PhD Mechanical Engineering

The broad focus of the research project would be to investigate aerofoil self-noise, particularly at high angles of attack when the aerofoil is near to a stall condition, with the aim of either developing a novel method of noise reduction or of further refining and advancing an existing strategy.
Emphasis would be placed upon developing passive methods of noise reduction and improving nearstall performance. The project would be undertaken experimentally; making use of the University's aeroacoustic facility. Computational studies would then be used to interpret the fluid mechanics behind the results gained experimentally.

Although aerofoil performance at high angles of attack would be the specific focus of research, any design developed would also need to be tested at flow conditions closely matching those encountered when an aircraft is in the cruise phase of a flight to investigate the effect that any noise reduction measures might have on aerodynamic performance during the majority of the flight.