César Huete Ruiz de Lira

CONTACT INFORMATION:
Phone: (+34) 91 624 8810
Email: chuete:at:ing.uc3m.es

ADDRESS:
Office: 1.1.F09
Av. Universidad, 30.
Edif. Betancourt
28911, Leganés (Madrid)

RESEARCH LINKS:
ORCID
Google Scholar
Researchgate

Education

César Huete received a five-year degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM) in 2007. He obtained his PhD at the same university, in collaboration with UNED, in 2012. His doctoral thesis, supervised by Prof. Gustavo Wouchuk, focused on the theoretical study of the interaction between shock waves and weak turbulent flows.

Research Interests

After completing his PhD, César Huete joined the Department of Thermal Engineering and Fluid Mechanics at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M), where he collaborated with Professor Antonio L. Sánchez on the SCORE Consolider Research Project, focusing primarily on the interaction of thin detonation waves with turbulent flows. In 2013, he moved to the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), where he worked with Professors Forman A. Williams and Antonio L. Sánchez. His research at UCSD addressed several topics in reactive and compressible flows, including the interaction of detonations with small-scale turbulent flows, the effects of weak shocks on transonic mixing layers, and the ignition of reactive mixing layers through oblique shock impingement. This research was supported by a project grant from Fundación Iberdrola España.

At UC3M, his research has also addressed safety issues associated with unintended explosions in premixed hydrogen–air mixtures. The UC3M combustion group currently participates in collaborative research projects with teams at CIEMAT and UPM-ETISAE, funded by the Agencia Estatal de Investigación. These include two major initiatives: “Safe Use of Hydrogen for Energetic Applications: SAFET(H)Y” (TED2021-129446B-C41) and “Zero-Emission Technology and Applications for the Next-Generation Energy Conversion Systems: ZETA” (PID2022-139082NB-C51). Within the ZETA project, he co-supervises the FPI-funded PhD thesis of Mario Napieralksi, which focuses on combustion-related stability problems.

In parallel, César Huete has contributed to NATO Science and Technology Organization (NATO-STO) activities in hypersonics, with a particular focus on shock–turbulence interactions. He has played a leadership role in the AVT-352 initiative, “Measurement, Modeling, and Prediction of Hypersonic Turbulence,” under NATO-STO’s Applied Vehicle Technology (AVT) panel. His contributions to this research area also include the co-supervision of Alberto Cuadra Lara’s PhD thesis and participation in related hypersonics research activities.

His research interests further extend to high-energy-density physics, particularly the role of accretion shocks in core-collapse supernovae and hydrodynamic instabilities in inertial confinement fusion. This research direction was initiated with the support of a 2019 Leonardo Grant for Researchers and Cultural Creators from the BBVA Foundation and has continued with funding from Fundación Iberdrola España. Within this research framework, he supervised the PhD thesis of Andrés Calvo Rivera.

Since September 2026, César Huete has been a Full Professor in the area of Fluid Mechanics at UC3M, in recognition of his academic career and contributions to research and teaching in fluid mechanics, combustion, and related fields.

Teaching Activities

After completing his two-year postdoctoral stay at UCSD, César returned to UC3M in 2015 with a National Juan de la Cierva grant to continue his research alongside teaching activities. He is currently an Associate Professor and actively involved in teaching several courses, including Engineering Fluid Mechanics (Bachelor’s Degree), Explosion Dynamics (Bachelor’s Degree), Hydraulic Turbomachinery (Master’s Degree), Combustion (Master’s Degree), Industrial Facilities I (Master’s Degree), and Fluid Mechanics II (Aerospace Bachelor’s Degree).

Other activities

He is currently the Director of the Polytechnic School at UC3M, having previously served as Deputy Director of the Department of Thermal and Fluid Engineering for three years. His academic service includes four years as a member of the Academic Committee for the Bachelor’s Degree in Energy Engineering and extensive experience in academic and research evaluation. From 2015 to 2023, he served on ANECA evaluation committees, contributing to the assessment of engineering degree programmes and accreditation processes, including ACREDITA+ and the EURO-ACE® and EURO-INF certifications. He has also served on evaluation committees for DEVA (2019–2020), Fundación BBVA’s Red Leonardo and Fundamentos programmes (2023–2026), and the Spanish State Research Agency (AEI), evaluating Proof of Concept and Knowledge Generation projects (2025–2026). In 2026, he joined the European Research Executive Agency’s evaluation committee for the HORIZON-MSCA-2026-PF programme.

Publications list:

  1. Zhong, J., García-Heredero, M., Zhao, Y., Zhou, Y., Cuadra, A., & Huete, C. (accepted). Wall-temperature effects on Mach 2.95 SBLI turbulence characteristics. AIAA Journal.
  2. Napieralski, M., Huete, C., Kurdyumov, V., Coenen, W., Douglas, C., & Sánchez-Sanz, M. (2027). Stability of planar deflagrations with low molecular diffusivity and ZLD kinetics. Applied Mathematical Modelling, 161, 117152.
  3. Hernández-Sánchez, R., Martínez-Ruiz, D., & Huete, C. (2026). Water spray mitigation of hydrogen–air detonations. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 275, 157334.
  4. De Codina, N. G., Martínez-Ferrer, P. J., Mira, D., Huete, C., & Martínez-Ruiz, D. (2026). Flow-structure effects on auto-ignition processes of supersonic H2–air mixing layers. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 1041, A26.
  5. Cuadra, A.,Williams, C., Di Renzo, M., & Huete, C.  (2026). The role of compressibility and vibrational excitation in hypersonic shock–turbulence interactions. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 1032, A13.
  6. Cuadra, A., Huete, C., & Vera, M. (2026). Combustion Toolbox: An open-source thermochemical code for gas-and condensed-phase problems involving chemical equilibrium. Computer Physics Communications, 320, 110004.
  7. Napieralski, M., Huete, C., Sánchez-Sanz, M., & Kurdyumov, V. (2025). Analytical study of a flame propagation front in a solid phase driven by chain-branching reactions at large Zel’dovich numbers: Steady states, stability and influence of the radical Lewis number. Combustion and Flame, 279, 114331.
  8. Cuadra, A., Di Renzo, M., Hoste, J. J., Williams, C., Vera, M., & Huete, C. (2025). Review of shock-turbulence interaction with a focus on hypersonic flow. Physics of Fluids, 37, 045129.
  9. Napieralski, M., Huete, C., & Kurdyumov, V. (2025). Asymptotic analysis of a planar reaction front in gasless combustion: Higher order effects and the influence of the large but finite Lewis number on the propagation velocity. Combustion and Flame, 275, 114032.
  10. Dieckmann, M. E., Huete, C., Cobos, F., Bret, A., Folini, D., Eliasson, B., & Walder, R. (2024). PIC simulation of a nonoscillatory perturbation on a subcritical fast magnetosonic shock wave. Physica Scripta, 99, 115606.
  11. Napieralski, M., Cobos, F., Velikovich, A. L., & Huete, C. (2024). Richtmyer–Meshkov instability when a shock is reflected for fluids with arbitrary equation of state. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 1000, A18.
  12. Hernández-Sánchez, R., Huete, C., & Martínez-Ruiz, D. (2024). Pathological detonations in mono-disperse spray media. Proceedings of the Combustion Institute, 40, 105505.
  13. Napieralski, M., Cobos, F., Sánchez-Sanz, M., & Huete, C. (2024). Richtmyer–Meshkov instability when a shock wave encounters a premixed flame from behind. Applied Mathematical Modelling, 134, 268–287.
  14. Calvo-Rivera, A., Huete, C., García-Rubio, F., Velikovich, A. L., Tzeferacos, P., & Betti, R. (2023). Stability of perpendicular MHD shocks in materials with ideal and non-ideal equations of state. Physical Review E, 108, 035203.
  15. Dieckmann, M. E., Huete, C., Cobos, F., Bret, A., Folini, D., Eliasson, B., & Walder, R. (2023). PIC simulations of stable surface waves on a subcritical fast magnetosonic shock front. Physica Scripta, 98, 095603.
  16. Calvo-Rivera, A., Velikovich, A. L., & Huete, C. (2023). On the stability of piston-driven planar shocks. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 964, A33.
  17. Sánchez-Monreal, J., Cuadra, A., Huete, C., & Vera, M. (2022). SimEx: A tool for the rapid evaluation of the effects of explosions. Applied Sciences, 12, 9101.
  18. Calvo-Rivera, A., Huete, C., & Velikovich, A. L. (2022). The stability of expanding reactive shocks in a van der Waals fluid. Physics of Fluids, 34, 046106.
  19. Huete, C., Velikovich, A. L., Martínez-Ruiz, D., & Calvo-Rivera, A. (2021). Stability of expanding accretion shocks for an arbitrary equation of state. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 927, A35.
  20. Huete, C., Cuadra, A., Vera, M., & Urzay, J. (2021). Thermochemical effects on hypersonic shock waves interacting with weak turbulence. Physics of Fluids, 33, 08611.
  21. Martínez-Ruiz, D., Huete, C., Martínez-Ferrer, P. J., & Mira, D. (2021). Specific heat effects in two-dimensional shock refractions. Shock Waves, 31, 1–17.
  22. Huete, C., Cobos-Campos, F., Abdikamalov, E., & Bouquet, S. (2020). Acoustic stability of non-adiabatic high-energy-density shocks. Physical Review Fluids, 5, 113403.
  23. Cuadra, A., Huete, C., & Vera, M. (2020). Effect of equivalence ratio fluctuations on planar detonation discontinuities. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 903, A30.
  24. Martínez-Ruiz, D., Huete, C., Sánchez, A. L., & Williams, F. A. (2020). Theory of weakly exothermic oblique detonations. AIAA Journal, 58, 236–242.
  25. Huete, C., & Vera, M. (2019). The D’Yakov-Kontorovich instability in planar reactive shocks. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 879, 54–84.
  26. Martínez-Ruiz, D., Huete, C., Martínez-Ferrer, P., & Mira, D. (2019). Irregular self-similar configurations of shock wave impingement on shear layers. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 872, 889–927.
  27. Huete, C., & Abdikamalov, E. (2019). Response of nuclear-dissociating shocks to vorticity perturbations. Physica Scripta, 94, 094002.
  28. Huete, C. (2019). Homogenous Turbulence Dynamics (invited book review). AIAA Journal, 57, 886–887.
  29. Huete, C., Abdikamalov, E., & Radice, D. (2018). The impact of vorticity waves on the shock dynamics in core-collapse supernovae. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 475, 3305–3323.
  30. Abdikamalov, E., Huete, C., Nussupbekov, A., & Berdibek, S. (2018). Turbulence Generation by Shock-Acoustic-Wave Interaction in Core-Collapse Supernovae. Particles, 1(1), 97–110.
  31. Martínez-Ruiz, D., Huete, C., Sánchez, A. L., & Williams, F. A. (2018). Interaction of oblique shocks and laminar shear layers. AIAA Journal, 56(3), 1023–1030.
  32. Huete, C., Jin, T., Martínez-Ruiz, D., & Luo, K. (2017). Interaction of a planar reacting shock wave with an isotropic turbulent vorticity field. Physical Review E, 93, 053104.
  33. Huete, C., Sánchez, A. L., & Williams, F. A. (2017). Diffusion-flame ignition by shock-wave impingement on a Hydrogen-Air supersonic mixing layer. Journal of Propulsion and Power, 33, 256–263.
  34. Huete, C., Urzay, J., Sánchez, A. L., & Williams, F. A. (2016). Weak-shock interactions with transonic laminar mixing layers of fuels for high-speed propulsion. AIAA Journal, 54(3), 966–979.
  35. Huete, C., Sánchez, A. L., Williams, F. A., & Urzay, J. (2015). Diffusion-flame ignition by shock-wave impingement on a supersonic mixing layer. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 784, 74–108.
  36. Huete, C., Sánchez, A. L., & Williams, F. A. (2014). Linear theory for the interaction of small-scale turbulence with overdriven detonations. Physics of Fluids, 26, 116101.
  37. Huete, C., Sánchez, A. L., & Williams, F. A. (2013). Theory of interactions of thin strong detonations with turbulent gases. Physics of Fluids, 25, 076105.
  38. Huete, C., Wouchuk, J. G., Canaud, B., & Velikovich, A. L. (2012). Analytical linear theory for the shock and re-shock of isotropic density inhomogeneities. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 700, 214–245.
  39. Huete, C., Wouchuk, J. G., & Velikovich, A. L. (2012). Analytical linear theory for the interaction of a planar shock wave with a two- or three-dimensional random isotropic acoustic wave field. Physical Review E, 85, 026312.
  40. Velikovich, A. L., Huete, C., & Wouchuk, J. G. (2012). Effect of shock-generated turbulence on the Hugoniot jump conditions. Physical Review E, 85, 016301.
  41. Huete, C., Wouchuk, J. G., & Velikovich, A. L. (2011). Analytical linear theory for the interaction of a planar shock wave with a two- or three-dimensional random isotropic density field. Physical Review E, 83, 056320.
  42. Huete, C. (2010). Turbulence generation by a shock wave interacting with a random density inhomogeneity field. Physica Scripta, T142, 014022.
  43. Wouchuk, J. G., Huete, C., & Velikovich, A. L. (2009). Analytical linear theory for the interaction of a planar shock wave with an isotropic turbulent vorticity field. Physical Review E, 79, 066315.
  44. Velikovich, A. L., Wouchuk, J. G., Huete, C., Metzler, N., Zalesak, S., & Schmitt, A. J. (2007). Shock front distortion and Richtmyer-Meshkov-type growth caused by small preshock nonuniformities. Physics of Plasmas, 14, 072706.