Mécanique - Master sciences et technologies
Mention Sciences de l'Ingénieur (SDI)

Responsables : P. Huerre et S. Zaleski

 SCHOLARSHIPS

Deadlines for scholarship applications vary according to the source of funding.

 Présentation

This master's is a sub-program of the master in science and technology program of University Pierre et Marie Curie Paris 6, jointly operated with Ecole Polytechnique, and is entirely taught in English. It is directed at students preparing for a career in research or industry. Most courses are given in english by prominent scholars. Courses all take place during the first semester (Sept to February). A research project is conducted in France or abroad during the second semester (4 to 6 months, March to early July or September). Entering students should have completed undergraduate studies in science with elementary introduction to fluid mechanics.

Modern fluid mechanics

Fluid mechanics describes the macroscopic motion of fluids, building from first principles of classical physics and thermodynamics. Modern fluid mechanics is a very active research area, driven by its fudamental or curiosity driven research interest as an exemplary complex systems, and by its extreme importance in natural and industrial phenomena.

For the curiosity driven, fluid mechanics offers the example of a complex system in which the basic equations are known (the Navier-Stokes equations have been known for more than a century) but the resulting behavior is hard to predict and complex. Moreover, the very proof of the existence of solutions escapes researchers leading to such tantalizing problems as those being stated by the Clay Prize.

For the application driven, fluid mechanics has long been the province of aircraft designer, "rocket scientists" or automobile designers. However the recent increase in computer power and algorithmic ingenuity, as well as advances in flow visualization, have opened the field to much more numerous applications.

Applications of fluid mechanics                                  

Fluid phenomena are everywhere. Beyond aerodynamics, meteorology and climatology rest on the predicibility of flow phenomena. The automotive and petroleum industries have an ever growing need for numerical studies and for talented engineers to set up and interpret the corresponding simulations. The past ten years have seen the opening of the whole new domain of chemical engineering to various simulation approaches.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The language of the program is english except for the "French for Foreigners" course. As a result the graduate will have the capacity to participate in meetings in english with researchers and engineers of international level. He will be able to read, understand and analyze a recent scientific paper in the general area of fluid mechanics, to evaluate the relevance of the various approximations needed to solve a problem, to implement the numerical modelling of a fluid phenomenom, through the resolution of the Navier-Stokes equations or more specific models, to propose and evaluated numerical resolution methods using research or commercial codes.

The second year (which is recommended for most students) of the master is organized as most programs of l'Université Pierre Marie Curie. Classes begin October 1st with several information meetings. The first semester of the second year is organized in two eight-week periods.

LOCATION

Most courses take place on Jussieu Campus. Some courses take place at Ecole Polytechnique in Palaiseau, on thursdays.