Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE100100222
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$440,000.00
Summary
Time-resolved tomographic particle image velocimetry facility. The experimental information gained from measurements provided by this infrastructure will lead to significant advances in understanding turbulent flows and the dynamics of solid structures, which will impact a broad range of engineering and geophysical fields. Some specific examples include the development of efficient turbulence control strategies for the reduction of skin-friction drag and improved combustion processes, resulting ....Time-resolved tomographic particle image velocimetry facility. The experimental information gained from measurements provided by this infrastructure will lead to significant advances in understanding turbulent flows and the dynamics of solid structures, which will impact a broad range of engineering and geophysical fields. Some specific examples include the development of efficient turbulence control strategies for the reduction of skin-friction drag and improved combustion processes, resulting in not only better fuel efficiency for vehicles but also reduced CO2 and pollutant emissions. Significant advances can also be made in understanding the dispersion of pollutants in the atmosphere, wind turbine design and the development of lighter and stronger intelligent materials with improved fatigue life.Read moreRead less
Unravelling the scale interactions of wall turbulence: experiment, physical modelling, next-generation numerical simulation. Turbulent fluid flows near solid surfaces are present in many areas of everyday life: from the drag experienced on air, sea and road vehicles, to governing the mixing processes in combustion chambers, and in the transport of pollutants and particulates in our cities and towns. Unfortunately our understanding of these complex flows is limited, and hence so to is our ability ....Unravelling the scale interactions of wall turbulence: experiment, physical modelling, next-generation numerical simulation. Turbulent fluid flows near solid surfaces are present in many areas of everyday life: from the drag experienced on air, sea and road vehicles, to governing the mixing processes in combustion chambers, and in the transport of pollutants and particulates in our cities and towns. Unfortunately our understanding of these complex flows is limited, and hence so to is our ability to model or control them. This project addresses this problem with the goal of providing new physical insights and models that can be used for efficient and accurate numerical simulations. The simulations will not only compute the average statistics but also the time-varying properties, which are crucial in many engineering and environmental processes.Read moreRead less
Silencing the screech tone - noise suppression in supersonic jets. The focus of this research is to further develop understanding of the fundamental mechanics of the aeroacoustic phenomenon known as screech. From this deeper understanding a range of tailored control mechanisms are expected to be developed to reduce or eliminate the effects of screech in the engines of high-speed aircraft. The research builds on existing expertise and established experimental facilities. As well as an improved un ....Silencing the screech tone - noise suppression in supersonic jets. The focus of this research is to further develop understanding of the fundamental mechanics of the aeroacoustic phenomenon known as screech. From this deeper understanding a range of tailored control mechanisms are expected to be developed to reduce or eliminate the effects of screech in the engines of high-speed aircraft. The research builds on existing expertise and established experimental facilities. As well as an improved understanding of fundamental mechanism, the expected outcomes of the research are more efficient active and passive flow control devices for the reduction of supersonic jet noise.Read moreRead less
Practical wall-turbulence drag reduction through adaptive control. Long term increases in the price of aviation fuel disproportionately impacts on Australian carriers, given our geographic isolation and the resulting greater percentage of long-haul flights. The resulting higher fares will also have a direct impact on international tourism to Australia. One way to reduce the impact of rising fuel cost, and to reduce CO2 and other emissions at the same time, is to decrease drag on aircraft. This ....Practical wall-turbulence drag reduction through adaptive control. Long term increases in the price of aviation fuel disproportionately impacts on Australian carriers, given our geographic isolation and the resulting greater percentage of long-haul flights. The resulting higher fares will also have a direct impact on international tourism to Australia. One way to reduce the impact of rising fuel cost, and to reduce CO2 and other emissions at the same time, is to decrease drag on aircraft. This project will develop understanding in wall turbulence and adaptive control, and use this to experimentally demonstrate active reductions in skin friction drag. The results are equally applicable to a range of other applications including sea transport, pipe flows and combustor designs.Read moreRead less
Performance enhancement of tidal turbine arrays. Performance enhancement of tidal turbine arrays. This project aims to understand the environmental impact of turbines, by studying how an optimised array of turbines interacts with the downstream turbulent tidal flow. Tidal power could contribute substantially to Australia's Renewable Energy goals. Australia's coastlines produce over 2.4 terajoules of tidal energy, and research into turbine optimisation, array design and environmental impact is ne ....Performance enhancement of tidal turbine arrays. Performance enhancement of tidal turbine arrays. This project aims to understand the environmental impact of turbines, by studying how an optimised array of turbines interacts with the downstream turbulent tidal flow. Tidal power could contribute substantially to Australia's Renewable Energy goals. Australia's coastlines produce over 2.4 terajoules of tidal energy, and research into turbine optimisation, array design and environmental impact is needed to exploit this potential. Fluid dynamics and optimisation researchers will design an improved vertical axis tidal turbine for use in the Torres Strait Islands. This project could improve tidal turbine design and turbine placement designs, and improve understanding of interactions between turbines and the maritime environment.Read moreRead less
Fluid physics of cold gas-dynamic spray process. Cold gas-dynamic spray has the potential to revitalize and revolutionize the Australian manufacturing sector and economy. It is a technologically advanced flexible free-forming process with potential applications in the aviation, automotive, naval and bio-medical sectors. It allows for the design of functional surfaces from the nano-scale to the macro-scale that can be manufactured by spraying material coatings of arbitrary thickness and density o ....Fluid physics of cold gas-dynamic spray process. Cold gas-dynamic spray has the potential to revitalize and revolutionize the Australian manufacturing sector and economy. It is a technologically advanced flexible free-forming process with potential applications in the aviation, automotive, naval and bio-medical sectors. It allows for the design of functional surfaces from the nano-scale to the macro-scale that can be manufactured by spraying material coatings of arbitrary thickness and density on a substrate. The process of the spray particle delivery is crucial and not understood. This research will investigate the fluid physics and spray particle physics to gain the essential understanding necessary to make this process energy efficient and extend its range of application.Read moreRead less
Measuring estuarine turbulence: opening blocked estuaries correctly to avoid ecological catastrophes. The unique estuaries of southern Australia have limited tidal effects and minimal summer river flows, allowing a sandbar to dam their mouths during this period. The high water levels that can result affect landowners so catchment managers artificially break these sandbars. Such practices have had catastrophic effects on the vulnerable estuarine ecosystems. Our project will provide critical eleme ....Measuring estuarine turbulence: opening blocked estuaries correctly to avoid ecological catastrophes. The unique estuaries of southern Australia have limited tidal effects and minimal summer river flows, allowing a sandbar to dam their mouths during this period. The high water levels that can result affect landowners so catchment managers artificially break these sandbars. Such practices have had catastrophic effects on the vulnerable estuarine ecosystems. Our project will provide critical elements of models of the dynamics of the artificial opening, allowing managers to predict the vulnerable periods. It combines new applications of state-of-the-art turbulence sensors and water-current profilers with other standard instrumentation in this situation.Read moreRead less
Dynamics of fire whirls and dust devils. The project aims to develop fundamental understanding and models to inform the development of more accurate computer models of fire front propagation. Fire whirls and dust devils are strongly swirling localised vortex flows that result from an interplay of circulation and buoyancy, may extend hundreds of metres into the air. By projecting firebrands well away from the ground strike, fire whirls can initiate spot fires well beyond a fire front, advancing f ....Dynamics of fire whirls and dust devils. The project aims to develop fundamental understanding and models to inform the development of more accurate computer models of fire front propagation. Fire whirls and dust devils are strongly swirling localised vortex flows that result from an interplay of circulation and buoyancy, may extend hundreds of metres into the air. By projecting firebrands well away from the ground strike, fire whirls can initiate spot fires well beyond a fire front, advancing fronts at much higher speeds than most fire spread models predict. The project aims to improve understanding of the sets of local conditions that produce and stabilise these flows, using computational fluid dynamics matched to laboratory experiments and dimensional analysis of results.Read moreRead less
Application of exact coherent structures to transition and turbulence. This project aims to understand coherent structures and devise methods to prevent bypass transition to turbulence and reduce turbulent wall drag. Coherent structures in turbulence may be identified with nonlinear solutions of the exact equations of motion. Such "exact" coherent structures have their Reynolds number dependence described explicitly and apply for moderate to very large Reynolds numbers, well above the range of f ....Application of exact coherent structures to transition and turbulence. This project aims to understand coherent structures and devise methods to prevent bypass transition to turbulence and reduce turbulent wall drag. Coherent structures in turbulence may be identified with nonlinear solutions of the exact equations of motion. Such "exact" coherent structures have their Reynolds number dependence described explicitly and apply for moderate to very large Reynolds numbers, well above the range of full Navier–Stokes calculations. Understanding the fundamentals of turbulence is expected to lead to more efficient and cheaper air transportation, and better tools for climate prediction and short-term weather forecasting.Read moreRead less
A Novel Approach To Flow Control By Topography. The project will resolve important questions concerning the influence of boundary topography on transition to turbulence and on the exact coherent structures forming the backbone of turbulence.
The canonical topography known from previous work by one of the investigators is a wavy wall and, as well as resolving important issues in flow physics, the research is relevant to many flows of importance such roughness induced transition on aircraft wings, ....A Novel Approach To Flow Control By Topography. The project will resolve important questions concerning the influence of boundary topography on transition to turbulence and on the exact coherent structures forming the backbone of turbulence.
The canonical topography known from previous work by one of the investigators is a wavy wall and, as well as resolving important issues in flow physics, the research is relevant to many flows of importance such roughness induced transition on aircraft wings, flows in heat transfer/mixing devices, blood flow and the influence of topography on the atmospheric boundary layer.
Expected outcomes are an understanding of the interplay between transitional and turbulent flows with wall topography together with strategies to enhance mixing and drag reduction.Read moreRead less