Research

Fluid Dynamics, Liquid breakup, Drop formation and Impact, Liquid Jets, Instrumentation

Biography / Research Interests

Dr. J.R. Castrejón-Pita is a Lecturer in Applied Science in Queen Mary, University of London where he leads the Laboratory of Applied Sciences. He was awarded his MSc (Physics) in Fluid Mechanics from the National University of Mexico in 2003, and his PhD (Physics) in Quantum Optics from the Imperial College in 2007. He was a Senior Research Associate and an Isaac Newton Trust Fellow in the University of Cambridge from 2006 to 2015. He is a former Fellow of Wolfson College Cambridge. 

His interests lie in the field of fluid mechanics, particularly in the understanding of fundamental processes during liquid breakup, coalescence and splashing. His projects have been funded both by research councils (EPSRC-UK) and industry. His industrial partners include Airbus, Xaar plc and INCA. Rafael has published 41 peer-reviewed articles in journals such as Physical Review Letters, PNAS, Biomicrofluids, Applied Physics Letters and the Review of Scientific Instruments. He is a very active referee in journals such as the Journal of Fluid Mechanics, Biomicrofluidics, Physics of Fluids and Physical Review Letters.  

Rafael lectures the modules of Mathematics and Computing, Celestial Mechanics and Fluid Mechanics for undergraduate students in the University of London.

Publications

Publications of specific relevance to

2021

Al-Dirawi KH, Al-Ghaithi KHA, Sykes TC, Castrejón-Pita JR and Bayly AE (2021). Inertial stretching separation in binary droplet collisions. Journal of Fluid Mechanics  vol. 927, 10.1017/jfm.2021.674

Quetzeri-Santiago MA, Castrejón-Pita JR and Castrejón-Pita AA (2021). Scientific reports controlling droplet splashing and bouncing by dielectrowetting. Sci Rep  vol. 11, (1) 10.1038/s41598-021-00771-z

Ismail AS, Goodwin GR, Castrejon-Pita JR, Noyce AJ and Azevedo HS (2021). A novel capsule-based smell test fabricated via coaxial dripping. The Royal Society  Journal of The Royal Society Interface  vol. 18, (177) 10.1098/rsif.2021.0039

Castrejon-Pita AA, Betton ES, Campbell N, Jackson N, Morgan J, Tuladhar T, Vadillo DC and Castrejon Pita J (2021). FORMULATION, QUALITY, CLEANING AND OTHER ADVANCES IN INKJET PRINTING. Begell House  Atomization and Sprays  10.1615/ATOMIZSPR.2020034559

Heliodoro G, Juan A, Francisco Javier GDB, Castrejon Pita J and Castrejon-Pita AA (2021). The self-stimulated capillary jet., Editors: Qiao Q. American Physical Society  Physical Review Applied  10.1103/PhysRevApplied.15.014054

Denner F, Evrard F, Castrejón-Pita AA, Castrejón-Pita JR and van Wachem B (2021). Reversal and Inversion of Capillary Jet Breakup at Large Excitation Amplitudes. Flow, Turbulence and Combustion  10.1007/s10494-021-00291-w

2020

Kamat P, Wagoner B, Castrejon-Pita AA, Castrejon Pita J, Anthony C and Basaran O (2020). Surfactant-driven escape from endpinching during contraction of nearly inviscid filaments. Cambridge University Press (Cup)  Journal of Fluid Mechanics  10.1017/jfm.2020.476

Castrejon Pita J, quetzeri-santiago MA and Castrejon-Pita AA (2020). On the analysis of the contact angle for impacting droplets using a polynomial fitting approach. Springer (Part of Springer Nature)  Experiments in Fluids: Experimental Methods and Their Applications to Fluid Flow  10.1007/s00348-020-02971-1

Sykes TC, Castrejón-Pita AA, Castrejón-Pita JR, Harbottle D, Khatir Z, Thompson HM and Wilson MCT (2020). Surface jets and internal mixing during the coalescence of impacting and sessile droplets. Physical Review Fluids  vol. 5, (2) 10.1103/PhysRevFluids.5.023602

2019

Quetzeri-Santiago MA, Castrejón-Pita AA and Castrejón-Pita JR (2019). The Effect of Surface Roughness on the Contact Line and Splashing Dynamics of Impacting Droplets. Scientific Reports  vol. 9, (1) 10.1038/s41598-019-51490-5

García FJ, González H, Gómez-Aguilar FJ, Castrejón-Pita AA and Castrejón-Pita JR (2019). Evolution of Gaussian wave packets in capillary jets. Physical Review E  vol. 100, (5) 10.1103/PhysRevE.100.053111

Contò FP, Marín JF, Antkowiak A, Pita JRC and Gordillo L (2019). Shape of a recoiling liquid filament., Editors: Chakraborty S. Nature Publishing Group  Scientific Reports  10.1038/s41598-019-51824-3

Arcenegui-Troya J, Belman-Martínez A, Castrejón-Pita AA and Castrejón-Pita JR (2019). A simple levitated-drop tensiometer. Review of Scientific Instruments  vol. 90, (9) 10.1063/1.5096959

Quetzeri-Santiago MA, Yokoi K, Castrejón-Pita AA and Castrejón-Pita JR (2019). Role of the Dynamic Contact Angle on Splashing. Physical Review Letters  vol. 122, (22) 10.1103/PhysRevLett.122.228001

CASTREJON PITA JR, HEDEGAARD CL and QUETZERI SANTIAGO MA (2019). ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING WITH LIQUID LATEX AND RECYCLED END-OF-LIFE RUBBER., Editors: Tibbits S. Mary Ann Liebert  3d Printing and Additive Manufacturing  10.1089/3dp.2018.0062

Wang F, Contò FP, Naz N, Castrejón-Pita JR, Castrejón-Pita AA, Bailey CG, Wang W, Feng JJ and Sui Y (2019). A fate-alternating transitional regime in contracting liquid filaments. Journal of Fluid Mechanics  vol. 860, 640-653. 10.1017/jfm.2018.855

2018

ISMAIL AS, Ganan-Calvo A, CASTREJON PITA JR, Herreda M and Castrejon-Pita AA (2018). Controlled Cavity Collapse: Scaling Laws of Drop Formation., Editors: Stebe K. Royal Society of Chemistry  Soft Matter  10.1039/C8SM00114F

Hedegaard CL, Collin EC, Redondo-Gómez C, Nguyen LTH, Ng KW, Castrejón-Pita AA, Castrejón-Pita JR and Mata A (2018). Hydrodynamically Guided Hierarchical Self-Assembly of Peptide–Protein Bioinks. Advanced Functional Materials  vol. 28, (16) 10.1002/adfm.201703716

Zhang G, Quetzeri-Santiago MA, Stone CA, Botto L and Castrejón-Pita JR (2018). Droplet impact dynamics on textiles. Soft Matter  vol. 14, (40) 8182-8190. 10.1039/C8SM01082J

2016

Castrejón-Pita JR, Muñoz-Sánchez BN, Hutchings IM and Castrejón-Pita AA (2016). Droplet impact onto moving liquids. Journal of Fluid Mechanics  vol. 809, 716-725. 10.1017/jfm.2016.672

Howland CJ, Antkowiak A, Castrejón-Pita JR, Howison SD, Oliver JM, Style RW and Castrejón-Pita AA (2016). It's Harder to Splash on Soft Solids. Physical Review Letters  vol. 117, (18) 10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.184502

Earl C, Castrejón-Pita JR, Hilton PA and O'Neill W (2016). The dynamics of laser surface modification. Journal of Manufacturing Processes  vol. 21, 214-223. 10.1016/j.jmapro.2015.10.002

2015

Castrejón-Pita JR, Willis SJ and Castrejón-Pita AA (2015). Dynamic nozzles for drop generators. Review of Scientific Instruments  vol. 86, (11) 10.1063/1.4934811

Castrejón-Pita JR, Castrejón-Pita AA, Thete SS, Sambath K, Hutchings IM, Hinch J, Lister JR and Basaran OA (2015). Plethora of transitions during breakup of liquid filaments. Proceedings of The National Academy of Sciences of The United States of America  vol. 112, (15) 4582-4587. 10.1073/pnas.1418541112

Rodriguez-Rivero C, Castrejón-Pita JR and Hutchings IM (2015). Aerodynamic effects in industrial inkjet printing. Journal of Imaging Science and Technology  vol. 59, (4) 10.2352/J.ImagingSci.Technol.2015.59.4.040401

2014

García FJ, González H, Castrejón-Pita JR and Castrejón-Pita AA (2014). The breakup length of harmonically stimulated capillary jets. Applied Physics Letters  vol. 105, (9) 10.1063/1.4894576

CASTREJON PITA JR (2014). Perspective: The Breakup of Liquid Jets and the Formation of Droplets. Computational and Experimental Fluid Mechanics With Applications to Physics, Engineering and The Environment  Springer Science & Business Media  10.1007/978-3-319-00191-3_12

2013

Castrejón-Pita JR, Baxter WRS, Morgan J, Temple S, Martin GD and Hutchings IM (2013). Future, opportunities and challenges of inkjet technologies. Atomization and Sprays  vol. 23, (6) 571-595. 10.1615/AtomizSpr.2013007653

Castrejón-Pita JR, Kubiak KJ, Castrejón-Pita AA, Wilson MCT and Hutchings IM (2013). Mixing and internal dynamics of droplets impacting and coalescing on a solid surface. Physical Review E - Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics  vol. 88, (2) 10.1103/PhysRevE.88.023023

Hoath SD, Castrejón-Pita JR, Hsiao W-K, Jung S, Martin GD, Hutchings IM, Tuladhar TR, Vadillo DC, Butler SA, Mackley MR, McIlroy C, Morrison NF, Harlen OG and Yow HNG (2013). Jetting of Complex Fluids. Journal of Imaging Science and Technology  vol. 57, (4) 1-10. 10.2352/j.imagingsci.technol.2013.57.4.040403

Castrejón-Pita J (2013). Time-Resolved Particle Image Velocimetry within the Nozzle of a Drop-on-Demand Printhead. Journal of Imaging Science and Technology  10.2352/j.imagingsci.technol.56.5.050401

2012

Castrejón-Pita AA, Castrejón-Pita JR and Martin GD (2012). A novel method to produce small droplets from large nozzles. Review of Scientific Instruments  vol. 83, (11) 10.1063/1.4766886

CASTREJON PITA JR (2012). High Speed Shadowgraphy for the Study of Liquid Drops. Fluid Dynamics in Physics, Engineering and Environmental Applications  Springer Science & Business Media  10.1007/978-3-642-27723-8_8

Castrejón-Pita AA, Castrejón-Pita JR and Hutchings IM (2012). Experimental observation of von Kármán vortices during drop impact. Physical Review E - Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics  vol. 86, (4) 10.1103/PhysRevE.86.045301

Castrejón-Pita JR, Hoath SD, Castrejón-Pita AA, Morrison NF, Hsiao WK and Hutchings IM (2012). Time-resolved particle image velocimetry within the nozzle of a drop-on-demand printhead. Journal of Imaging Science and Technology  vol. 56, (5) 10.2352/J.ImagingSci.Technol.12.56.5.050401

Castrejón-Pita JR, Castrejón-Pita AA, Hinch EJ, Lister JR and Hutchings IM (2012). Self-similar breakup of near-inviscid liquids. Physical Review E - Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics  vol. 86, (1) 10.1103/PhysRevE.86.015301

Castrejón-Pita JR, Hoath SD and Hutchings IM (2012). Velocity profiles in a cylindrical liquid jet by reconstructed velocimetry. Journal of Fluids Engineering, Transactions of The Asme  vol. 134, (1) 10.1115/1.4005669

Castrejón-Pita AA, Castrejón-Pita JR and Hutchings IM (2012). Breakup of liquid filaments. Physical Review Letters  vol. 108, (7) 10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.074506

2011

Castrejón-Pita JR, Martin GD and Hutchings IM (2011). Experimental study of the influence of nozzle defects on drop-on-demand ink jets. Journal of Imaging Science and Technology  vol. 55, (4) 403051-403057. 10.2352/J.ImagingSci.Technol.2011.55.4.040305

Castrejón-Pita JR, Morrison NF, Harlen OG, Martin GD and Hutchings IM (2011). Experiments and Lagrangian simulations on the formation of droplets in drop-on-demand mode. Physical Review E - Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics  vol. 83, (3) 10.1103/PhysRevE.83.036306

Castrejón-Pita JR, Morrison NF, Harlen OG, Martin GD and Hutchings IM (2011). Experiments and Lagrangian simulations on the formation of droplets in continuous mode. Physical Review E - Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics  vol. 83, (1) 10.1103/PhysRevE.83.016301

Castrejón-Pita JR, Betton ES, Kubiak KJ, Wilson MCT and Hutchings IM (2011). The dynamics of the impact and coalescence of droplets on a solid surface. Biomicrofluidics  vol. 5, (1) 10.1063/1.3567099

Castrejón-García R, Castrejón-Pita JR, Martin GD and Hutchings IM (2011). The shadowgraph imaging technique and its modern application to fluid jets and drops. Revista Mexicana De Fisica  vol. 57, (3) 266-275.

2010

Castrejón-García R, Castrejón-Pita JR and Castrejón-Pita AA (2010). Design, development, and evaluation of a simple blackbody radiative source. Review of Scientific Instruments  vol. 81, (5) 10.1063/1.3422258

2009

Castrejon-Pita JR (2009). Design, Development and Operation of Novel Ion Trap Geometries.

2008

Castrejón-Pita AA, Castrejón-Pita JR, Huelsz G and Sarmiento-Galán A (2008). Comment on Acoustic chaos in a duct with two separate sound sources [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 110, 120-126 (2001)] (L). Journal of The Acoustical Society of America  vol. 124, (5) 2702-2705. 10.1121/1.2978081

Castrejón-Pita JR, Martin GD, Hoath SD and Hutchings IM (2008). A simple large-scale droplet generator for studies of inkjet printing. Review of Scientific Instruments  vol. 79, (7) 10.1063/1.2957744

2007

Castrejón-Pita JR, Ohadi H, Crick DR, Winters DFA, Segal DM and Thompson RC (2007). Novel designs for Penning ion traps. Journal of Modern Optics  vol. 54, (11) 1581-1594. 10.1080/09500340600736793

2006

Castrejón-Pita JR, Castrejón-Pita AA, Huelsz G and Tovar R (2006). Experimental demonstration of the Rayleigh acoustic viscous boundary layer theory. Physical Review E - Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics  vol. 73, (3) 10.1103/PhysRevE.73.036601

Castrejón-Pita JR, Morales A and Castrejón-García R (2006). Critical angle laser refractometer. Review of Scientific Instruments  vol. 77, (3) 10.1063/1.2173790

Castrejón García R, Varela JR, Castrejón Pita AA and Castrejón Pita JR (2006). Development and evaluation of an alternative method for processing elastic-lidar return signals. International Journal of Modern Physics B  vol. 20, (2) 141-150. 10.1142/S0217979206033218

2005

Torralba M, Castrejón-Pita JR, Castrejón-Pita AA, Huelsz G, Del Río JA and Ortín J (2005). Measurements of the bulk and interfacial velocity profiles in oscillating Newtonian and Maxwellian fluids. Physical Review E - Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics  vol. 72, (1) 10.1103/PhysRevE.72.016308

Castrej-Pita JR and Thompson RC (2005). Proposal for a planar Penning ion trap. Physical Review a - Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics  vol. 72, (1) 10.1103/PhysRevA.72.013405

Winters DFA, Abdulla AM, Castrejón Pita JR, De Lange A, Segal DM and Thompson RC (2005). Plans for laser spectroscopy of trapped cold hydrogen-like HCI. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section B: Beam Interactions With Materials and Atoms  vol. 235, (1-4) 201-205. 10.1016/j.nimb.2005.03.173

Castrejón-Pita AA, Sarmiento-Galán A, Castrejón-Pita JR and Castrejón-García R (2005). Fractal Dimension in Butterflies' Wings: A novel approach to understanding wing patterns? Journal of Mathematical Biology  vol. 50, (5) 584-594. 10.1007/s00285-004-0302-6

Pita AAC, Pita JRC and Sarmiento GA (2005). Breathers and thermal relaxation as a temporal process: A possible way to detect breathers in experimental situations. Chaos  vol. 15, (2) 10.1063/1.1896265

Šašić O, Jovanović J, Petrović ZL, De Urquijo J, Castrejón-Pita JR, Hernández-Ávila JL and Basurto E (2005). Electron drift velocities in mixtures of helium and xenon and experimental verification of corrections to Blanc's law. Physical Review E - Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics  vol. 71, (4) 10.1103/PhysRevE.71.046408

2003

Méndez-Sánchez AF, Pérez-González J, De Vargas L, Castrejón-Pita JR, Castrejón-Pita AA and Huelsz G (2003). Particle image velocimetry of the unstable capillary flow of a micellar solution. Journal of Rheology  vol. 47, (6) 1455-1466. 10.1122/1.1621421

Castrejón-Pita JR, Del Río JA, Castrejón-Pita AA and Huelsz G (2003). Experimental observation of dramatic differences in the dynamic response of Newtonian and Maxwellian fluids. Physical Review E - Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics  vol. 68, (4 2) 463011-463015.

Castrejón Pita AA, Castrejón Pita JR and Huelsz G (2003). Structured and fractal smoke patterns in a simple cavity. Fractals  vol. 11, (2) 169-172. 10.1142/S0218348X03002154

Castrejón García R, Sarmiento Galán A, Castrejón Pita JR and Castrejón Pita AA (2003). The fractal dimension of an oil spray. Fractals  vol. 11, (2) 155-161. 10.1142/S0218348X03001641

Castrejón Pita AA, Castrejón Pita JR, Sarmiento Galán A and Castrejón García R (2003). The impressive complexity in the nautilus pompilius shell. Fractals  vol. 11, (2) 163-168. 10.1142/S0218348X03001653

Pita AAC, Pita JRC, Galan AS and Garcia RC (2003). The impressive complexity in the Nautilus pompilius shell. Fractals-Complex Geometry Patterns and Scaling in Nature and Society  vol. 11, (2) 163-168. 10.1142/S0218348X03001653

del Rio JA and Pita JRC (2003). Simple model for dynamic permeability of viscoelastic fluids. Revista Mexicana De Fisica  vol. 49, (1) 75-86.

Castrejón-Pita JR, del Río JA, Castrejón-Pita AA and Huelsz G (2003). Experimental observation of dramatic differences in the dynamic response of Newtonian and Maxwellian fluids. Physical Review E - Statistical Physics, Plasmas, Fluids, and Related Interdisciplinary Topics  vol. 68, (4) 10.1103/PhysRevE.68.046301

Castrejón-Pita JR, Castrejón-Pita AA, Sarmiento-Galán A and Castrejón-García R (2003). Nasca lines: A mystery wrapped in an enigma. Chaos  vol. 13, (3) 836-838. 10.1063/1.1587031

Del Río JA and Castrejón Pita JR (2003). Modelo simple para la permeabilidad dinámica de fluidos viscoelásticos. Revista Mexicana De Fisica  vol. 49, (1) 75-86.

2002

Castrejón Pita JR, Sarmiento Galán A and Castrejón García R (2002). Fractal dimension and self-similarity in asparagus plumosus. Fractals  vol. 10, (4) 429-434. 10.1142/S0218348X02001439

Pita JRC, Galan AS and Garcia RC (2002). Fractal dimension and self-similarity in Asparagus plumosus. Fractals-Complex Geometry Patterns and Scaling in Nature and Society  vol. 10, (4) 429-434.

Castrejón-García R, Varela JR, Castrejón-Pita JR and Morales A (2002). The laser-backscattering equations and their application to the study of the atmospheric structure. Revista Mexicana De Fisica  vol. 48, (6) 513-518.