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
Reducing the energy consumed by lighting with gaze-dependent illumination. Lighting consumes approximately 18% of electricity, but only a fraction of the light emitted into buildings actually supports occupants’ vision – the rest is wasted. This research aims to reduce the energy consumed by lighting by developing strategies for illuminating only the portions of architectural environments that are visible to occupants, thereby reducing unnecessary light. The impacts of gaze-dependent lighting on ....Reducing the energy consumed by lighting with gaze-dependent illumination. Lighting consumes approximately 18% of electricity, but only a fraction of the light emitted into buildings actually supports occupants’ vision – the rest is wasted. This research aims to reduce the energy consumed by lighting by developing strategies for illuminating only the portions of architectural environments that are visible to occupants, thereby reducing unnecessary light. The impacts of gaze-dependent lighting on energy consumption and the visual environment will be characterized and design guidelines will be generated to facilitate the development of innovative lighting systems that consume less energy by producing less light, without negatively impacting the visual experiences of building occupants.Read moreRead less
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
Energy-saving design: investigation of the thermal performance of rammed earth residential buildings. Housing people in Australian remote communities is energy intensive. This is particularly true in hot regions, where the house running costs are significant due to air-conditioning units functioning 24 hours a day, for most of the year. Rammed earth houses in dry-arid climate zones should not require any air-conditioning in summer. This project aims to investigate the optimal thermal performance ....Energy-saving design: investigation of the thermal performance of rammed earth residential buildings. Housing people in Australian remote communities is energy intensive. This is particularly true in hot regions, where the house running costs are significant due to air-conditioning units functioning 24 hours a day, for most of the year. Rammed earth houses in dry-arid climate zones should not require any air-conditioning in summer. This project aims to investigate the optimal thermal performance of two occupied houses using a novel sensor network. It aims to deliver new evidence on the thermal performance of rammed earth buildings to inform energy-efficiency decision frameworks and enhance the wellbeing of Indigenous communities in hot regions.Read moreRead less
Towards energy-efficient lighting based on light-emitting diodes: the role of silicon carbide grown on Si Wafers. This project will investigate a potential solution to the problems of cost and quality of light-emitting diodes for solid-state lighting. The expected outcome is knowledge to underpin future development of solid-state lighting that is suitable for a wide replacement of the much less efficient and effective incandescent bulbs and fluorescent tubes.
Development of a measure for assessment of the dynamic thermal response of buildings. This project will develop a unique measure for assessing the thermal behaviour of walls and buildings with the view to improving the accuracy and effectiveness of efforts being made in energy efficient housing. This should increase confidence for both consumers and manufacturers in the use of new energy efficient building designs.
Resilient design of energy pile foundations toward zero carbon buildings. This project aims to investigate the complex thermo-hydro mechanical interactions affecting the effectiveness of energy pile foundations for improved energy efficiency of new buildings. Using cutting-edge micro to field-scale methods, this project expects to underpin the development of experimentally validated predictions of the geotechnical performance of energy piles. Expected outcomes of this project are the establishme ....Resilient design of energy pile foundations toward zero carbon buildings. This project aims to investigate the complex thermo-hydro mechanical interactions affecting the effectiveness of energy pile foundations for improved energy efficiency of new buildings. Using cutting-edge micro to field-scale methods, this project expects to underpin the development of experimentally validated predictions of the geotechnical performance of energy piles. Expected outcomes of this project are the establishment of new approaches to improve the resilient design of energy pile foundations, provision of new recommendations for their design and increased integration for zero carbon buildings. These outcomes will contribute significantly toward strategies to decarbonise energy systems in buildings to meet carbon neutrality goals.Read moreRead less
Digital energy futures: forecasting changing residential electricity demand. This project aims to understand and forecast changing digital lifestyle trends and their impact on future household electricity demand, including at peak times. The project expects to generate new knowledge by employing digital ethnography and sociological theories to investigate how changing social practices will impact on electricity sector planning. Expected outcomes include: scenarios and principles for digital ener ....Digital energy futures: forecasting changing residential electricity demand. This project aims to understand and forecast changing digital lifestyle trends and their impact on future household electricity demand, including at peak times. The project expects to generate new knowledge by employing digital ethnography and sociological theories to investigate how changing social practices will impact on electricity sector planning. Expected outcomes include: scenarios and principles for digital energy futures; an interdisciplinary energy demand forecasting methodology; and demand management tools to help the sector meet future residential consumption. This should provide significant benefits, such as lowering the cost of infrastructure spending, and helping secure affordable electricity provision.Read moreRead less
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