Hydrodynamic optimisation in hydraulic and environmental engineering design

The design of many engineering structures involving flow-structure interactions often attempts to either reduce or augment certain characteristics of the flow. Examples of this include problems involving mixing in industrial or environmental applications (e.g. water and/or wastewater treatment plants, environmental flows in rivers and estuaries) and where the flow may pose risk to the stability of infrastructure (e.g. loadings and scour at the foundations of bridges and other infrastructure). In problems where the flow is central to the performance of the design, the focus may shift from 'altering' to 'optimising' the flow conditions, an endeavour that requires substantial experimental and/or computational efforts.

This project will investigate how to optimise specific characteristics of a turbulent flow within hydraulic and environmental engineering design. As part of the project the successful candidate will have the chance to investigate applications to several problems spanning from traditional river engineering structures to novel applications in environmental engineering. The student will have access to state-of-the-art experimental facilities including large recirculating flumes, wave basins and a large-scale model of an algae raceway pond (open channel systems used to cultivate microalgae). They will also receive training in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and gain access to the University of Southampton's outstanding supercomputer Iridis 5.

This project is part of a collaboration between the University of Southampton and industry to improve the performance of algae raceway ponds. As a result, the student will have access to data from one of the largest algae production facilities in the world.

The successful candidate will have a first class degree in Engineering, Physics or Applied Mathematics and interest in fluid dynamics and environmental engineering. Strong programming skills will also be an advantage.