Research Projects

All research projects at the School of Engineering. You can search keywords within Project title and filter by Research Institute.

We also have many exciting Engineering PhD Opportunities for postgraduate students looking to join the School.

Search within Project titles
Project Titlesort ascending Principal Supervisor Research Institutes Project Summary
OFFGAS: OFFshore Gas Separation

Prof Stefano Brandani

Materials and Processes

Gas separations on offshore platforms are of increasing importance for the purification of natural gas and for the separation of CO2 used in enhanced oil recovery (EOR).

Nanomaterials for water treatment

Dr Efthalia Chatzisymeon

Infrastructure and Environment

This project will use novel catalytic nanoparticles for water treatment with emphasis given on the removal of emerging micro-pollutants, such as Bisphenol A (BPA).

Multiscale characterisation of randomly oriented board strand composites from re-used prepreg scrap

Francisca Martinez Hergueta

Infrastructure and Environment

The aim of this project is to develop manufacturing upcycling technologies to re-use prepreg scrap and determine the resultant mechanical properties. This project mitigates the environmental impact of conventional composite manufacturing processes reducing air emissions and energy consumption. It also contributes towards a sustainable economy reducing the waste disposal fees paid by commercial companies and recovering commercial value from the composite scrap. 

Multi-scale analysis of DEM data to enhance the prediction at system scale

Prof. Jin Ooi

Infrastructure and Environment

While the discrete element method (DEM) can provide particle-scale information to inform the design of particulate equipment, many industrial sectors are interested in large-scale modelling and scaling-up processes [1].

Multi-scale analyses of wildland fire combustion processes

Dr Rory Hadden

Infrastructure and Environment

Low intensity prescribed fires are often employed in forests and wildland in order to manage hazardous fuels, restore ecological function and historic fire regimes, and encourage the recovery of threatened and endangered species. Current predictive models used to simulate fire behavior during low-intensity prescribed fires (and wildfires) are empirically-based, simplistic, and fail to adequately predict fire outcomes because they do not account for variability in fuel characteristics and interactions with important meteorological variables. Experiments are being carried out at scales ranging from the fuel particle, to fuel bed, to field plot and stand scales, with an aim of better understanding how fuel consumption is related to the processes driving heat transfer, ignition and flame spread, and thermal degradation through flaming and smouldering combustion, at the scale of individual fuel particles and fuel layers. Focus is placed on how these processes, and thus fuel consumption, are affected by spatial variability in fuel particle type, fuel moisture status, bulk density, and horizontal and vertical arrangement of fuel components, as well as multi-scale atmospheric dynamics.

Models for manufacturing of particulate products

Professor Jin Ooi

Infrastructure and Environment

This project aims to create a generally applicable framework for transferring academic innovations in the modelling of particulate materials into industrial practice in the UK. The process of twin-screw granulation has been selected as an exemplar industrial process which is simulated across multiple scales using the coupled methods of population balance modelling and the discrete element method.

Modelling of dense suspensions rheology

Dr. Jin Sun

Infrastructure and Environment

We examine the rheology of granular dense suspensions using computer simulations with discreste particles and develop constitutive models for flow of such suspensions.

Modelling and measurement for oil and gas multi-phase flows - SPH-DEM fluid-particle simulation and validation

Dr Filipe Teixeira-Dias

Infrastructure and Environment

The exploration and development of deeper wells with heavier and more viscous oils, requiring greater operating pressures and more fracture to fissures to release the oils. This results in significantly increased sand content that has the potential to bring about a fundamental shift in flow behaviour. This project aims to investigate the potential – and develop – a coupled smooth particle hydrodynamics (SPH) and discrete element method (DEM) model to simulate high-pressure multi-phase flows with support from an extensive experimental programme and industrial collaboration.

Modelling and management of distribution networks using high-resolution synchronised measurements

Dr Sasa Djokic

Energy Systems

This project will develop improved methodologies and tools for assessing and providing more detailed information on complex system-user interactions, which will be further implemented in an integrated framework for system state identification, system or plant/component condition assessment and evaluation of the overall system performance (all currently performed in a number of separate studies).

Modelling advanced adsorption processes for post-combustion capture

Prof Stefano Brandani

Materials and Processes

Carbon capture from power stations and industrial sources is an essential pillar in the effort of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in order to achieve the legally binding target set by the 2008 Climate Change Act of 80% reductions by 2050. The current state-of-the-art technologies for post-combustion capture (including retrofit options for existing plants) are based on amine scrubbers, but inherent energy requirements make this an expensive option and significant research is aimed at the development of next generation carbon capture processes that reduce the cost of capital equipment and the energy needed.

Pages

Subscribe to Research Projects