Expertise
Computational and Experimental Aerodynamics, Renewable Energy, Engineering EducationResearch Interests
Computational and Experimental Aerodynamics: Development and application of effective multi-fidelity computational aerodynamics modeling tools, biologically inspired flight, energy conversion, fabric permeability, fluid-structure interactions.
Renewable Energy: Wind energy conversion, hydrogen storage.
Engineering Education: STEM Education, Motivation, Adult Development
Education
- Ph.D: Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, (2006), Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Cambridge, Massachusetts
- SM: Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, (2003), Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Cambridge, Massachusetts
- BEng: Aerospace, (2000), Carleton University - Ottawa, Canada
Selected Publications
- D.J.Willis, J.Peraire and J.K.White,A Combined pFFT-Multipole Tree Code, Unsteady Panel Method with Vortex Particle Wakes, International Journal of Numerical Methods in Fluids, Vol. 53, Number 8, Pages 1399-1422, March 2007.
- H. Salehipour, and D.J. Willis, A coupled kinematics-energetics model for predicting energy efficient flapping flight, Journal of Theoretical Biology, Volume 318, Pages 173-196, February 2013.
- D.J. Willis, Using Enriched Basis Functions for Automatically Handling Wake-Body Intersections in Source-Doublet Potential Panel Methods, Submitted to the Journal of Aircraft, August 2013.
- F. Azhar, K. Tite, S.P. Johnston, C.J.Hansen, S. Shina, A. Schiano, and D.J.Willis, Hands-On MADE 4 ME: Deploying, using, developing and evaluating desktop computer numerical control (CNC) systems in the engineering classroom, presented at the 2016 ASEE National Conference, New Orleans, LA, June 2016.
- N. Rondeau, K. J. Desabrais, G. Barlow , J. Luna, E. Morrison, D. J. Willis, Parachute Fabric Permeability under Short vs. Long Term Humidity Conditioning Effects in a Controlled Lab Environment, Paper presented at the 24th AIAA ADS Conference, Denver, CO, June 2017.
- D. J. Willis, M. I. Anwar, R. Gowda, F. H. Manar, A. R. Jones, An Unsteady Doublet Lattice Method for Studying LEV Development on Low-Re Wings with Leading Edge Compliance with Experimental Comparison, AIAA 2018-0312, Presented at the 56th SCITECH conference, Orlando, FL.
- Traylor, C., Inalpolat, M., Willis, D. J., & Persson, P. O. (2023). Aeroacoustics-Based Structural Health Monitoring of Airfoils with Surface Damage and Domain Coupling. AIAA Journal, 61(11), 5187-5190.
- Barry, C. P., Olson, B. G., Willis, D. J., Bergeron, K., Charrette, C., Noetscher, G. M., & Sherwood, J. A. (2024). The experimental characterization of the torsional and transverse stiffnesses of a braided parachute suspension line. Journal of Engineered Fibers and Fabrics.
Selected Contracts, Fellowships, Grants and Sponsored Research
- ENG-ED 4.0: Educating the Next Generation of Engineers to Drive the Fourth Industrial Revolution, Davis Educational Foundation.
- Collaborative Research: Leading Edge Vortex Evolution on Compliant Biologically-Inspired Wings, National Science Foundation (PI: A. Jones, University of Maryland).
- Team UML-WIND 2016 (Collegiate Wind Competition), National Renewable Energy Lab (selected as 1 of 14 national teams in 2016).
- 2015 Wind Energy Research Workshop, National Science Foundation.
- Hands-on MADE 4 ME (Hands-on Machining, Analysis and Design Experiences for Mechanical Engineering), National Science Foundation.