Heat transfer

For queries about this topic, contact Akeel Shah.

View the calendar of events relating to this topic.

Projects

Advanced modelling for two-phase reacting flow

Edward Richardson (Investigator)

Engine designers want computer programs to help them invent ways to use less fuel and produce less pollution. This research aims to provide an accurate and practical model for the injection and combustion of liquid fuel blends.

Can the principle of Maximum Entropy Production be used to predict the steady states of a Rayleigh-Bernard convective system?

Kevin Oliver, Iain Weaver, James Dyke (Investigators)

The principle of Maximum Entropy Production (MEP) has been successfully used to reproduce the steady states of a range of non-equilibrium systems. Here we investigate MEP and maximum heat flux extremum principles directly via the simulation of a Rayleigh-Bérnard convective system implemented as a lattice gas model.

Direct Numerical Simulations of transsonic turbine tip gap flow

Richard Sandberg (Investigator)

Direct Numerical Simulations are conducted of the transsonic flow through the tip gap at real engine conditions.

Eddy-resol?ving Simulation?s for Turbomachi?nery Applicatio?ns

Richard Sandberg (Investigator), Li-Wei Chen

Traditionally, the design of turbomachinery components has been exclusively accomplished with steady CFD, with Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) models being the predominant choice. With computing power continuously increasing, high-fidelity numerical simulations of turbomachinery components are now becoming a valuable research tool for validating the design process and continued development of design tool.
In the current project, Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS) and other eddy-resolving approaches will be performed of turbomachinery components to establish benchmark data for design tools, and to investigate physical mechanisms that cannot be captured by traditional CFD approaches.

Laser-Induced Forward Transfer Nano-Printing Process - Multiscale Modelling, Experimental Validation and Optimization

Kai Luo, Rob Eason (Investigators)

LIFT is a direct-write microfabrication and micro/nano printing technique that has received much attention in the research communities and industries in recent years. It offers significant advantages over other competing printing methodologies and has potential applications in many high-tech high-value industries. The method is modelled, studied and optimised using computational techniques in this work.

On the applicability of nonlinear timeseries methods for partial discharge analysis

Paul Lewin (Investigator), Lyuboslav Petrov

The governing processes of Partial Discharge (PD)
phenomena trigger aperiodic chains of events resulting in ’ap-
parently’ stochastic data, for which the widely adopted analysis
methodology is of statistical nature. However, it can be shown,
that nonlinear analysis methods can prove more adequate in
detecting certain trends and patterns in complex PD timeseries.
In this work, the application of nonlinear invariants and phase
space methods for PD analysis are discussed and potential pitfalls
are identified. Unsupervised statistical inference techniques based
on the use of surrogate data sets are proposed and employed for
the purpose of testing the applicability of nonlinear algorithms
and methods. The Generalized Hurst Exponent and Lempel Ziv
Complexity are used for finding the location of the system under
test on the spectrum between determinism and stochasticity. The
algorithms are found to have strong classification abilities at
discerning between surrogates and original point series, giving
motivation for further investigations.

Porous Media and Hydrothermal Circulation in Weakened Ocean Crust

Formation of oceanic crust is an interplay between magma and the cooling hydrothermal system above that its own heat drives. To understand this system we must understand where and how water circulates through the crust.

Ocean crust is riddled with faults and other permeable pathways along which water preferentially flows. We seek to use basic numerical models of circulation in porous media to understand how much of an influence on crust formation these anomalous features have, compared to the bulk, unfractured crust.

The Ca-geospeedometer - A tool for investigating the processes that generate oceanic crust

We quantify the errors inherent in the current methods of geospeedometry, which lets one obtain the cooling rate of a rock, using mineral trace element chemistry. Calcium-in-Olivine geospeedometry is useful for deep ocean crust.

We want to use this proxy to figure out how ocean crust actually accretes, it provides key evidence as to how magma chambers and hydrothermal systems interact to produce new lithosphere. But to do so we first have to determine how reliable the method is and therefore how much can be inferred from results.

The Maximum Entropy Production Principle and Natural Convection

Seth Bullock, James Dyke (Investigators), Stuart Bartlett

In this project I wanted to perform some tests of the so-called Maximum Entropy Production Principle (MEPP) in the context of buoyancy-driven convection in a system with negative feedback boundary conditions.

Unsteady Aerodynamics of Wings in Extreme Conditions

Charles Badoe (Investigator), Neil Sandham, Zheng-Tong Xie

Sizing of civil aircraft is dictated by extreme loads experienced at the limits of flight envelope, for example during gust, turbulence or low speed manoeuvre. The project aims to understand the unsteady aerodynamic behaviour of wings in extreme conditions involving heaving motions near stall.

Variability in high pressure blade trailing edge geometry and its impact on stage capacity and blade temperature

Andy Keane (Investigator), Jan Kamenik

My project involves the trailing edge (TE) geometry of gas turbine high pressure turbine blades, which is subject to inevitable variability due to the manufacturing processes involved.