F. CRUZ-MAZO

Welcome

Complex Fluids Lab is a research laboratory of the Department of Mechanical, Chemical, and Industrial Design Engineering, ETSIDI, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, where Assoc. Prof. Cruz-Mazo conducts his theoretical, numerical, and experimental research on the fluid dynamics of interfacial flows at the micro- and nanoscale. Understanding the complex behavior of fluids at these tiny scales is essential for developing innovative solutions to pressing challenges in various fields. For instance, as a part of the Thermal Energy for Sustainability (TE4S) group, Cruz-Mazo works collaboratively for interdisciplinary applications in hydrogen technologies. Bio-sample delivery, soft robotics, or remote sensing technologies are also applications of interest, among others. Complex Fluids Lab is always open to exploring opportunities for collaboration. Feel free to contact us.

Contact

Assoc. Prof. Francisco Cruz-Mazo

Email: f.cruz[at]upm[dot]es / Office: C203

E.T.S. Ingeniería y Diseño Industrial

Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM)

Ronda de Valencia 3, 28012 Madrid, Spain

Short Bio

Francisco Cruz-Mazo is currently an Associate Professor at Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), where he teaches courses related to fluid mechanics and serves as a Principal Investigator for the METAHL-BUBS project that is funded by a National Research Grant in Spain (Proyecto Generación Conocimiento)

Cruz-Mazo completed a PhD in Fluid Mechanics with the group of Physics of Fluids and Microfluidics at the University of Sevilla (Spain) and with research stays in the Coherent Imaging Group at DESY (Germany). After being awarded a Marie-Curie Individual Fellowship, he worked as a Postdoc in the Complex Fluids Group at Princeton University (USA), where he broadened his research interests to fluid singularities and pinch-off phenomena.

Join our Complex Fluids LAB

Feel free to reach out and explore the available opportunities for a PhD, a postdoc, a research stay, or a BSc/MSc thesis (TFG/TFM) with Cruz-Mazo. Yearly, there are excellent calls to apply (f.cruz[at]upm[dot]es).

Research Projects

METAHL-BUBS: Modeling and Experimental Techniques for Advanced Heating in Liquid-metal BUBble Systems

PID2023-151272OA-I00 PLAN ESTATAL DE INVESTIGACIÓN (SPAIN)

RESEARCH TEAM: L. F. GONZÁLEZ-PORTILLO (PI), F. CRUZ-MAZO (PI), M. I. DE ANDRÉS, A. ABÁNADES. UNIVERSIDAD POLITÉNICA DE MADRID

Selected Publications

"Each piece, or part, of the whole nature is always merely an approximation to the complete truth, or the complete truth so far as we know it. In fact, everything we know is only some kind of approximation because we know that we do not know all the laws as yet"

-- Richard P. Feynman

Holmes, S. et al. (2022) Megahertz pulse trains enable multi-hit serial femtosecond crystallography at X-ray free electron lasers Nature Commun. 13, 4708

Here, we exploit the MHz pulse structure of the European XFEL to obtain two first hit and t complete datasets from the samehe second hit, before it exits t lysozyme crystahe beam. This technique, multi-hit SFX, can be used as a tool for tracking sub-microsecond structural changes in individual single crystals.

Cruz-Mazo, F. & Stone, H. A. (2022) Pinch-off of liquid jets at the finite scale of an interface. Phys. Rev. Fluids 7, L012201

This work studies for the first time how a fluid-fluid interface cannot be considered infinitely narrow within fluid fragmentation. In particular, a new set of self-similar equations is obtained and resolved for the jet pinching-off as the finite-thickness of the interface becomes in the characteristic radial size.

Cruz-Mazo, F. et al. (2019) Aerodynamically stabilized Taylor cone jets. Phys. Rev. E 100 (3), 031101

We introduce a way to stabilize steady micro/nanoliquid jets from Taylor cones and co-flowing gas streams. We theoretically study this configuration's dripping-jetting transition through a global stability analysis as a function of the governing parameters involved and derive two coupled scaling laws that predict both the minimum jet diameter and its maximum velocity.

A complete list of publications and their citations are available @googlescholar.

Teaching

"Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of the mind to think"

-- Albert Einstein

Fluid Mechanics

BSc in Chemical Engineering ETSIDI - UPM

In this course, we study the fundamentals of fluid mechanics, engineering applications and examples of chemical processes of particular interest for this degree.

Fluid Mechanics

BSc in Electronics Engineering ETSIDI - UPM

In this course, we study the fundamentals of fluid mechanics, engineering applications, and examples of control systems of particular interest for this degree.

Finite-Element Based Simulation Model for Fluid Dynamics

Course offered to any student of ETSIDI - UPM and International Semester

In this course, we study computational fluid dynamics methods to address practical engineering problems involving fluids and flows in chemical, mechanical, electronics, electrical, and industrial design engineering processes.

EESF: Engineering Education for a Sustainable Future

ERASMUS + PROJECT (EUROPEAN UNION)

https://eesfproject.eu

Gallery & Latest news

"It is not living that matters but living rightly"

-- Sócrates

03/2025

Cruz-Mazo gets a permanent academic position as an Associate Professor in Fluid Mechanics at UPM.

11/2024

Cruz-Mazo joins the Comunidad del Hidrógeno y Pilas de Combustible, a scientific community where UPM researchers collaborate on Hydrogen technologies.

07/2024

Cruz-Mazo is awarded a National Research Grant (Plan Nacional. Generación de Conocimiento) as a Principal Investigator of the METAHL-BUBS project.

06/2024

Cruz-Mazo joins the leadership team of ETSIDI - UPM to contribute to academic affairs and the organization of international courses, among others. Update: appointment as an Associate Director of Academic Affairs (since 10/2024)

02/2024

Cruz-Mazo joins The Engineering Education for a Sustainable Future (EESF) project.

05/2023

Cruz-Mazo joins Thermal Energy for Sustainability (TE4S), an interdisciplinary research group of UPM, where he contributes, as a member, with his fundamental micro/nanofluidics in topics related to Hydrogen technologies, among others.

02/2023

Cruz-Mazo joins ETSIDI at UPM as an Asst. Prof. in Fluid Mechanics.