trained in theoretical physics at the Cavendish Laboratories, Cambridge University, looking at the rheology (and in particular the jamming) of concentrated colloids. Since then, I have been employed as a researcher with Unilever R&D; initially at Colworth House in the United Kingdom, then briefly in New Jersey, and now (since 2003) at Vlaardingen in the Netherlands. My current role in LIMS is as a visiting Fellow, benefiting from the active debate and lively academic atmosphere in the new facilities at South Audley Street.

Research Interests

My interests lie in the theory and simulation of the relation between the structure and the mechanical, thermal and diffusive properties of materials. Amongst other topics, I am developing some recent results on the application of fractal principles to design very light-weight structures & materials. I am also interested in the sintering dynamics of crystals, and the properties of compacted granular materials. In general, I like problems with a geometrical flavour, which can be dealt with through continuum approaches (partial differential equations, perturbation methods and complex analysis). That's a pretty opaque description; for a more detailed account of what I've been up to (without any mathematics), have a look at the topics under "My research" at the left of this page. On the other hand, if you are interested in the mathematics, then the publications below should cover all the details. For convenience, I have put some of the work (where legally allowed) on the Los Alamos pre-print archive ("arXiv") where you can download them for free, and I will try to put local copies of the others (again where that is permitted) on the server here.

List of Publications

1. Luque A., Aldazabal J., Martez-Esnaola J. M., Martin-Meizoso A., Gil Sevillano J. and Farr R. S. "Geometrical Monte Carlo model of liquid-phase sintering". Mathematics and Computers in Simulation 80(7) 1469 (2010).

2. Farr R. S. and Groot R. D. "Close packing density of polydisperse hard spheres". J. Chem. Phys. 131(24) 244104 (2009) (arXiv:0912.0852v1 [cond-mat.soft])

3. Farr R.S., Luque A., Izzard M.J., Ginkel M. van. "Liquid phase sintering of two roughened ice crystals in sucrose solution: A comparison to theory and simulation". Comp. Mat. Sci. 44(4) 1135 (2009).

4. Goh S.M., Alten S., Dalen G van, Farr R.S., Gamonpilas C. and Charalambides M.N. "The mechanical properties of model-compacted tablets". J. Mat. Sci. 43(22) 7171 (2008).

5. Farr R.S. and Mao Y. "Fractal space frames and metamaterials for high mechanical efficiency". Europhys. Lett. 84(1) 14001 (2008). (arXiv:1001.3940v2 [cond-mat.mtrl-sci]).

6. Farr R. S. and Izzard M. J. "Sintering behavior of two roughened crystals just after contact". Phys. Rev. E 77(4) 041608 (2008). (arXiv:1001.3941v1 [cond-mat.mtrl-sci]).

7. Farr R.S., "Fractal design for an efficient shell strut under gentle compressive loading". Phys. Rev. E 76(5) 056608 (2007). (arXiv:1001.3532v1 [physics.class-ph]).

8. Farr R.S., "Fractal design for efficient brittle plates under gentle pressure loading". Phys. Rev. E 76(4) 046601 (2007). (arXiv:0912.3383v1 [physics.class-ph]).

9. Aldazabal J., Martin-Meizoso A., Martinez-Esnaola J. M. and Farr R. "Deterministic model for ice cream solidification". Computational Mat. Sci. 38(1) 9 (2006)

10. Jousse F., Farr R., Link D. R., Fuerstman M. J. and Garstecki P, "Bifurcation of droplet flows within capillaries", Phys. Rev. E 74(3) 036311 (2006).

11. Luque A, Aldazabal J., Martin-Meizoso A., Martinez-Esnaola J.M., Sevillano J.G., Farr R. "Simulation of the microstructural evolution during liquid phase sintering using a geometrical Monte Carlo model". Modelling & Sim. in Material Sci. & Eng. 13(7) 1057 (2005)

12. Silbert L. E., Farr R. S., Melrose J. R., Ball R. C. Stress distributions in flowing aggregated colloidal suspensions., J. Chem. Phys. 111(10): 4780 (1999).

13. Farr R.S. Model of clustering in the string phase of a shearing hard sphere colloidal dispersion., Phys. Rev. E 58(3) 3377 (1998).

14. Farr R.S., Melrose J. R., Ball R. C. Kinetic theory of jamming in hard-sphere startup flows., Phys. Rev. E 55(6) 7203 (1997).