Data Assimilation by Nudging for Temperature Field in Rayleigh-Bénard Convection using active Particles

My name is Lokahith Agasthya and I am a PhD student in the Applied Mathematics and Numerical Analysis (AMNA) working group of the University of Wuppertal. Before this, I completed my Bachelors and Masters in physics from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune, India. 
During my Masters, as part of my research project towards the submission of a thesis, I worked on turbulent flows and the behaviour of heavy particles suspended in such flows, in the context of cloud physics. A cloud is after all a bunch of water droplets (particles) suspended in the highly turbulent atmosphere. 
For my PhD, I’m working on other ways to use particles in turbulent flows, either as temperature probes to efficiently reconstruct fluid flows, or as active particles, which would alter the flow in a desired way. 

Why I decided to pursue a PhD 
On completion of my Master’s degree, I realised that I enjoyed active research and the rewarding experience of going really deep into a subject, investigating an aspect that had never been investigated before and then making an incremental addition to the body of existing human knowledge. It involves creativity and the courage to stand on your own, since you are involved in learning things never learnt before. This process of research work was an attractive prospect and pursuing a PhD was the best way to continue into a career performing research. 

What I will do during my PhD 
A Rayleigh-Bénard convection is a system consisting of a fluid which is hot at the bottom and cool at the top. Diverse examples of this can be from a pan of water being heated on the stove to the entire atmosphere being heated by contact with the hot earth. Since hot fluids are lighter, they would float to the top and be replaced by cold fluid from the top. This is what drives wind and the rise of water vapour from the surface to the clouds. 
This system is a very fundamental system and thus, any knowledge in understanding exactly how this system changes in response to different stimuli can be valuable. I will focused on trying to alter a simulated Rayleigh Bénard flow using some injected agents, or particles, that can release or absorb heat to bring about the change that we wish to see in the flow.

Thank you
Lokahith