Our Research - Low Speed
91³ÉÈ˰涶Òôhas been investigating low-speed fluid- structure interaction (FSI) for more than 15 years. Our foci are developing numerical methods for FSI and complex flows and promoting applications of these methods in a variety of fundamental and engineering problems.
First, we have made considerable contribution to developing numerical methods for FSI and complex flows by incorporating a few features into both Cartesian and body-conformal mesh methods. Our effort makes it possible to model FSI problems involving complex geometries, large deformation, non-Newtonian rheology, shock/blast waves, acoustics and fractures.
We have applied our methods as well as other commercial software to studying insect flight, fish swimming and flapping wing/plate based energy harvesters. We further have applied our methods to studying internal biological flows such as blood flow, laryngeal aerodynamics and vocal-fold vibration during phonation. Recently, we have extended our computational capability of modelling fluid-structure-acoustics interactions with applications in acoustics design and control of wind turbines.
Our Research - High Speed
91³ÉÈ˰涶Òôhas been investigating high-speed fluid-thermal structural (FTSI) since 2004 when it became a partner on DARPA’s HyCAUSE program. This work continues both in the development of experimental and numerical techniques and in support of subsequent flight programs. More recently we have additionally focused on experimentally reproducing and modelling fundamental fluid-structure interactions (FSI) on canonical geometries in hypersonic flows with our Australian and international partners.
As well as our own free piston driven shock tunnel we have performed many of our experiments in the University of Southern Queensland’s longer duration TUSQ facility in Toowoomba. In addition, we are developing the capability to perform even longer duration FSI experiments in our supersonic blowdown tunnel and our supersonic nozzle rig here in Canberra.
The research interests of UNSW HYPERSONICS range from improving our understanding of the fundamental physical and chemical processes in the flows associated with high-speed aircraft and planetary entry to the development and testing of the technologies required to achieve practical hypersonic flight. This research will help us to understand and control the extreme conditions associated with high-speed flight. The technologies we have developed in our investigations of hypersonic flows have had applications in many other areas, including biomedical sensing and modelling, air speed measurements for commercial aircraft and the measurement and simulation of component performance in gas turbines.
We investigate these processes using a combination of experimental, analytical and computational expertise. Experimentally, we combine our hypersonic free-piston shock tunnel and supersonic wind tunnel facilities with laser-based flow diagnostics capable of measuring gas temperatures, velocities and species concentrations, and highly sensitive, high-speed flow visualisation. Computationally, we work on both Navier Stokes and direct simulation Monte Carlo modelling of rarefied and continuum hypersonic flow.
In addition to our laboratory facilities, we are actively involved in putting advanced instrumentation on hypersonic flight vehicles, including diode laser absorption spectroscopy systems, temperature-sensitive paints, and sophisticated electronic sensing systems for the measurement of heat flux. We have collaborated on the HyShot, HyCAUSE, HIFiRE, SCRAMSPACE and HEXAFLY-International hypersonic test-flight programs.