Modelling offlow statistics and coherent structures with resolvent analysis

2 Minute read

The ability to estimate the unknown flow statistics from a limited set of available data is of great value for research and industrial applications.

This project will estimate the flow statistics and coherent structures in high-speed turbulent boundary layers, based on the resolvent analysis. It's central idea is to model the non-linear terms in linearized Navier-Stokes equation as an external forcing with the known statistics, which subsequently provides the full-field estimation of the flow statistics upon application of the resolvent operator in the frequency domain.

Such an estimation model will also promote the understanding of dynamical mechanisms in turbulence.

Project goals

The objectives of this project are:

• Analyses on kinetic and internal energy exchange/transfer across high-speed TBL among positions and scales.
• Preliminary programming of resolvent-based methodology.
• Reproduction of simplified-flow estimation for validation.
• Investigation on the effects of wall-temperature on  the flow statistics, including the velocity, temperature and pressure fluctuations, and the coherent velocity and temperature structures.

Supervision team

Shanghai Jiao Tong University: Professor Weipeng Li

The University of Melbourne: Professor Richard Sandberg

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Who we are looking for

We are seeking a PhD candidate with the following skills:

Further details

The project and students will benefit greatly from the complementary expertise and experiences of Professors Sandberg and Li, and will develop broad understanding of fluid dynamics, simulation, ML and modelling techniques.

Professor Richard Sandberg’s group are specialists in high-fidelity simulation of turbulent flows and their application to aerospace systems to gain physical understanding of flow and noise. He is also an expert in the development of lower-fidelity models based on machine-learning techniques that can be employed in an industrial context.

Professor Weipeng Li and his group have been researching the turbulent dynamics and multi-scale structures in high-Reynolds-number turbulent channel flows and hypersonic turbulent boundary layers for years and has developed an in-house high order CFD code to simulate airframe noise, jet noise, cavity noise etc.

Professors Sandberg and Li share the common research interest of developing advanced understanding of high-speed flows and the associated noise generation, yet are using complementary approaches and tools.

The UoM PhD candidate will be enrolled in the PhD program at the School of Mechanical Engineering the University of Melbourne, and the SJTU PhD candidate will be enrolled in the PhD program at the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

If you are interested in this opportunity, read the application guidelines and eligibility information for both UoM and SJTU before contacting the lead supervisors.