Computational Modelling Group

Fundamental Investigations of Cross-Coupled, Particle-Turbulence Interactions using a Pseudo Spectral DNS Code

Gabriel Amine-Eddine (Investigator), John Shrimpton

The behaviour of multiphase flows is of primary importance in many engineering applications. In the past, experimental observations have provided many researchers with the ability to understand and probe the phenomena and physical processes occurring in such flows. With advancements in modern day computational power, we now have the ability to gain an even greater wealth of knowledge, from what used to be a physical experiment, is now a virtual experiment, running across multiple computers in parallel architectures.

In this project, we simulate the full Navier-Stokes equations in a virtual experiment, and resolve to the best of degree, all possible scales of turbulence. We have the capability to track millions of computational particles in conjunction with the turbulence, and if the particles are charged, coupled to the turbulence, or if gravity is in the scenarios, we can examine the complex physical processes that occur in such a flow.

Provision has been made to simulate particles in conjunction with turbulence that has been subjected to deformations due to shear, strain, axi-symmetric contraction or expansion. Advancements in this code are soon to include the transport and coupling of scalar temperature between particles and the turbulence.

Currently, focus is on the coupling behaviour of poly-sized particle with the turbulence, and how such turbulence can be modelled accurately using stochastic Langevin methods.

Nonlinear Optics in Structured Material

Peter Horak, Neil Broderick (Investigators)

Structured materials such as photonic crystals, optical fibres, Bragg gratings etc. are the ideal material for nonlinear optics. Properly engineered materials allows one to control which nonlinear interactions are observed and enhanced whilst other nonlinear interactions can be neglected. This work looks both at fundamental ideas as well as the fabrication of devices for advanced telecommunications.

Structured low-rank approximation

Ivan Markovsky

Today's state-of-the-art methods for data processing are model based. We propose a fundamentally new approach that does not depend on an explicit model representation and can be used for model-free data processing. From a theoretical point of view, the prime advantage of the newly proposed paradigm is conceptual unification of existing methods. From a practical point of view, the proposed paradigm opens new possibilities for development of computational methods for data processing.

µ-VIS Computed Tomography Centre

Ian Sinclair, Richard Boardman, Dmitry Grinev, Philipp Thurner, Simon Cox, Jeremy Frey, Mark Spearing, Kenji Takeda (Investigators)

A dedicated centre for computed tomography (CT) at Southampton, providing complete support for 3D imaging science, serving Engineering, Biomedical, Environmental and Archaeological Sciences. The centre encompasses five complementary scanning systems supporting resolutions down to 200nm and imaging volumes in excess of one metre: from a matchstick to a tree trunk, from an ant's wing to a gas turbine blade.