Advances in real-time satellite monitoring of flow in rivers and estuaries. This project plans to improve the monitoring of our waterways by developing a novel moving drifter system that takes flow and water quality measurements along the pathlines of the drifters. One of the key challenges for Australian water management lies in monitoring and managing rivers and estuaries effectively over large geographical areas. Traditionally, instrumentation at stationary points has been used for such monit ....Advances in real-time satellite monitoring of flow in rivers and estuaries. This project plans to improve the monitoring of our waterways by developing a novel moving drifter system that takes flow and water quality measurements along the pathlines of the drifters. One of the key challenges for Australian water management lies in monitoring and managing rivers and estuaries effectively over large geographical areas. Traditionally, instrumentation at stationary points has been used for such monitoring, under the simplifying assumption that a single point adequately represents a very large region of water. By contrast, the Real-Time Flow Logging of Water (RT-FLOW) system expects to provide information from large regions of our waterways, providing stakeholders with more information to enable them to better manage issues including storm surge and erosion. The project also aims to provide improved validation of hydrodynamic models.Read moreRead less
Understanding pollutant transport in estuaries and coastal rivers. By advancing pollutant transport modelling that use recent developments in drift sensors, this project aims to investigate water quality of estuaries and coastal rivers under pressure from urban growth. The project expects to generate a new capability for quantitative particle concentration predictions through detection and innovative analysis of Lagrangian Coherent Structures. The expected outcome is a new particle transport mod ....Understanding pollutant transport in estuaries and coastal rivers. By advancing pollutant transport modelling that use recent developments in drift sensors, this project aims to investigate water quality of estuaries and coastal rivers under pressure from urban growth. The project expects to generate a new capability for quantitative particle concentration predictions through detection and innovative analysis of Lagrangian Coherent Structures. The expected outcome is a new particle transport modelling framework and algorithms for shallow water systems, which effectively exploit extensive datasets becoming available from GPS-enabled drifters. This should provide significant benefits such as reliable assessment of possible effects of catchment and waterway changes on pollutant and sediment concentration which can impact waterway health.Read moreRead less
Gravity Current Driven Smoke Dispersion In a Stratified Ambient. Smoke from bushfires transported by gravity currents, and known to occur nationwide, caused the shutdown of businesses, education and events in Canberra in 2019. Recent scientific investigations have shown that the speed of propagation and concentration of smoke in these three-dimensional gravity currents have a long term ‘memory’ of their initial configuration. In this project, high-fidelity computational and experimental techniq ....Gravity Current Driven Smoke Dispersion In a Stratified Ambient. Smoke from bushfires transported by gravity currents, and known to occur nationwide, caused the shutdown of businesses, education and events in Canberra in 2019. Recent scientific investigations have shown that the speed of propagation and concentration of smoke in these three-dimensional gravity currents have a long term ‘memory’ of their initial configuration. In this project, high-fidelity computational and experimental techniques will be used to elucidate the fundamental mechanisms of gravity current entrainment and propagation. This knowledge will set a strong foundation to improve operational forecasts of smoke transport that will allow government agencies to better respond to the negative impact of these complicated flows.Read moreRead less
WAKE FLOWS WITH UPSTREAM TURBULENCE IN MARINE, ATMOSPHERIC AND BUILT ENVIRONMENTS. Through improved understanding of turbulent wakes the project will have applications across aeronautics and hydrodynamics, leading to more efficient engineering designs to reduce flow drag. In marine environments our findings will improve coastal ocean models and the prediction of pollutant dispersal, nutrient fluxes and sediment transport, and contribute to the management of biological productivity (NRP 1.5). In ....WAKE FLOWS WITH UPSTREAM TURBULENCE IN MARINE, ATMOSPHERIC AND BUILT ENVIRONMENTS. Through improved understanding of turbulent wakes the project will have applications across aeronautics and hydrodynamics, leading to more efficient engineering designs to reduce flow drag. In marine environments our findings will improve coastal ocean models and the prediction of pollutant dispersal, nutrient fluxes and sediment transport, and contribute to the management of biological productivity (NRP 1.5). In the atmospheric boundary layer, the results will assist planners to improve wind environments near large buildings or clusters of buildings, benefiting the safety of aircraft at takeoff and landing. The project will develop collaboration and help maintain the strength of Australian research in environmental flows.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE210101396
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$421,209.00
Summary
Dynamics and dispersion of microplastics in turbulent shallow water flows. Microplastics have become ubiquitous in our rivers, lakes and reservoirs, detrimentally impacting ecosystems. Via high-fidelity numerical simulations, the project aims to advance our understanding of the complex interplay between dispersed microplastics and key fluvial processes including turbulence, sediment transport and free-surface wave dynamics. The project intends to buildup a data-base containing high-resolution da ....Dynamics and dispersion of microplastics in turbulent shallow water flows. Microplastics have become ubiquitous in our rivers, lakes and reservoirs, detrimentally impacting ecosystems. Via high-fidelity numerical simulations, the project aims to advance our understanding of the complex interplay between dispersed microplastics and key fluvial processes including turbulence, sediment transport and free-surface wave dynamics. The project intends to buildup a data-base containing high-resolution data of the occurrence, trajectories and distribution of microplastics. The outcome is anticipated to be invaluable in improving microplastic transport models, standardisation of sampling and quantification techniques, and in designing innovative mitigation technologies for microplastic collection.
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Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0238492
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$139,000.00
Summary
State of Art Particle Size Analysers. Particulate materials are encountered in many different forms, sizes and environments, and vastly different areas such as biological, environmental, chemical and materials engineering. Particle size and its distribution are fundamental properties of these materials. Existing particle size measuring equipment in Australia is poor as currently available facilities cannot accurately resolve particle sizes in concentrated dispersions, nor can they visualise the ....State of Art Particle Size Analysers. Particulate materials are encountered in many different forms, sizes and environments, and vastly different areas such as biological, environmental, chemical and materials engineering. Particle size and its distribution are fundamental properties of these materials. Existing particle size measuring equipment in Australia is poor as currently available facilities cannot accurately resolve particle sizes in concentrated dispersions, nor can they visualise the in situ structure and size of fragile assemblies of particles (flocs). This proposal seeks funding for a suite of complementary particle size analysers, for use in an extensive number of research areas, to specifically address these critical current deficits.Read moreRead less
Role of modulating water wave groups in enhancing air-water fluxes. This project aims to investigate the importance of the group structure and breaking of wind-generated waves of various scales in the air-water exchange of mass, momentum and energy. This project expects to generate new understanding in the area of air-water exchanges using an innovative approach based on direct numerical simulation of wind over unsteady water wave groups for a wide range of wind speed and wave steepness conditi ....Role of modulating water wave groups in enhancing air-water fluxes. This project aims to investigate the importance of the group structure and breaking of wind-generated waves of various scales in the air-water exchange of mass, momentum and energy. This project expects to generate new understanding in the area of air-water exchanges using an innovative approach based on direct numerical simulation of wind over unsteady water wave groups for a wide range of wind speed and wave steepness conditions.
Expected outcomes of this project include generating fundamental knowledge of the unresolved physics and new parameterisations for air-water exchange rates. This will deliver more accurate and more comprehensive forecast models for weather, inland and ocean waterways, and numerous industrial processes.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE180100166
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$637,800.00
Summary
Four-dimensional coherent imaging velocimetry facility for fluid mechanics research. This project aims to enhance understanding of multi-scale fluid flows in engineering, geophysics and biomedicine by delivering a facility for high temporal and spatial resolution, three-dimensional velocity measurements. The four-dimensional, coherent imaging velocimetry facility for fluid mechanics research is aimed at addressing limitations of commercially available imaging systems. It is expected to provide ....Four-dimensional coherent imaging velocimetry facility for fluid mechanics research. This project aims to enhance understanding of multi-scale fluid flows in engineering, geophysics and biomedicine by delivering a facility for high temporal and spatial resolution, three-dimensional velocity measurements. The four-dimensional, coherent imaging velocimetry facility for fluid mechanics research is aimed at addressing limitations of commercially available imaging systems. It is expected to provide unprecedented measurement capabilities with significant benefit to the design, control and modelling of complex fluid flows found in many areas. Applications include the jets used for heating, cooling, mixing, and drug delivery in engineering and pharmacy to the kinematics of sperm and micro-organisms in bio-medicine, and wave-particle flows in geo-physics.Read moreRead less
New method of remote characterization of hydrocarbon films on the ocean surface through studies of wave turbulence. Development of a novel method of remote characterization of oil films on the sea surface will help early detection of oil spills in environmental monitoring. It will also be used for detection of naturally occurring oil seeps in the oil exploration on the sea shelf. The project addresses the national research priority of Environmentally Sustainable Australia and the priority goal o ....New method of remote characterization of hydrocarbon films on the ocean surface through studies of wave turbulence. Development of a novel method of remote characterization of oil films on the sea surface will help early detection of oil spills in environmental monitoring. It will also be used for detection of naturally occurring oil seeps in the oil exploration on the sea shelf. The project addresses the national research priority of Environmentally Sustainable Australia and the priority goal of developing deep earth resources. Australian industry will greatly benefit from the outcome of the project. These studies will also help advancing Australia's position at the forefront of remote sensing research. Australian undergraduate, postgraduate and research training is an integral part of the project.Read moreRead less
A predictive framework for the flow control of environmental roughness. This project aims to develop a new framework to accurately predict how macro-roughness controls flow, turbulence and transport in environmental systems. Exemplar systems range from flows over seagrass meadows, coral reefs and permeable beds in aquatic environments to flows over urban roughness in atmospheric environments. The overall health and function of these systems is intimately linked to how they modify the incoming fl ....A predictive framework for the flow control of environmental roughness. This project aims to develop a new framework to accurately predict how macro-roughness controls flow, turbulence and transport in environmental systems. Exemplar systems range from flows over seagrass meadows, coral reefs and permeable beds in aquatic environments to flows over urban roughness in atmospheric environments. The overall health and function of these systems is intimately linked to how they modify the incoming flow and the transport of nutrients, contaminants, heat and biota. Expected outcomes include novel theory and new predictive models to quantify the flow and transport 'climate' in these complex roughness systems. This will transform best practice in our understanding, management and protection of these critical ecosystems.Read moreRead less