Stuart A. Craig

Associate Professor of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Member of the Graduate Faculty

Stuart "Alex" Craig is an associate professor of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering (AME) at the University of Arizona. He received his BS (2009) degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and his PhD (2015) degree in aerospace engineering from Texas A&M University. Prof. Craig was a postdoctoral research associate at Los Alamos National Laboratory from 2015 to 2016 before joining the AME Department as an assistant professor in 2016. He won the Office of Naval Research (ONR) Young Investigator Award in 2018. He is a member of the Fluid Dynamics Technical committee as well as a Senior Member of AIAA and a member of the American Physical Society (APS). Dr. Craig conducts wind-tunnel experiments in the field of boundary-layer stability and transition with an emphasis on high-speed and hypersonic flows.

Degrees

  • PhD Aerospace Engineering
    • Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, United States
    • Stability of high-speed, three-dimensional boundary layers
  • BS Mechanical Engineering
    • University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, United States

Work Experience

  • University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona (2016 - Ongoing)
  • Los Alamos National Laboratory (2016 - 2017)
  • Los Alamos National Laboratory (2015 - 2016)
  • Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas (2009 - 2015)

Interests

Teaching

Fluid Mechanics, Aerodynamics, Compressible Flow, Hydrodynamic Stability
 

Research

Boundary-layer stability and transition, hydrodynamic instability, experimental fluid mechanics, hypersonic aerodynamics, aerodynamic heating

Courses

Instrumentation Lab

AME 300 (Fall 2023)
AME 300 (Spring 2023)
AME 300 (Spring 2021)
AME 300 (Fall 2020)
AME 300 (Spring 2020)
AME 300 (Fall 2018)
AME 300 (Fall 2017)
AME 300 (Fall 2016)
 

Gasdynamics

AME 323 (Spring 2024)
AME 323 (Spring 2020)
AME 323 (Spring 2019)
AME 323 (Spring 2018)
 

Intro to Fluid Mechanics

AME 331 (Spring 2017)
BME 331 (Spring 2017)
 

Directed Research

AME 492 (Spring 2019)
AME 592 (Spring 2022)
 

Boundary Layers

AME 535 (Fall 2024)
AME 535 (Fall 2022)
 

Graduate Seminar

AME 696G (Spring 2022)
AME 696G (Fall 2019)
AME 696G (Fall 2018)
 

Research

AME 900 (Spring 2024)
AME 900 (Fall 2023)
AME 900 (Spring 2023)
AME 900 (Fall 2022)
AME 900 (Spring 2022)
AME 900 (Fall 2021)
AME 900 (Spring 2021)
AME 900 (Fall 2020)
AME 900 (Spring 2020)
AME 900 (Fall 2019)
AME 900 (Spring 2019)
AME 900 (Spring 2018)
AME 900 (Fall 2017)
 

Thesis

AME 910 (Spring 2024)
AME 910 (Fall 2023)
AME 910 (Fall 2022)
AME 910 (Spring 2022)
AME 910 (Fall 2021)
AME 910 (Spring 2021)
AME 910 (Fall 2020)
 

Dissertation

AME 920 (Spring 2024)
AME 920 (Fall 2023)
AME 920 (Spring 2023)
AME 920 (Fall 2022)

Selected Publications

Journals/Publications

  • Bearden, K. P., Padilla, V. E., Taubert, L., & Craig, S. A. (2022). Calibration and performance characterization of a Mach 5 Ludwieg tube. Review of Scientific Instruments, 93(8). doi:10.1063/5.0093052
  • Craig, S. A. (2022). Tip sharpness criterion for hypersonic wind tunnel experiments. AIAA Journal, 60(12). doi:10.2514/1.J061853
  • Craig, S. A., Kocian, T. S., Moyes, A. J., Reed, H. L., Saric, W. S., Schneider, S. P., & Edelman, J. B. (2019). Hypersonic Crossflow Instability. Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, 56(2), 432-446. doi:10.2514/1.a34289
  • Craig, S., Humber, R., Hofferth, J., & Saric, W. (2019). Nonlinear behaviour of the Mack mode in a hypersonic boundary layer. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 872, 74-99. doi:10.1017/jfm.2019.359
  • Kocian, T. S., Moyes, A. J., Reed, H. L., Craig, S. A., Saric, W. S., Schneider, S. P., & Edelman, J. B. (2018). Hypersonic Crossflow Instability. Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets. doi:10.2514/1.A34289
  • Craig, S. A., & Saric, W. S. (2016). Crossflow instability in a hypersonic boundary layer. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 808, 224--244. doi:10.1017/jfm.2016.643
  • Craig, S. A., Prestridge, K., & Mula, S. M. (2016). Dynamics of Richtmyer-Meshkov (RM) mixing with reshock. Bulletin of the American Physical Society.
  • Craig, S. A., & Saric, W. S. (2015). Crossflow Instability on a Yawed Cone at Mach 6. Procedia IUTAM. doi:10.1016/j.piutam.2015.03.019
  • Craig, S. A., Prestridge, K., Wilson, B., & Mejia-Alvarez, R. (2015). Richtmyer-Meshkov mixing: experiments on the effect of initial conditions. Bulletin of the American Physical Society.
  • Craig, S. A., & Saric, W. S. (2014). Experimental study of crossflow instability on a Mach 6 yawed cone. Bulletin of the American Physical Society.
  • Craig, S. A., Saric, W. S., Hofferth, J. W., McClure, P. D., Vadyak, J., & Humble, R. A. (2013). Spatiotemporal structure of a millimetric annular dielectric barrier discharge plasma actuator. Physics of Fluids. doi:10.1063/1.4774334
  • Craig, S. A., Saric, W. S., Hofferth, J. W., & Humble, R. A. (2011). Flow-field characterization of DBD plasma actuators as discrete roughness elements for laminar flow control. Bulletin of the American Physical Society.

Proceedings Publications

  • Craig, S. A., Flood, J. T., Hader, C., & Fasel, H. F. (2023). Experimental measurements and numerical investigations of boundary-layer instabilities on a Mach 5 hollow cylinder. In AIAA SciTech 2023.
  • Flood, J. T., Craig, S. A., Little, J., Fasel, H. F., Hader, C., Jouannais, L., & Threadgill, J. A. (2022). Fin-induced Shock Boundary Layer Interactions on a Flat Plate and Hollow Cylinder at Mach 5. In AIAA SciTech 2022.
  • Little, J. C., Craig, S., Flood, J., Hader, C., Jouannais, L., Threadgill, J. A., Threadgill, J. A., Jouannais, L., Hader, C., Flood, J., Craig, S., & Little, J. C. (2022, January). Fin-induced Shock Boundary Layer Interactions on a Flat Plate and Hollow Cylinder at Mach 5. In AIAA SCITECH 2022 Forum, 21.
  • Bearden, K. P., Taubert, L., Craig, S. A., & Padilla, V. (2021). Calibration of a Mach 5 Ludwieg tube at the University of Arizona. In AIAA Aviation 2021.
  • Flood, J. T., Threadgill, J. A., Singh, A., Little, J. C., Hader, C., Fasel, H. F., & Craig, S. A. (2021). Development of Plasma-based Controlled Disturbances for the Study of Boundary Layer Transition and Shock Boundary Layer Interaction. In AIAA AVIATION 2021 FORUM.
  • Maldonado, J. C., Craig, S. A., Little, J., Wernz, S., & Threadgill, J. A. (2021). Flow Structure and Heat Transfer Characterization of a Blunt-Fin-Induced Shock-Wave/Laminar Boundary-Layer Interaction. In AIAA SciTech 2021.
  • Flood, J., Taubert, L., & Craig, S. (2020, January). First and Mack-mode instabilities in a flat-plate boundary layer at Mach 4. In AIAA SciTech 2020.
  • Flood, J., Taubert, L., & Craig, S. (2020, January). Flow quality mapping of the Mach 4 Quiet Ludwieg Tube. In AIAA SciTech 2020.
  • Taubert, L., Craig, S. A., & Flood, J. T. (2020). Correction: Flow quality mapping of the Mach 4 Quiet Ludwieg Tube. In AIAA SciTech 2020.
  • Craig, S. A., Taubert, L., & Flood, J. T. (2019). Initial Flow Quality of the Mach 4 Quiet Ludwieg Tube. In AIAA Aviation 2019.
  • Flood, J., Taubert, L., & Craig, S. (2019, June). Initial flow quality of the Mach 4 Quiet Ludwieg Tube. In AIAA Aviation 2019.
  • Craig, S. A., Edelman, J. B., Schneider, S. P., Saric, W. S., Reed, H. L., Moyes, A., & Kocian, T. S. (2018). Hypersonic Crossflow Instability. In AIAA SciTech 2018.
  • Craig, S. A., & Saric, W. S. (2015). Experimental study of crossflow instability on a Mach 6 yawed cone. In AIAA Aviation 2015.
  • Craig, S. A., Saric, W. S., & Humble, R. A. (2011). Characterization of the Flowfield Structure of an Annular Dielectric Barrier Discharge Plasma Actuator. In 41st AIAA Fluid Dynamics Conference.

Poster Presentations

  • Tronstad, L., Threadgill, J. A., Little, J. C., & Craig, S. A. (2023). Heat Flux Measurements and Transition Prediction for the Construction of Surrogate Aerodynamic Databases. UCAH Spring Forum.

Presentations

  • Craig, S. (2017, Apr 17). High-speed stability and transition experiments at the University of Arizona. Invited Seminar. New Mexico State University.
  • Craig, S. (2017, Feb 17). Boundary-layer stability and transition experiments at the University of Arizona. Invited Seminar. Purdue University.
  • Craig, S. (2017, Mar 17). High-speed stability and transition experiments at the University of Arizona. Invited Seminar. NASA Langley Research Center.
  • Mula, S., Craig, S., & Prestridge, K. (2016, 11). Dynamics of Richtmyer-Meshkov (RM) mixing with reshock. APS Division of Fluid Dynamics 2016. Portland, OR: American Physical Society.

Awards

  • Research Leadership Initiative
    • Research, Innovation, and Impact; University of Arizona, Spring 2023
  • Early Career Scholars Award
    • University of Arizona, Spring 2023
  • Research Leadership Institute
    • University of Arizona, Fall 2022
  • Panel Excellence Award
    • NATO STO, Fall 2019
  • Young Investigator Award
    • Office of Naval Research, Spring 2018