ProfessorSteven Armfield

Project Opportunities

Title: Stability and transition of natural convection boundary layers

Summary of opportunity:

This ongoing project is developing analytic and semi-analytic methods and using direct numerical simulation to further develop our understanding of the fundamental behaviour of the transition.

Opportunity synopsis:

Natural convection boundary layers occur in all heat transfer devices and in many other industrial and environmental settings. The effective heat transfer is strongly dependent on the state of the boundary layer, although currently little is known about the mechanism whereby natural convection boundary layers undergo transition. As devices that utilize natural convection heat transfer are passive, they will often be operating in the transition regime, and thus development of efficient devices requires the accurate prediction of the state of the boundary layer.