Elliptical nozzles: the shape of silence? This project aims to leverage the aeroacoustic properties of elliptical nozzle geometries to significantly reduce installed jet noise. This project expects to generate new knowledge regarding methods to reduce installed jet noise, a serious problem for the aerospace industry. Regulatory constraints inhibit the implementation of efficiency-increasing configurations but still fail to eliminate public health impacts. Expected outcomes include a set of tools ....Elliptical nozzles: the shape of silence? This project aims to leverage the aeroacoustic properties of elliptical nozzle geometries to significantly reduce installed jet noise. This project expects to generate new knowledge regarding methods to reduce installed jet noise, a serious problem for the aerospace industry. Regulatory constraints inhibit the implementation of efficiency-increasing configurations but still fail to eliminate public health impacts. Expected outcomes include a set of tools for optimizing nozzle designs capable of significantly reducing installed jet noise. This will provide significant benefits, as jet noise is a serious health issue for the Australian public. This project represents an opportunity to reduce its impact while improving fuel efficiency.Read moreRead less
Genesis and evolution of coherent structures in wall-bounded turbulence. This project aims to capture conditions responsible for the generation of the coherent structures that are formed in wall-bounded turbulent flows, through the use of variational data assimilation and adjoint-based optimisation techniques. The project is expected to provide knowledge and intellectual property that is essential for the accurate modelling and prediction of the interaction between the ground-level activities li ....Genesis and evolution of coherent structures in wall-bounded turbulence. This project aims to capture conditions responsible for the generation of the coherent structures that are formed in wall-bounded turbulent flows, through the use of variational data assimilation and adjoint-based optimisation techniques. The project is expected to provide knowledge and intellectual property that is essential for the accurate modelling and prediction of the interaction between the ground-level activities like pollutant emissions and the atmosphere and the flow over vehicles through pipes, turbines and compressors. This project will provide benefits such as reducing the risk in environmental and commercial design and decision making and will facilitate new opportunities for the commercial development of devices to reduce drag and enhance mixing and heat transfer via the direct manipulation of coherent structures.Read moreRead less
Understanding turbulent heat transfer with practical surface conditions. Heat transfer dictates the efficiency of energy and transport systems such as gas turbines, high-speed generators and turbochargers. These are among many applications where heat transfer involves turbulent fluid flow over solid surfaces, but where poor understanding of surface conditions leads to dubious models, suboptimal designs and cost penalties. This project therefore aims to advance our fundamental understanding of he ....Understanding turbulent heat transfer with practical surface conditions. Heat transfer dictates the efficiency of energy and transport systems such as gas turbines, high-speed generators and turbochargers. These are among many applications where heat transfer involves turbulent fluid flow over solid surfaces, but where poor understanding of surface conditions leads to dubious models, suboptimal designs and cost penalties. This project therefore aims to advance our fundamental understanding of heat transfer accounting for the practical surface conditions of roughness, solid-fluid pairing and uneven heating. Building on capabilities that now place systematic data within reach, this project will deliver physics-based models that can robustly predict heat transfer, leading to reduced costs of energy and transport.Read moreRead less
Fluid-structure-acoustics interactions of bio-inspired flapping wings. This project aims to produce a deeper understanding of the role of wingtip feathers in the remarkable abilities of birds to fly in unsteady and unpredictable aerodynamic environments, and in some cases to do so almost silently. This is achieved by developing novel numerical methods integrating fluid, structure and acoustics interactions for large deformations and complex geometries. The numerical results are validated and com ....Fluid-structure-acoustics interactions of bio-inspired flapping wings. This project aims to produce a deeper understanding of the role of wingtip feathers in the remarkable abilities of birds to fly in unsteady and unpredictable aerodynamic environments, and in some cases to do so almost silently. This is achieved by developing novel numerical methods integrating fluid, structure and acoustics interactions for large deformations and complex geometries. The numerical results are validated and complemented by using flow, structure and acoustics experiments on dynamically scaled models. The insight gained provides design guidance for more efficient, robust and stable flight of bio-inspired micro air vehicles, and in reducing the noise impact of wind turbines by innovative blade leading edge and tip shaping.Read moreRead less
Dynamics of Suppressed Mixing Regimes in Australian Rivers. This study aims to further the fundamental science of turbulent mixing in the context of flow in Australian rivers. The focus is on prolonged low flow conditions which when coupled with warm surface temperatures cause the water column to become thermally stratified which then suppresses turbulent mixing. The extreme scale of the river systems has made investigating the true dynamics of the strongly stratified mixing regimes particularly ....Dynamics of Suppressed Mixing Regimes in Australian Rivers. This study aims to further the fundamental science of turbulent mixing in the context of flow in Australian rivers. The focus is on prolonged low flow conditions which when coupled with warm surface temperatures cause the water column to become thermally stratified which then suppresses turbulent mixing. The extreme scale of the river systems has made investigating the true dynamics of the strongly stratified mixing regimes particularly challenging. By taking world first in-situ measurements of turbulent mixing and undertaking high resolution numerical simulations this study will provide definitive data which will allow correct characterization of the mixing regimes and how they are associated with river flow conditions.Read moreRead less
Unravelling the mysteries of turbulent drag at the air-sea interface. 70% of the Earth's surface is the air-sea interface. A huge amount of energy and gas is exchanged between the atmosphere and ocean; exchanges that are crucial for life on earth. Climate models, weather and wave forecasts depend on oversimplified models for these exchanges. Oversimplification limits accuracy, with outcomes ranging from inaccurate climate predictions to costly and unnecessary rerouting of ships or evacuations of ....Unravelling the mysteries of turbulent drag at the air-sea interface. 70% of the Earth's surface is the air-sea interface. A huge amount of energy and gas is exchanged between the atmosphere and ocean; exchanges that are crucial for life on earth. Climate models, weather and wave forecasts depend on oversimplified models for these exchanges. Oversimplification limits accuracy, with outcomes ranging from inaccurate climate predictions to costly and unnecessary rerouting of ships or evacuations of oil platforms. This project promises new knowledge of the turbulent air flow above waves through innovative, ambitious experiments in our laboratory wind-wave tanks. Concurrently, novel numerical simulations will enable new models for sea drag coefficient, the most critical component in air-sea interaction models. Read moreRead less
Swirling turbulent pipe flow technology for drying brown coal. This project aims to understand the complex fluid mechanicalprocesses in a brown coal drying machine. Brown coal from the Latrobe Valley contains about 70 percent moisture, which must be reduced for it to be used efficiently in power stations. Utilising cutting-edge techniques in laboratory and field measurements together with advanced computational methods in fluid mechanics, the project intends to further knowledge in swirling turb ....Swirling turbulent pipe flow technology for drying brown coal. This project aims to understand the complex fluid mechanicalprocesses in a brown coal drying machine. Brown coal from the Latrobe Valley contains about 70 percent moisture, which must be reduced for it to be used efficiently in power stations. Utilising cutting-edge techniques in laboratory and field measurements together with advanced computational methods in fluid mechanics, the project intends to further knowledge in swirling turbulent flows, particle transport and vortex breakdown. The result of this research is expected to produce a drier brown coal, leading to a cleaner environment and an increase in Australian coal value. Read moreRead less
Advanced Combustion Modelling for Scramjets and Rotating Detonation Engines. This project will develop new fundamental knowledge and engineering models underpinning air-breathing high speed propulsion engines employing complex hydrocarbon fuels. Extensive data and new physical understanding will be garnered through analysis of direct numerical simulations of supersonic reacting mixing layers including impinging shock waves. That data will be employed to isolate, test and develop computationally ....Advanced Combustion Modelling for Scramjets and Rotating Detonation Engines. This project will develop new fundamental knowledge and engineering models underpinning air-breathing high speed propulsion engines employing complex hydrocarbon fuels. Extensive data and new physical understanding will be garnered through analysis of direct numerical simulations of supersonic reacting mixing layers including impinging shock waves. That data will be employed to isolate, test and develop computationally efficient engineering models that are accurate and efficient for high speed combustion in rotating detonation engines and scramjets. Expected outcomes are knowledge and tools needed to develop practical and effective supersonic propulsion engines for access to space, defence and high speed point-to-point flight.
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Wall turbulence control: beyond the canonical smooth wall case. This project aims to fill a critical knowledge gap in the area of wall turbulence by investigating how a rough wall turbulent boundary layer responds to changes, such as wall suction and blowing. The economic and environmental costs caused by the roughening of surfaces on moving vehicles is staggering in the transport industry (roads, rails, air and sea) and ultimately for Australia. This project will generate new knowledge to ascer ....Wall turbulence control: beyond the canonical smooth wall case. This project aims to fill a critical knowledge gap in the area of wall turbulence by investigating how a rough wall turbulent boundary layer responds to changes, such as wall suction and blowing. The economic and environmental costs caused by the roughening of surfaces on moving vehicles is staggering in the transport industry (roads, rails, air and sea) and ultimately for Australia. This project will generate new knowledge to ascertain whether or not turbulent flows over rough surfaces can be controlled or managed to achieve outcomes such as reducing the drag of a roughened bluff body, for example a ship whose hull is roughened by fouling. The project expects to improve understanding of wall turbulence control, and will lead to significant benefits such as improved control technologies and better prediction and description of wall turbulence.Read moreRead less