PhD Opportunities
There are no specific funded PhD opportunities available for FLUTE at the moment. Please check again later, or view our full list of Engineering PhD opportunities.
Applications are also welcome from Home, EU, international and self-funded students. Please view our expertise page to get in contact with our academics.
Projects
Optimal route from free-stream disturbance to bypass transition in boundary layer flow
Research involved:
Boundary layer flow is subject to bypass transition when the free-stream turbulent intensity is sufficiently high. Each phase from free-stream disturbance to transition has been investigated individually by the fluid community. This project aims to develop a framework to integrate all these phases and examine the optimal route to transition by exploring the latest advances in numerical algorithms and HPC techniques.
Digital use of satellite observations in offshore wind energy
Research involved:
Offshore wind farms have been flourishing and changing the coast line of the world. In this era, it has become imperative to develop a capacity for accurate wind resource assessment, which is critical to wind farm layout and operations. The state-of-the-art wind resource assessment relies on meso-scale numerical simulations or reanalyses and fails to produce results accurate enough to inform decision making. This project aims at delivering a step changing in offshore wind resource assessment by developing novel algorithms and subsequently a numerical tool. The wind speed at 10 m above the sea level will be extracted from satellite SAR images and then projected to the wind-turbine height using atmosphere temperature distributions. A neural network will be established to estimate the relation between direct LiDAR/mast measurements and the output of this tool, and subsequently configure the algorithm/tool. This tool will be then tested applying SAR images and the LiDAR data offered by industrial collaborators.
Feed-forward control of wind turbines
Research involved:
The speed of wind coming to a wind turbine can be scanned by LiDAR facilities installed on the rotor and applied in feed-forward control of the turbine, particularly pitch and yaw controls. The wind condition around the rotor can be obtained via machine learning methods based on the LiDAR measurement. In this project, the LiDAR data will be numerically generated from large eddy simulations. This control technique helps to reduce the load on wind turbines and lift power generations in offshore wind farms featuring low-frequency wake meanderings and turbine interactions (see attached figure).
Solar air conditioning with internally cooled membrane
Research involved:
The project aims to investigate an innovative internally cooled membrane air conditioning technology with nanoparticle PVT module for independent humidity and temperature control. The proposed system is achieved by integration of internally cooled dehumidifier powered by solar energy with a dual function evaporative cooler for building applications. The research investigates the internal cooling effects on the moisture remove rate, cooling ability of the dual function evaporative cooler, and membrane performance characteristic by theoretical simulation and experimental measurement.
Contact:
A novel membrane-based liquid desiccant air conditioning system powered by solar energy
Research involved:
The objective of the project is to investigate an innovative membrane based liquid desiccant solar air conditioning technology for building application. The system has the ability to provide heating and humidifying in the winter, cooling and dehumidifying in the summer, and thermal energy storage. The research investigates heat discharge property, heat and mass transfer through membrane and indirect evaporative cooling characteristics by theoretical and experimental measures.
Contact:
High performance building design and energy analysis
Research involved:
The project aims to investigate building energy performance with various design strategies and renewable energy sources by integrating architectural and mechanical designs. The professional simulation tools will be used to design and assess the building energy efficiency, these include Revit, EnergyPlus and etc. The field trips are considered to collect the building recorded data to validate the designs.
Contact:
Turning heat to sound to electricity
Research involved:
The objective of the project is to improve and optimise a thermoacoustic engine. We aim to produce a cooking stove that can also generate 100W electricity for less than £200. We are looking to validate recent numerical results that show we can improve performance of a multistage system by up to 150%. Looking for an enthusiastic and creative student (preferably self-funded) to continue work in this area.
Minimising gear windage and optimising cooling in aircraft engines
Research involved:
The objective is a fundamental study of the mixing generated when cold droplets impact onto a hot film that is lubricating a bearing chamber wall. We are aware that the thickness of the film and the temperature difference affect the mixing and generation of secondary droplets. We need to continue a fundamental study to be able to predict this behaviour for the type of liquids generally present in a bearing chamber of an aircraft engine. Looking for an enthusiastic and creative student (preferably self-funded) to continue work in this area.
Contact:
Understanding sheared flow interfacial mixing
Research involved:
Many applications in industry involve the shearing of a liquid film surface by a jet of gas. This occurs in oil/gas, chemical processing and aeroengines. CFD is hampered by a lack of understanding of the forces and interactions at the interface. We plan on tackling this problem with a range of new and novel optical techniques that have the potential to measure film thickness and fluid velocity near the interface for a range of conditions. Looking for an enthusiastic and creative student (preferably self-funded).
Contact:
Developing robust predictive models for two phase flow in various pipe geometries
Research involved:
Gas-liquid Two-phase flow is common across many industries including energy as well as food sectors. Existence of a deformable interface between the phases makes the flow complex and predicting operational parameters such as pressure drop and heat and mass transfer is difficult. Existing models are mostly based on the data for water and air limiting the use to a narrow range of applications.
The project is focussed on developing predictive models examining the influence of the physical parameters of the fluids as well as the pipe geometry. Nottingham multiphase flow lab has a number of multiphase flow loops covering a range of pipe diameters. Furthermore, the laboratory has access to oils with various viscosities covering a range of viscosities between 5 to 1000cP. Number of experimental campaigns are planned covering various viscosities and pipe orientations hoping to develop a flow regime map taking viscosity and density into account. Further analysis is planned to develop models to predict the void fraction and pressure drop.
We are looking for motivated candidates.
Contact:
Variation of the gas distribution at various pipe angles for fixed liquid and gas flowrates
Quantifying the influence of flow regimes on heat and mass transfer in two phase systems
Research involved:
Heat and mass transfer is at the core of process engineering as the rates of those processes govern the efficiency, hence the economy, as well as the quality of the end product. In single phase flow such as liquid or gas only, the heat and mass transfer mechanisms are well understood and current CFD packages provide reasonably good modelling capabilities. This is not the case for Multiphase flow systems specially the ones with dispersed boundaries such as liquid-liquid and liquid-gas flows in conduits with various geometries. In two phase flow systems, a number of flow regimes can take place depending on the flowrate of each fluid. The heat and mass transfer differ widely depending on the flow regime. Hence, regime specific models are needed for better predictions and design developments. In an attempt to address this, an experimental investigation is suggested. Since the heat/mass transfer depend on the surface area and the flow characteristics, the local surface area concentration would be measured using WMS (an indirect measurement technique) together with the local temperature variations using IR imaging for single and multiple bubbles in controlled flow cell.
We are looking for motivated candidates.
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