Prof D Pokrajac, Dr D Vega-Maza
Applications accepted all year round
Self-Funded PhD Students Only
About the Project
Porous media flows often occur in the environment, for example groundwater aquifers, oil & gas reservoirs, ocean waves penetrating into the sand or gravel beaches (e.g. Kikkert et al, 2013, Steenhauer et al. 2012), as well as in porous man-made structures such as coastal defences and nuclear reactors. Depending on pore configuration and the magnitude of driving forces, flow through a porous medium can be laminar, transitional, or turbulent (Horton and Pokrajac, 2009). Turbulent porous media flows are less common than laminar flows. As a result they have received less attention and are still not well understood. In particular turbulence closure techniques used in numerical simulation models of turbulent porous media flows have been adopted from classical turbulence models which have been developed for substantially different flow conditions (de Lemos, 2006). This extrapolation of turbulence closure models from free fluid flows to porous media flows is yet to be directly validated.
This project aims to explore turbulent porous media flows and to improve turbulence closure techniques embedded in numerical simulation models of these flows. An extensive experimental programme, designed for direct testing of turbulence closure models, will be carried out. It will be combined with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations of turbulent porous media flows, which will be carried out using the open source CFD library OpenFOAM.
Both experimental and CFD results will be used to identify the key features of turbulence in porous media and to improve existing or propose novel turbulence closure models.
The main outcome from the project will be improved understanding and modelling of turbulent porous media flows.
The successful candidate should have, or expect to have, an Honours Degree at 2.1 or above (or equivalent) in Civil Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Physics.
Knowledge of: Fluid Mechanics, Porous media flows, Turbulence.
Funding Notes
This project is for self-funded students only. There is no funding attached to this project. The successful applicant will be expected to pay Tuition Fees and living expenses, from their own resources, for the duration of study.
References
de Lemos, M. (2006). Turbulence in Porous Media - Modelling and Applications, volume 1. Elseveir.
Horton, N., Pokrajac, D. (2009) Onset of turbulence in a regular porous medium: An experimental study, Physics of Fluids 21(4), Article number 045104.
Kikkert, G., Pokrajac, D., O’Donoghue, T., Steenhauer, K. (2013) Experimental study of bore-driven swash hydrodynamics on permeable rough slopes, Coastal Engineering79: 42-56.
Steenhauer, K., Pokrajac, D., O'Donoghue, T. (2012) Numerical model of swash motion and air entrapment within coarse-grained beaches, Coastal Engineering 64: 113-126.
APPLICATION PROCEDURE:
This project is advertised in relation to the research areas of the discipline of Engineering. Formal applications can be completed online: http://www.abdn.ac.uk/postgraduate/apply. You should apply for Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Engineering, to ensure that your application is passed to the correct College for processing.
NOTE CLEARLY THE NAME OF THE SUPERVISOR AND EXACT PROJECT TITLE YOU WISH TO BE CONSIDERED FOR ON THE APPLICATION FORM. Applicants are limited to applying for a maximum of 2 projects. Any further applications received will be automatically withdrawn.
Informal inquiries can be made to Prof D Pokrajac (d.pokrajac@abdn.ac.uk) with a copy of your curriculum vitae and cover letter. All general enquiries should be directed to the Graduate School Admissions Unit (cpsgrad@abdn.ac.uk).
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