BRENDEN EPPS
Postdoctoral Alumni

bepps@mit.edu

Websites
MIT Sea Grant: OpenProp

Brenden Epps was a postdoctoral research associate who is developed design and analysis tools for marine propellers and energy-harvesting turbines. He is the lead developer of OpenProp, an open-source code for use in preliminary design and analysis, as well as parametric design studies. Brenden also worked on an advanced computational fluid dynamics code for detailed performance predictions. Brenden supervised graduate students in the design, construction, and experimental testing of marine propulsion systems. At MIT, while pursuing his doctorate, he used experiment and simulation to study the propulsive forces generated by swimming fish and spinning propellers.

Education
Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering (fluid dynamics), Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2010
M.S. Mechanical Engineering (systems engineering) Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2006
B.S. Mechanical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, 2001

MIT Sea Grant Publications

Comparison of Turbulence Models for Simulating Flow in Waterjets
Xian Luo, Brenden Epps, Chryssostomos Chryssostomidis, George Em Karniadakis,
2011, MITSG 11-08
Workshops, proceedings, symposia

Dual-Operating-Point Blade Optimization for High-Speed Propellers
Brenden Epps, Oscar Viquez, Chryssostomos Chryssostomidis
2011, MITSG 11-13
Workshops, proceedings, symposia

An impulse framework for hydrodynamic force analysis: fish propulsion, water entry of spheres, and marine propellers
Brenden Epps
2010, MITSG 10-21
Full theses / dissertations

Propeller blade stress estimates using lifting line theory
Brenden Epps, Jerod Ketcham, Chryssostomos Chryssostomidis
2010

OpenProp: An Open-source Parametric Design and Analysis Tool for Propellers
Brenden Epps, Julie Chalfant, Richard Kimball, Alexandra H Techet, Kevin Flood, Chryssostomos Chryssostomidis
2009
Technical reports