Wilfried Coenen

Bio
Wilfried Coenen is a recently appointed (2020) Professor of Fluid Mechanics at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M). From 2015 to 2019, he worked 4 years as a postdoctoral scholar at the University of California San Diego (USA), where he developed part of his professional career by the side of professors Forman Williams, Antonio L. Sánchez and Juan C. Lasheras. Earlier, he worked at UC3M (2011-2015) as a lecturer, and at the Universidad de Jaén (2010-2011) as a researcher. His PhD thesis (2010), directed by Alejandro Sevilla, was carried out at UC3M. During his doctorate, he did short research stays at the University of East-Anglia in Norwich (UK), University of Hawai’i at Manoa (USA), San Diego State University (USA), and University of California San Diego (USA). He owns a Master of Science degree in Applied Physics from the Technische Universiteit Eindhoven (2005).

Research interests
W. Coenen has made contributions in two main fields of research. On one hand, he has focused on the hydrodynamic stability of jets and buoyant reactive flows, applying analytical and computational techniques to characterize the different instability mechanisms prevalent in these flows. As an example of application, he has explained and quantified the typical flickering and puffing dynamics of a diffusion flame as a self-sustained oscillation resulting from a global instability of the flow. On the other hand, more recently he has been interested in biomedical flows in the human central nervous system, in particular the flow of cerebrospinal fluid in the spinal canal and cerebral ventricular system. Here, the main goal is to combine mathematical models with patient-specific MRI measurements to give individualized quantitative flow predictions. This approach can be used to optimize intrathecal drug delivery protocols, or to study certain disorders in which cerebrospinal fluid flow plays an important role, such as normal pressure hydrocephalus or syringomyelia.

Funding & publications
W. Coenen is currently (2021-2024) leading a €102000 national R&D&I grant funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, coordinated with two other universities. Recently (2020-2021), he was PI of a €58000 regional grant funded by the Comunidad de Madrid. He also been the PI of two R&D contracts with the private sector (Repsol & Acciona Windpower). He has published 28 articles in the leading journals of his field of research (of which 21 in Q1), and numerous contributions in international conferences (approx. 4 per year). He has directed 2 PhD theses, and is currently co-directing a 3rd phd student, to be finished in 2023. He has two accredited research sexennia.