Research & Consultancies

The Thermofluids Group is an active group engaged in a wide range of research from fundamental and experimental research on turbulence structures to advanced developments in numerical methods for Computational Fluid Dynamics. It is one of the four academic groups in the Department of Mechanical Engineering within the University of Sheffield. The department achieved Grade 5A in the 2001 research assessment in the UK, indicating the international quality of its research output.

Current research topics of the staff include:

• CFD: adaptive solutions, high order methods, multiphase flows
• Turbulence: fractal theory, detached eddy simulation
• Aerodynamics: novel aerodynamic design, flow control, unsteady flow, wake aircraft interaction
• Combustion: emission, airport pollution
• Pipe flows and fuel cells: analysis and measurements
• Tribology: thin film flow and measurement
• Biological flow: bile flow in gall bladders, particle dispersion in human airways

Research projects have been funded by research councils, government agencies (EPSRC, EU, etc.) and sponsored by industry, from small local companies to large blue-chips (BAE Systems, Airbus, etc.). The staff have extensive national and international collaborative links with other centres of excellence and continues to attract well qualified postgraduates to undertake MSc and PhD studies. The group´s laboratories include a fluid lab, a thermodynamics lab and an aerodynamic lab, equiped with a variety of purpose built rigs and two low speed wind tunnels. High performance parallel computing is supported through the group´s dedicated Beowulf cluster Bluegrid as well as the facilities provided by the university, and regional (White Rose) and national (HPCx) centres. The research in the group is regularly presented at national and international specialist conferences and published in prestigious journals. More information related to the research of the group members can be found in the publication list and on their individual webpages.