Our work revolves around the use of computers to understand fluid flow, be that air, water, blood… almost anything that flows; and we use computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to do this. An important motivation is to help remove some of the barriers to the uptake of simulation software wherever it can be useful, and to develop tools that can be used to address current challenges and tackle important questions relevant to our everyday life.
We focus on aerodynamics and bio-fluids; working towards developing ways of saving energy/reducing emissions or assisting healthcare. They may not sound like very complimentary areas, but where there’s a fluid flowing, and a solid deforming, then similar equations can be used. While a lot of our work has focused on developing methods to improve prediction for external aerodynamic flow around aircraft, automobiles or wind turbines; we’ve also looked an internal flow through gas pipes, heart pumps, aneurysms…
Our research is essentially focussed around three topics:
- Turbulence modelling & Simulation: development and application of models for industrial CFD.
- Fluid Structure Interactions: development and application of methods to couple motion between the fluid flow and the objects they convect, move over or pass through.
- Novel Engineering Simulation Tools: ideas which combine new technology such as virtual reality and interactive game physics to address a spectrum of needs according to the requirements