Aerodynamics, propulsion and electrification group

Title: Multiphase rarefied gas flows: plume-surface interactions

Supervisors: Dr Craig White, Prof Kostas Kontis

Description:  With renewed interest in returning to the moon, plume-surface interactions are an important area to be studied, as the current understanding is limited. The interaction of a retro-rocket with an extra-terrestrial body, such as the lunar surface, fluidises the regolith bed and results in a complex multi-phase flow, in which regolith particles are transported away from the surface. This results in surface cratering and the entrained regolith particles can damage the lander itself, or nearby equipment. This project will continue the development of an in-house multi-phase rarefied flow solver by implementing new physical models, such as non-spherical particles, improved drag and heat transfer models, and electrostatic charging. The results can be compared to experimental results obtained from the large vacuum chamber facility hosted at the University of Glasgow.

Title: Coupled aerodynamic-aeroacoustic analysis for the silent design and operation of urban aerial vehicles

Supervisor: Dr Wrik Mallik

Project description: 

Noise will be a significant factor in the design and operation of urban aerial vehicles. To develop low-noise designs or to devise silent operation strategies for urban aerial vehicles, we need accurate far-field acoustics signatures of such aerial vehicles. Thus, we require a coupled aerodynamic-aeroacoustics analysis of aerial vehicles in urban settings, which can analyse the noise propagation and noise backscattering from urban structures for various flying conditions. The project will involve the development and application of a coupled computational fluid dynamics (CFD)-computational aeroacoustics (CAA) analysis tool. The project will explore various numerical techniques for performing far-field aeroacoustics analysis due to noise generated from various urban VTOL/drone takeoff and flight conditions. Such numerical techniques will be coupled to the aerodynamics of urban fliers to predict noise from various flight conditions. The development of such a coupled CFD-CAA framework will enable us to accurately predict noise from urban aerial vehicles and devise strategies for noise reduction from urban air mobility.

Title: Improved internal energy modelling using the DSMC method

Supervisors: Dr Craig White and Dr Rene Steijl

Description: Internal energy modes, i.e. rotational energy, vibrational energy, and electronic energy, are an important physical feature of high-temperature flows. An in-house theoretical study of the partition function, from a previous PhD project, has indicated that, to recover accurate thermophysical properties, e.g. the specific heat capacity, of a gas using direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC), it will be necessary to couple the rotational, vibrational, and electronic modes, while carefully accounting for quantum effects. This entirely numerical project will make use of an in-house DSMC code. The rotational energy mode will first need to be quantised, which will also allow for more accurate simulation at relatively low-temperature simulations of light species, such as hydrogen. A coupled vibrational-electronic mode will be implemented and then coupled to the rotational mode. Methods for sampling a rotational-vibrational-electronic state from the relevant distribution functions will need to be developed to make the code numerically efficient. Application areas include EUV photolithography and high temperature gas dynamics.

Title: Aeroelasticity and shape optimisation of flexible next-generation aircraft configurations

Supervisor: Dr Wrik Mallik

Description

Future innovative configurations for commercial aviation and urban air mobility would likely be developed with flexible aircraft configurations like the Truss-braced Wing (TBW) or NASA Helios for maintenance and manoeuvrability. Such flexible flying configurations will be highly flexible and undergo complex fluid-structure interaction between the flexible, deformable structure and the flow around it. The goal of this research project is to investigate how such flexible structures deform under various flying conditions and if we can control the deformed shape of such structures by adaptive morphing. Adaptive morphing ability would enable us to perform the required flight missions even with flexible structures. However, they would require a deep physical understanding of the complex aerodynamic and aeroelastic behaviour of these flexible configurations and the flight loads generated under various flying conditions. Novel shape optimisation and morphing technologies can then be developed, which will employ the physical understanding of the unsteady aerodynamics and aeroelasticity of flexible configurations for the development of highly efficient innovative aircraft configurations. The long-term project can be separated into two major PhD sub-projects:

• Computational aeroelastic analysis via high-fidelity numerical solvers for physical understanding and accurate load prediction: high-fidelity computational fluid dynamic simulations will be employed for investigating the complex physics of unsteady flow separation and dynamic stall leading to aeroelastic instabilities like flutter.
• Development of novel shape optimisation and morphing methodology for flexible aircraft structures: Novel shape optimisation via adjoint methods and parametric level set functions will be developed to explore the design space of complex aircraft configurations like the TBW. Optimal strategies will be developed to improve the aerodynamic and aeroelastic performance of flexible wings via wing morphing.

The long-term goal of the research is to provide scientific data and engineering guidance to policymakers and manufacturers for the development of greener and sustainable aircraft configurations.

Title: Conceptual design and analysis of next-generation electric aircraft configurations

Supervisors: Dr Wrik Mallik, Dr Mohammad Yazdani-Asrami

Description

Truss-braced wing (TBW) configurations are next-generation aircraft configurations, which have demonstrated significant potential for fuel burn reduction for both medium and long-range flight missions. However, to achieve the emission reduction goals of UK's Jet Zero programme, further improvements are required. Cryo-electrification or electrification enabled by combining cryogenics and superconducting technologies, shows potential as a disruptive technology and is considered a promising way forward for future aerospace electrifications. Integrating cryo-electrification with fuel-efficient configurations like TBW can potentially have synergistic benefits for enabling near-zero emission flights for both medium and long-range flight missions. This project will focus on the conceptual design and analysis of cryo-electric TBW configurations and assess its potential for reaching net-zero aviation in the near future.