Areas of Research/Interest: Geological fluids (thermal convection, continental drift), biological fluids (swimming of fish, circulation of blood), solid-on-solid friction, and self-organization phenomena at microscopic scales.

Selected Works:

Jung S, Mareck K, Shelley M, and Zhang J. Dynamics of a deformable body in a fast flowing soap film. Phys Rev Lett 97, 134502 (2006)

Shelley M, Vandenberghe N and Zhang J. Heavy flags undergo spontaneous oscillations in flowing water. Phys Rev Lett 94, 094302 (2005)

Vandenberghe N, Zhang J and Childress S. Symmetry breaking leads to forward flapping flight, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 506, 147-155, (2004)

Alben S, Shelley M, and Zhang J. Drag reduction through self-similar bending of a flexible body. Nature 420, 479-481, 2002

Zhang J, Childress S, Libchaber A, Shelley M. Flexible filaments in a flowing soap film as a model for one-dimensional flags in a two-dimensional wind. Nature 408, 835-839, 2000

Zhang J, Libchaber A. Periodic boundary motion in thermal turbulence. Phys Rev Lett 84, 4361-4364, 2000

Zhang J, Childress S, Libchaber A. Non-Boussinesq effect: Thermal convection with broken symmetry. Phys Fluids 9, 1034-1042, 1997