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Improving the human condition through discoveries in fluid mechanics and soft matter physics

Gabbard Lab is an experimental fluid mechanics and soft matter group in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech, led by Chase T. Gabbard. We focus on discovering and applying new physics to engineering applications. Areas of interest include interfacial phenomena, complex fluids, granular matter, and fluid-structure interactions at the capillary scale.

Our mission is to uncover the fundamental mechanisms of flowing and soft matter to improve engineering systems. We design, build, and run novel tabletop experiments, paired with physics-focused analysis. Our findings inform industrial heat and mass transfer, guide new environmental remediation techniques, explain natural phenomena, and advance liquid manipulation in capillary-dominated systems.

Explore our research See open PhD positions
A small drop bouncing above concentric ripples on a liquid bath, lit in purple and orange.

Drop–bath rebound

A submillimetric droplet rebounds from a liquid bath.

Read about this project
Three snapshots of a small sphere entering a rippled water surface, throwing up a splash and opening a deepening air cavity.

Water entry

A hydrophobic sphere plunges into an axisymmetric wavefield.

Read about this project
A clear liquid sheet curving sharply around a vertical jet against a blue background.

Savart’s harp

A liquid jet striking a small tilted target spreads into a thin, sharply curved sheet.

See winning Gallery of Fluid Motion poster
Three vertical fibers coated with liquid that has broken into glistening beads, on black.

Bead-on-fiber patterns

Liquid flowing down vertical fibers breaks up into trains of beads.

See the related papers
A sequence of drop positions tracing a V as a drop bounces off a surface, on a peach background.

A bouncing drop

Snapshots of a single drop bouncing on a nonwetting surface.

Read the paper
A particle-coated cylinder face with a stream of white particles falling away below it, on black.

Particle ejection

A cylinder pushed through a floating granular raft sheds a stream of particles.

Read the paper
A wave curling over as it begins to break, on a black background.

The breaking point

A laboratory-scale tsunami wave begins to break...

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Join the lab

We’re recruiting multiple PhD students to start in Fall 2027. If you’re interested in building experiments and exploring new physics, we’d love to hear from you!

See open positions

Lab news

  • The Gabbard Lab is opening at Georgia Tech

    We’re excited to announce the Gabbard Lab, a new experimental fluid mechanics group in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech, led by Chase T. Gabbard. The lab will study interfacial dynamics, multiphase transport phenomena, and complex fluids, and we’re recruiting multiple PhD students to join us in Fall 2027.

    See open PhD positions