Facilities
Computer facilities
The Turbulence Mechanics and Computational Fluid Dynamics Groups own a cluster of Linux-based PCs, dedicated to numerical flow simulations, currently consisting of 24 nodes. We also have access to two other cluster, owned by the Mason Centre, for use in studying environmental-related problems.
Experimental facilities
- Rotating Flow Water Rig
This is an 1.2 m diameter rotating water flow table that allows the investigation of flow and heat transfer through rotating passages. It has been extensively used for the investigation of heat and fluid flow through models of gas-turbine cooling passages, for which, uniquely, it can reproduce the engine flow and rotation conditions for experimental models (Reynolds number up to 100,000 and rotation number up to 0.4) that are over an order of magnitude larger than the engine passages. Use of the thermo-chromic liquid crystal technique produces measurements of the local wall heat flux coefficient and use of a laser fibre-optic system can produce local flow measurements as well as flow visualization images, under both stationary and rotating conditions.
- Stationary Air Flow Facility
This is a facility for the investigation of heat and fluid flow through stationary internal passages using air as the working fluid. It is capable of producing the same range of dimensionless flow parameter (Reynolds number) as the Rotating Water Flow Rig.
- Natural Convection Facility
This is a facility that can maintain two surfaces at different and very precisely controlled temperatures that can be used to study either external or internal natural convection flows. Laser Doppler anemometry, thermocouple and cold wire probes can be used to measure the mean and fluctuating velocities and mean and fluctuating gas temperatures.