Geometry of wall-turbulence and its potential to advance scalable models. This project aims to unravel the connections between the statistical geometry of wall-turbulence and the dynamical interactions of its instantaneous motions. Predicting the complex behaviour of turbulent fluid flow over surfaces in relative motion is central to atmospheric modelling for climate and agriculture, and reducing the environmental effect of fossil fuel usage. Wall-turbulence statistics organise according to a pr ....Geometry of wall-turbulence and its potential to advance scalable models. This project aims to unravel the connections between the statistical geometry of wall-turbulence and the dynamical interactions of its instantaneous motions. Predicting the complex behaviour of turbulent fluid flow over surfaces in relative motion is central to atmospheric modelling for climate and agriculture, and reducing the environmental effect of fossil fuel usage. Wall-turbulence statistics organise according to a predictable geometric structure, and the notorious complexity of turbulent wall-flow dynamics could be clarified through its inherent geometry. This project expects to construct a basis for predicting engineering and atmospheric wall-flows, which would enhance atmospheric flow prediction, reduce energy consumption and further environmental sustainability.Read moreRead less
Self-similar scale interactions in turbulent boundary layers. Predicting and controlling turbulent fluid flow next to a solid surface (the turbulent boundary layer) is of critical importance to ensuring a sustainable energy and environmental future. While recent research has yielded a clearer physical understanding of these flows, converting this understanding into tools useful to engineering practice remains a central obstacle. The proposed research directly addresses this fundamental challenge ....Self-similar scale interactions in turbulent boundary layers. Predicting and controlling turbulent fluid flow next to a solid surface (the turbulent boundary layer) is of critical importance to ensuring a sustainable energy and environmental future. While recent research has yielded a clearer physical understanding of these flows, converting this understanding into tools useful to engineering practice remains a central obstacle. The proposed research directly addresses this fundamental challenge by precisely connecting the eddy interactions of the turbulence to the mathematical equations that rigorously describe these flows. As such it holds breakthrough potential toward the development of turbulent boundary layer prediction and control schemes that do not rely on ad hoc models or assumptions.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE160100968
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
Lifting the Veil on Turbulent Convective Heat Transfer over Rough Surfaces. By understanding the influence of surface roughness on convective heat transfer, this project intends to reduce the unwanted heating and energy losses associated with surface roughness in gas and steam turbines used in power generation and transportation. The surface roughness that results from extended operation of gas and steam turbines can significantly increase the heating of their surfaces, increasing fuel consumpti ....Lifting the Veil on Turbulent Convective Heat Transfer over Rough Surfaces. By understanding the influence of surface roughness on convective heat transfer, this project intends to reduce the unwanted heating and energy losses associated with surface roughness in gas and steam turbines used in power generation and transportation. The surface roughness that results from extended operation of gas and steam turbines can significantly increase the heating of their surfaces, increasing fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, and reducing operational life. Improvements would allow turbines to operate at higher inlet temperatures which will increase their efficiency and reduce fuel use, environmental emissions and maintenance costs.Read moreRead less
Conjugate natural convection boundary layers. Conjugate natural convection systems occur when a conducting vertical wall separates fluids at different temperatures (that is at a window separating the interior of a room from the outside or when a container of fluid is placed in a refrigerator). This project will provide accurate predictions of such flows together with scaling relations.
Enhancing passive cooling using flexible baffles. The project aims to develop a novel passive strategy using fluid-structure-thermal interactions to enhance passive cooling by natural convection and improve the energy efficiency of engineering systems. Comparing to the existing strategies, the new strategy does not require driving fan or pump and is quiet, reliable, self-adaptive and economical. The Multiphysics embodied in the proposal is at the leading edge of the field. Expected outcomes incl ....Enhancing passive cooling using flexible baffles. The project aims to develop a novel passive strategy using fluid-structure-thermal interactions to enhance passive cooling by natural convection and improve the energy efficiency of engineering systems. Comparing to the existing strategies, the new strategy does not require driving fan or pump and is quiet, reliable, self-adaptive and economical. The Multiphysics embodied in the proposal is at the leading edge of the field. Expected outcomes include advanced understanding of the complex Multiphysics and design rules for enhancing passive cooling by natural convection using flexible baffles. The research is expected to bring direct economic benefit to relevant industry and significant environmental and social benefit to the general public.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE180100203
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$956,700.00
Summary
Novel diagnostics capabilities in reacting, particle-laden flows. This project aims to establish innovative capabilities for advanced diagnostics techniques to be applied in reacting, particle-laden flows over a range of pressures. The complementary measurements are expected to provide an unprecedented understanding of the dynamics of liquid fragments and solid particles in flames. The resulting data, and improved knowledge, will set the framework for more effective predictive methods that assis ....Novel diagnostics capabilities in reacting, particle-laden flows. This project aims to establish innovative capabilities for advanced diagnostics techniques to be applied in reacting, particle-laden flows over a range of pressures. The complementary measurements are expected to provide an unprecedented understanding of the dynamics of liquid fragments and solid particles in flames. The resulting data, and improved knowledge, will set the framework for more effective predictive methods that assist in the design of cleaner and efficient processes that benefit a range of applications, from engine design to the generation of new fuels, and the flame synthesis of novel materials.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE180100416
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$365,446.00
Summary
A predictive tool for low-emission gas turbine combustors. This project aims to develop a powerful tool for prediction of combustion noise using high-fidelity simulations. Combustion-generated sound is a major inhibitor to the development of low-emission, highly-efficient gas turbines as it can initiate "thermoacoustic instability", leading to engine failure in extreme cases. This project will lead to the advancement of fast start-up, low-emission, gas turbines which can complement renewable en ....A predictive tool for low-emission gas turbine combustors. This project aims to develop a powerful tool for prediction of combustion noise using high-fidelity simulations. Combustion-generated sound is a major inhibitor to the development of low-emission, highly-efficient gas turbines as it can initiate "thermoacoustic instability", leading to engine failure in extreme cases. This project will lead to the advancement of fast start-up, low-emission, gas turbines which can complement renewable energy technologies to provide reliable electricity to Australians.Read moreRead less
The Transitional and Turbulent Structure of Rotating Disk Boundary Layers. Design optimization in areas of energy, materials processing, manufacturing and aerodynamics often depends on fluid flows adjacent to surfaces (wall-flows), and many such flows are three-dimensional (3-D). At present, 3-D wall-flows are poorly understood, and thus we aim to provide the first comprehensive study of the prototypical 3-D wall-flow on a rotating disk. Experiments in a bespoke facility will cover the importan ....The Transitional and Turbulent Structure of Rotating Disk Boundary Layers. Design optimization in areas of energy, materials processing, manufacturing and aerodynamics often depends on fluid flows adjacent to surfaces (wall-flows), and many such flows are three-dimensional (3-D). At present, 3-D wall-flows are poorly understood, and thus we aim to provide the first comprehensive study of the prototypical 3-D wall-flow on a rotating disk. Experiments in a bespoke facility will cover the important flow regimes (transitional and turbulent), and novel sensors will quantify the detailed 3-D flow structure. By clarifying critical instability scenarios and revealing turbulent flow scaling structure, this project will fundamentally advance physical understanding and analytical and computational models of 3-D wall-flowsRead moreRead less
Advancing a first-principles basis for the prediction and manipulation of turbulent wall-flow transport. This project aims to advance the design of energy efficient and environmentally friendly processes and devices by developing analysis tools that tell us how to predict and control the heat and momentum transport caused by turbulent flow near a solid surface. The expected outcomes are ways to accomplish these aims via the direct use of the basic physical laws.
Large Scale Natural Convection Boundary Layers with Non-Boussinesq Effects. This proposal aims to understand and predict heat transfer by turbulent natural convection in two scenarios, firstly at very large environmental scales, such as occur on melting Antarctic ice sheets, and secondly convection involving very large temperature differences such as occur in solar thermal power plants and industrial processes. These natural convection flow regimes are incredibly difficult to investigate directl ....Large Scale Natural Convection Boundary Layers with Non-Boussinesq Effects. This proposal aims to understand and predict heat transfer by turbulent natural convection in two scenarios, firstly at very large environmental scales, such as occur on melting Antarctic ice sheets, and secondly convection involving very large temperature differences such as occur in solar thermal power plants and industrial processes. These natural convection flow regimes are incredibly difficult to investigate directly but by focusing on the fundamental dynamics of the turbulent flows using large scale numerical simulations and innovative experiments, the project is expected to develop better analytical and computational models which will underpin improvements in
global ocean models and improve energy efficiency.Read moreRead less