Research themes
The major research themes, with main contact person, include:
- Energy production (combustion) and emissions reduction (Rigopoulos)
- Marine energy systems (Stansby)
- Coastal processes (Stansby)
- Geo-environmental processes (Hicks)
- Pollution (Lane-Serff)
- Urban aerodynamics (Apsley)
- Climate change mitigation and adaptation (Anderson)
- Multi-phase flow and heat transfer modelling (Watkins)
- Built environment modelling, energy use and sustainability (Levermore)
- Construction science (Wilson)
Within the Group there are various underpinning generic capabilities where individuals have international presence, the main contact is underlined:
- Buoyancy effects in fluids (Lane-Serff, Apsley, Launder)
- CFD (computational fluid dynamics) and turbulence (Apsley, Cotton, Launder, Laurence, Stansby, Watkins)
- Combustion (Rigopoulos, Watkins, Zhang)
- SPH or 'smoothed particle hydrodynamics', a novel CFD method for complex flows including wave breaking (Laurence, Stansby, Rogers)
- Multi-phase flow and heat transfer modelling (Watkins, Rigopoulos, Zhang)
- Computational soil mechanics (Hicks)
- Experimental modelling ( Craig - geotechnical centrifuge, Lane-Serff, Stansby - hydrodynamics, Zhang - flames)
- Free-surface and shallow-water flows (Stansby, Apsley, Laurence)
- Geophysical flows (Lane-Serff)
- Geo-environmental engineering (Craig, Hicks)
- Offshore and coastal hydrodynamics (Stansby, Apsley, Lane-Serff)
- Sediment transport (Apsley, Stansby)
- Analysis of gas and electricity supply systems
- Renewable energy systems (Stansby)
- Aviation, carbon targets and emissions trading (Anderson, Bows, Upham,)
- Low carbon energy scenarios (Anderson, Bows, Mander)
- Buildings and climate change including IPCC work (Levermore)
- Moisture and moisture movement in building fabric and ceramic materials (Wilson)
Some of the above are quite mature and will be required as a basic tool for future analyses. Some are quite young requiring development for general application. At present there is ongoing research in the following specific applications with funders in parentheses:
- Long-term coastal erosion (NERC, Tyndall)
- Overtopping and inundation at coastal structures (EPSRC)
- Surf zone dynamics (EPSRC)
- Sandbanks and tidal inlets (EPSRC and Italian Government)
- Sewage dispersion from outfalls (EPSRC)
- Robust wave energy device: the Manchester Bobber (Carbon Trust)
- Data assimilation of ocean flows (NSF previously and EPSRC in future)
- Paleo-oceanographic modelling (NERC)
- Liquefaction of hydraulic fills and dredged excavations (EPSRC)
- Parallel stochastic modelling of 3D slopes (EPSRC)
- Gas supply systems (UKERC, NERC)
- Large scale integration of renewable energy (EPSRC, CEU)
- Nanoparticle dynamics in turbulent reactive flows (EPSRC)
- MicroGrids (CEU)
- Virtual Power Plants (CEU)
- Socio-economic and environmental assessment of bio-energy systems (EPSRC Supergen)
- Low carbon freight options (Tyndall)
- Development of energy and emissions accounting software (Tyndall)
- Assessment of carbon reduction instruments for achieving stringent and rapid emissions targets (Tyndall)
- Development of UK and EU energy scenarios (Tyndall)
- Renewable energy in homes (EPSRC and Barratts)
- Test Reference Years and Design Summer Years including climate change (CIBSE, EDSL, IES)
- IPCC Fourth Assessment Report contribution (Defra)
- Archaeological dating of bricks (Leverhulme)
- Dewatering of lime mortar systems (EPSRC)