The Thermo-Fluid Mechanics Research Centre (TFMRC) is a dedicated research laboratory specialising in energy concepts and technology, rotating flow and heat transfer and its experience represents over 1000 person years of accumulated research.
Research Activity Overview
A particular focus is flow and heat transfer research in prime movers such as gas turbine engines and other rotating machinery applications as well as large and small scale research programmes on flow, heat transfer, computational fluid dynamics and energy technology concepts.
The TFMRC has received research grants in excess of £10 million over the last 10 years from Alstom, Ford, Rolls-Royce plc, Snecma, DaimlerChrysler, MTU, Volvo, Johnson Matthey, Siemens, Industriales Turbinas Propulsores, Fiat, Airbus, Ricardo Consulting Engineers, the EPSRC and the European Union as well as a number of SMEs (small and medium enterprises).
The TFMRC incorporates the Rolls-Royce supported University Technology Centre for Aero-Thermal Systems specialising in flow and heat transfer research in gas turbine engines, especially the internal air system. The expertise available within the group in heat transfer and fluid flow and energy solutions enable us to tackle a wide range of energy concepts with applications ranging from domestic combined heat and power units to industrial units as well as aviation power-plant applications.
A speciality of the TFMRC is non-invasive instrumentation including pyrometry and thermal imaging, particle image velocimetry (PIV), Laser Doppler anemometry (LDA) and phase doppler anemometry (PDA). The recent Appointment of Professor Sayma to the TFMRC brings more than 14 years experience with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and aeroelasticity to the research group and the appointment of Dr Nick Atkins augments our skill-base in heat transfer with state of the art blade tip heat transfer and transient measurement capability.
Recent collaborations include the ICAS GT1 and ICAS GT2 (Flow and Heat Transfer in the Rotating Cooling Air Systems of Gas Turbines 2) programmes of research, funded by the 5th Framework of the GROWTH programme of the European Union and NEWAC (New Aero-Engine Active Core) and MAGPI (Main Annulus Gas Path Interactions) co-funded by the European Commission within the Sixth Framework Programme.
|
Enquiries
We welcome enquiries about research opportunities. For general enquiries about commissioning research programmes or performing research studies please contact either Prof PRN Childs, Prof A Sayma, Dr CA Long or Dr NR Atkins. For enquiries concerning postgraduate degree programmes at doctoral (DPhil, PhD) or masters level (MSc and MPhil) please contact Richard Chambers.
Rapid Prototyping Service
The TFMRC has recently purchased a Z-Corp colour 3D printer. This rapid prototyping machine can produce full colour complex geometric models in a matter of hours from original 3D CAD models. This means that companies and individuals can save valuable time and money in the realisation of their designs, reducing the prototyping process from weeks to hours. Click here for more information
|
|
