Prof. Rival's research interests lie at the interfaces between experimental fluid dynamics, data assimilation, network science and bio-inspiration. He has co-authored over 100 peer-reviewed journal articles on said topics, and has recently published a textbook on biological and bio-inspired fluid dynamics with Springer. In 2020, Prof. Rival was awarded a one-year Alexander von Humboldt research fellowship to conduct research on advanced sensing techniques in Munich. Prior to joining TU Braunschweig he served as an Associate Professor in Mechanical Engineering at Queen’s University, Canada, where he collaborated with colleagues from biomechanics, medicine and biology. At various stages of his career Prof. Rival has conducted research on both sides of the ‘pond’, e.g. completing his doctoral studies on the aerodynamics of dragonfly flight at TU Darmstadt, working as a postdoctoral associate at MIT on shape morphing in nature, and holding a research chair on atmospheric sensing at the University of Calgary. Prof. Rival currently co-chairs a NATO AVT task group on flow separation, is involved in a number of international research collaborations sponsored by, for instance, AFOSR, NATO and ONR, and has had his research featured across a broad array of science platforms including David Suzuki’s The Nature of Things as well as on the Discovery Channel’s Daily Planet show.
Chen, D., Liang, A., Sun, B., Rival, D., Fan, D., 2026, Bridging Spatial and Temporal Surface Pressure Dynamics for Gust Aerodynamic Modeling. Commun Eng, DOI: 10.1038/s44172-026-00612-9
Olivucci, P., Rival, D., 2026, The Search for the Gust-Wing Interaction "Textbook". eprint arXiv, DOI: 10.48550/arXiv.2602.10968
Chen, D., Rival, D., 2025, Modal Analysis of Sparse Surface Pressure Measurements in Highly Unsteady Aerodynamic Flows. AIAA Journal, DOI: 10.2514/1.J065500
Leister, R., Rival, D., 2025, Escaping the Lab: Advances in Large-Scale Particle Tracking Using Natural Light and Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles. Experiments in Fluids, 66:141. DOI: 10.1007/s00348-025-04067-0
Rosi, G., Barnes, M., Kaiser, F., Rival, D., 2025, Exploring Separation and Reattachment in Shear-Thinning Suspensions Through Pipe-Wall Ultrasound Measurements. Experiments in Fluids, 66:99. DOI: 10.1007/s00348-025-04018-9
Barnes, M., Rosi, G. and Rival, D., 2024, Attenuation of Shear-Layer Instabilities in Steady and Pulsatile Axisymmetric Shear-Thinning Flows, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 1003:A30. DOI: 10.1017/jfm.2024.1144
Prof. Rival’s full list of publications can be found here.