Flow instability analysis is crucial for identifying and understanding some of the most complex challenges in fluid mechanics. Its applications span a wide range of industrial interests, from hypersonic spacecraft and detached flows in aero-engines to aeroacoustics interactions and drag reduction in air vehicles. Nowadays, the availability of new experimental data and high- fidelity numerical solutions combined with the power of machine learning techniques has led to unprecedented opportunities for the advancement of transitional fluid dynamics understanding and its use in industrial design.

The lecture series will introduce several aspects of the stability theory with a particular focus on compressible flows. It will address numerical methods to predict and models transitional flows (linear and non-linear stability theory, transient growth or resolvent analysis). Engineering approaches to be used for design purposes will be discussed as well as the role of machine learning to compute more accurate efficient model. Finally, measurement methods and experimental techniques will be presented.

The lecture series director is Professor Pierre Schrooyen  from the von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics, Belgium.

• Deadline for on-site registration: 16 February 2026
• Deadline for online registration: 23 February 2026