Maths & Cycling

Maths

I am a Professor of Applied Mathematics in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Manchester.

Research
My research is focused on the mathematical modelling and computational solution of problems in fluid and solid mechanics, as well as other interesting problems, incl. those arising through consultancy work for industry.
Things I have worked on include:
- Fluid-structure interaction (FSI):
  - Flow in collapsible tubes
  - Pulmonary airway closure and reopening (free-surface flows in elastic vessels)
  - The suppression of viscous fingering in elastic-walled Hele-Shaw cells
  - Poroelastic FSI modelling of syringomyelia
  - Development of efficient preconditioners / solvers for such problems
- Newtonian and non-Newtonian free-surface flows
- Topological fluid mechanics and vortex dynamics
- Wrinkling and buckling of thin elastic sheets/shells
- Various other projects from Glaciology to biomedical problems
- Scientific computing -- oomph-lib
Most of my papers are on google scholar. Have a look -- they are all lovely!
Here are some recent collaborators:
I am always interested in supervising keen PhD students. Here are some who are currently taking (or have recently taken) the ride:
- Alex Phillips
- Hao Ye
- Rupinder Matharu
- Aidan Retallick
  
  I think my head is about to explode; with Aidan
- Tym Miara
- Christian Vaquero-Stainer
  
  Doing some hard maths with Christian
- Puneet Matharu
- Jonathan Deakin
- David Robinson
- Nico Bergemann

oomph-lib

oomph-lib is the open-source object-oriented multi-physics finite-element library, hosted on GitHub at https://github.com/oomph-lib/oomph-lib It is the main workhorse of our group, and is currently maintained jointly with Andrew Hazel (the co-founder/co-architect of the project all those years ago) and Puneet Matharu. Regular contributions and bug fixes are provided by many local and external collaborators.
The code is extremely well documented. Have a look at https://oomph-lib.github.io/oomph-lib/doc/html to get a feeling for the capabilities and the many detailed tutorials.

Flow in a collapsible tube, simulated with oomph-lib
We are always looking for people to get involved, so if you like maths, physics, C++ (and chocolate biscuits!) get in touch and feel free to join our weekly oomph-lunch.

Editorial work etc
I am the joint Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Fluids and Structures and an Associate Editor for the Journal of Engineering Mathematics Send us your good papers!
I am the Chair of the Euromech Fluid Mechanics Conference Committee.
I am on the Executive Committee of the UK Fluids Network

Teaching etc
I currently teach the following courses:
- MATH20401: Vector Calculus and PDEs
- MATH49111/69111: Scientific Computing
Sadly, course materials are only available via Blackboard.
In the past I have taught:
- MATH35002: Viscous Fluids
- MATH10222: ODEs and applications
- MATH30201: Elasticity
I also used to spend a fair amount of time in my role as the Department's PGR Director, meaning (in acroynym free form!) that I used to look after our lovely PhD students from an administrative point of view. Did this job for 16 years and then... (Buy me a beer and I'll tell you what happened).

Cycling

When I don't do hard sums, I tend to sit on my bike... Needless to say that I'm on .

Outdoors
There used to be a time when cycling was done outdoors.

Winning the pink vase on the Grossglockner
Here are a few good ones from those days:
- "Ride your birthday" (2017): 242.28km, 4,112m
- "Ride your birthday" (2018): 242.10km, 4,320m
- "Ride your birthday" (2019): 250.78km, 4,337m
- Grossglockner (2019): 56.62km, 1,812m
- Kitzbueheler Horn (2019): 152.77km, 2,528m
These days I'm doing most of my cycling indoors, apart from the commute to work (when I have to).

Indoors
I've become addicted to indoor cycling on Rouvy, where lots of fun stuff happens:
- Virtual Everesting:
  - My first one (2019): 281.58km, 8,852m
  - 10,000m vertical (2020): 373.91km, 10,021m
  - Maybe the hardest one (2022): 207.55km, 8,852m; brutal slopes.
  Disclaimer: I'm aware that these are not "strictly" everesting rides because the official rules require that you go up and down the same hill over and over again. Who cares...
  - A proper up-and-down-the-same-hillock one (2024): 241.10km, 8,870m.
- The full Brevet series:
  Paris-Brest-Paris is the most famous Audax/Brevet ride in the real (!) world: 1200km, to be completed in under 90 hours. Needless to say it involves a whole series of qualifiers too. Surely one ought to be able to do this indoors...
  - Qualifiers:
  - The big one: 1200km (2023)
    
    Indoor breveting accelerates ageing!
    
    BTW: I used this ride as an excuse to raise some money for Médecins Sans Frontières' Yemen programme; the JustGiving page is still open for contributions if you wish to donate some of your hard-earned cash!
- Cinglés du Mont Ventoux:
  Another cycling classic: Up and down the Ventoux on its three possible ascents.
  - "Cinglés du Mont Ventoux" (2024): 142.93km, 4,452m
- I have an Eddington number:
  As of November 16, 2024 it's 100 (virtual, metric), meaning that I've done 100 virtual rides of at least 100km. The outdoor equivalent is stuck at 88 and is likely to remain there.
  
  It's a very odd metric. Haven't decided what to do next. The Imperial equivalent is a looong way away. Maybe...
- Selected other indoor insanities:
  - "Ride your birthday" (2021): 273.63km, 4,372m
  - Deutsche Alpenstrasse (2021): 485.64km, 5,223m
  - Red Bull Timelaps (2021): 627.87km, 4,249m
  - 500km Brevet in NZ (2022): 500.50km, 4,477m
- rvy_racing: Two races a week with some seriously fast guys. The league runs from October-March.
- Fake commutes: Every morning at 7am 20-50 minutes of all-out racing (unless I have to do a non-fake commute in the real world).

Contact

Want to get in touch?

Email me: M.Heil at maths.manchester.ac.uk
Call me: (+44)(0)161 2755808 (Actually, don't call me; I hate phones!)
Visit me:
Room 2.224
Alan Turing Building
University of Manchester
Oxford Road
Manchester M13 9PL, U.K.