SHORT RESUME

I obtained my PhD degree at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (VD), Switzerland.

I am interested in any problem that involves fluid mechanics and its interactions with other disciplines, trying to apply the elegance of mathematics in capturing the essence of complex physical phenomena. My research activity spans from small to large scales, although mostly focused on small scales, and combines theoretical approaches, numerical simulations, and experiments. My goal is to understand the underlying physical mechanisms and the key parameters governing fluid flows to formulate general laws capable of describing their behavior. These results can be applied to the prediction, interpretation, and optimization of fluid dynamics phenomena of both engineering and environmental relevance.

Education and experiences

2025- present: Tenure-track Assistant Professor (RTT), University of Cagliari (Italy).
2026: Invited Visiting Researcher (two weeks) Institut Jean Le Rond d'Alembert, Sorbonne Université (France)
2023 – 2025: RTD-A, University of Cagliari (Italy).
2022: PhD in Mechanics, EPFL (Switzerland), thesis title: “From coating flow patterns to porous body wake dynamics via multiscale models”. Supervisor: Prof. F. Gallaire.
2018: MSc in Aerospace Engineering, University of Pisa (Italy). Thesis supervisors: F. Gallaire, S. Camarri, L. Siconolfi

Awards and Prizes

2025: Editors'Suggestion, Physical Review Letters - Article P.G. Ledda et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 234002
2025: Featured in Physics Magazine, APS – Article P.G. Ledda et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 234002
2024: Junior Marchi Lecture – Invited lecture by Gruppo Italiano di Idraulica (GII) titled “Low Reynolds number hydraulics: from everyday observations to biomedical and technological applications”.
2023: SWICCOMAS Prize for the PhD dissertation
2023: Editors’ Suggestion, Physical Review Fluids – Article F. Caruso Lombardi et al., Phys. Rev. Fluids 8, 083901.
2022: EDME Award – Best PhD thesis in the “doctoral program in mechanics” at EPFL.
2019: Featured in Physics Magazine, APS – Article P.G. Ledda et al., Phys. Rev. Fluids 4, 071901(R).
2018: APS/DFD Milton van Dyke Award – Dripping down the rivulet, Gallery of Fluid Motion, American Physical Society.

Seminars

2025: Wake instabilities and trajectories of porous bluff bodies – Ladhyx, École Polytechnique, Palaiseau, France.
2024: Low Reynolds number hydraulics: from everyday observations to biomedical and technological applications, Junior Marchi Lecture, Gruppo Italiano di Idraulica, PhD Days, Trieste, Italy.
2024: Canopy flows of the built environment: Numerical and experimental assessment of flow dynamics around photovoltaic farms, MechE Seminar Series, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland.
2024: From coating flow patterns to porous body wake dynamics via multiscale models, University of Genoa, Italy.
2023: What can we learn from flying seeds and deep-sea sponges? Flow around and through permeable bluff bodies, IBIM Seminar Series, Online.
2021: Non-uniform spreading on curved substrates: from sphere to ellipsoid through a spheroid. Complex Fluids Group, Princeton University, USA

Research interests

Flows around and through porous bodies. Numerical and theoretical studies with applications in flow control, optimization of filtration processes, and seed dispersion. Derivation of homogenized models for transport across thin membranes, stability analysis of flow-porous interactions, study of falling objects. Thin fluid films and capillary flows. Theoretical, experimental and numerical work on capillary flows, film instabilities and gravity currents. I enjoy deriving closed-form solutions for draining flows. Applications include geophysical flows and chemical engineering. Biofluid mechanics. flows generated during or after surgical procedures in cardiovascular and ophthalmic contexts, in collaboration with medical doctors, using both numerical and experimental approaches. Low-Reynolds-number fluid–structure interactions: study of bio-inspired flexible valves (passive flow selector via buckling and a snapping-instability based valve), combining analytical solutions with numerical simulations and experiments. I enjoy deriving analytical solutions capturing the essential physics. High-Reynolds-number fluid mechanics: heat transfer and dispersion in indoor environments, atmospheric flows around canopies; numerical simulations exploit OpenFOAM while laboratory experiments employ Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV).

In the attached CV as well as in the links below you can find more detail together with my publications:

Personal webpage

Google Scholar

ResearchGate

Scopus

For the list of available theses, please refer to the dedicated page.