between his native country, Morocco, and France. Five main periods of his life can be identified: (i) a Moroccan period of his youth, when he completed his secondary education and the preparatory classes for admission to grandes écoles; (ii) a second period of nine years in France, where he completed his engineering studies and his PhD; (iii) a third period (of five years) essential to his career, during which he brilliantly prepared his doctoral thesis; (iv) a fourth period of 12 years, during which Abdelhak Ambari chose to serve his native country Morocco as a research professor at EHTP (Hassania School of Public Works in Casablanca); (v) finally, the last period of 20 years, during which he was a Professor at ENSAM of Angers (École nationale supérieure des Arts et Métiers).

Abdelhak Ambari was born in Casablanca, Morocco, on September 10, 1950. From a very young age, he proved to be an outstanding student. Between 1970 and 1972, he followed the “Preparatory classes for admission to grandes écoles” in Advanced and Special Mathematics at one of the most prestigious high schools in Morocco at Casablanca, lycée Lyautey. He then joined ESTP (École Supérieure des Travaux Publics) in Paris, where he earned his engineering degree in 1975. At that time, given his passion for sciences and research, he decided to embrace a research professor career. He then enrolled in doctoral studies with one of the best universities in France: Pierre and Marie Curie University – Paris VI. In 1976, he earned a Diploma of Advanced Studies in Fluid Mechanics. He then continued by pursuing a PhD in Fluid Mechanics specializing in non-Newtonian fluids, and he defended his thesis on June 27, 1979. Given his passion for research, he continued his research activities and he earned the title of State Doctor in Physics on January 17, 1986. Throughout his studies, in order to finance his doctoral studies, he performed freelance activities and worked as a teaching assistant at ESPCI (École supérieure de physique et de chimie industrielles) in Paris and at EHTP in Casablanca.

Figure P.1. Ambari at l’ESPCI (early 1980s)

After earning his doctoral thesis, he decided to return to Morocco in order to promote and develop research in his native country. He held a Senior Lecturer position at EHTP and became a Professor in 1990. During this period, he initiated several actions that contributed to the boom of research in Morocco: the development of the hydraulics department, the implementation of the Diploma of Advanced Studies in Mechanics and Automation and the supervision of several doctoral thesis works. Abdelhak Ambari dedicated a lot of time and energy to the development and organization of research in Mechanics in Morocco: (i) he set up a research laboratory at EHTP with very limited resources; (ii) he initiated the creation of the school of Fluid Mechanics in Casablanca, which gave rise to the International Congress of Mechanics that is now at its 15th edition; (iii) he contributed to training a new generation of research professors and built up several bridges between Moroccan and French researchers.

In 1998, he decided to return to France for the position of Professor at ENSAM in Angers, and started once again from scratch, striving to build a new fluid mechanics research team. He was appointed the head of the Energy Department of ENSAM nationwide for several years, and he trained several PhD students and post-doctoral researchers. For 20 years, he played an essential role in emulating and leading the research in fluid mechanics at ENSAM by building collaborations, particularly with laboratories in Paris and Bordeaux. Being equally invested in research and education, he developed courses that contributed to the training of generations of student engineers in Angers. Combining the demanding nature of science and the pragmatic approach to industrial problems, he instilled an interest for fluid mechanics in many students, some of whom pursued academic careers in the field. He retired in 2019, leaving a lasting legacy and the memory of a profoundly human and altruistic person.

Throughout his entire career, Professor Abdelhak Ambari shared (with enormous generosity) his knowledge with his students, PhD students and postdoctoral researchers or with his colleagues. According to Professor Etienne Guyon (former Director of the Laboratory of Hydrodynamics and Physical Mechanics of ESPCI, former Director of Palais de la Découverte and the École normale supérieure in Paris), “Generosity is the word that comes to my mind when I think of Abdelhak, both with respect to human relations and to his spontaneous knowledge sharing”. Ambari was highly appreciated by his engineering students at EHTP in Casablanca and at ENSAM in Angers. He represented a father figure to them. A lot of his every day time was dedicated to exchanges and discussions with his research collaborators, and he often said that “he learned from his students as much as they learnt from them”. On the news of his passing, many of his students posted testimonials on the Internet, expressing gratitude and admiration. According to these testimonials, “(i) He was a highly competent, very generous and very modest professor; (ii) he was an outstanding professor; a great scientist, a methodical person who was listening to his students. (iii) An outstanding and kind professor who left no one indifferent”.

Professor Abdelhak Ambari was also an outstanding scientist. He had a very broad scientific culture and he worked on several research themes in Fluid Mechanics and in the Physics of Polymers. His PhD thesis, conducted under the supervision of Professor André Fortier, focused on the determination of rheological parameters of polymer solutions. His State Doctoral thesis, which focused on the study of the interaction between hydrodynamics and particle dynamics, was supervised by the distinguished Professor Pierre-Gilles de Gennes (Nobel Prize in Physics in 1991). For his outstanding work for the doctoral thesis, Abdelhak Ambari was awarded the Alain Brelot Prize by the French Society of Physics in 1987.

Figure P.2. A. Ambari receiving the Alain Brelot Prize of the French Society of Physics in July 1987.

Abdelhak Ambari had a lot of respect for his mentors. P.G. de Gennes had a remarkable influence on his work: he knew how to avoid the pitfalls of highly theoretical approaches and enjoyed formulating a physical problem in terms of simple concepts and images. Given his broad scientific culture, he perceived the analogies between various branches of physics. The most recent research themes of Abdelhak Ambari concerned several subjects: (i) low Reynolds number-flows in Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids; (ii) transport phenomena in porous media; (iii) characterization of porous media; (iv) rheology of complex fluids; (v) capillary phenomena; and (vi) hydrodynamic interactions. Abdelhak Ambari was considered as one of the best specialists in the field of “Hydrodynamic Interactions”.

Many works of Abdelhak Ambari led to various national and international collaborations. Due to his empathic nature and open-mindedness, Abdelhak Ambari established contacts with bright scientific personalities, such as Professors Abdu Salam (Nobel Prize in Physics in 1979) whom he met in 1989 at the International Centre for Theoretical Physics at Trieste in Italy, Daniel D. Joseph of the University of Minnesota in the United States, J. Hinch whom he met at Cambridge, in the United Kingdom, and Professor Chhabra of the Indian Institute of Technology, whom he invited twice to ENSAM in Angers.

Figure P.3. During the defense of his doctoral thesis in 1986.

Abdelhak Ambari dedicated his doctoral thesis “to the memory of those who fought for the abolition of ignorance in developing countries”. He is now part of this family of noble people. This book is a tribute to him, and also to his family, his wife Annick and his son Mehdi, who contributed directly or indirectly to his work.

We would like to conclude with this beautiful testimonial:

The loss of Professor Abdelhak Ambari caused great sadness shared by the academic mechanics community in France, in Morocco and elsewhere. Abdelhak Ambari was the embodiment of professional generosity, quiet knowledge with immeasurable availability and great modesty. There is no greater loss for humanity than that of a human being with a well-rounded brain. People pass away, and loyal friends have a duty to continue their work.

Rest in peace, dear friend. You will be missed, and will forever have a place in our hearts.

This book has been written as a tribute to the memory of Professor Abdelhak Ambari. It is divided into 10 chapters authored by his French and Moroccan colleagues who had the chance to meet or collaborate with him.

Figure P.4. A. Ambari at Angers in 2020.

The contributions presented in this book focus on research themes that were of interest to Abdelhak Ambari during his career, and to which he brought his valuable...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 30.10.2024
• Reihe/Serie: ISTE Consignment
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Technik ► Bauwesen
• Themenwelt: Technik ► Maschinenbau
• Schlagworte: electrochemical metrology • fluid mechanics • hydrodynamic instabilities • hydrodynamic interactions • hydrodynamic interactions • Porous Media • Reynolds numbers • Reynolds numbers • rheology • rheology • solid mechanics • solid mechanics
• ISBN-10: 1-394-33232-7 / 1394332327
• ISBN-13: 978-1-394-33232-8 / 9781394332328