Vehicle Aerodynamics in Realistic Flow Conditions

This research investigates how vehicles respond to realistic on-road aerodynamic conditions, including turbulence, gusts, and changing yaw angles. By recreating these complex flow environments in the laboratory, we aim to improve understanding of drag, stability, wake structure, and aerodynamic performance under conditions that better represent real driving.

Cycling / Sport Aerodynamics

Our sports aerodynamics research investigates how textile roughness and seam placement influence drag, vortex shedding, and wake structure around cyclist limb-like geometries. Using wind-tunnel testing, force measurements, hot-wire anemometry, and particle image velocimetry, we study how fabric and seam design can trigger beneficial changes in flow separation.

The results show that well-designed textile and seam configurations can reduce drag substantially, with reductions of up to approximately 20% for most fabrics and approaching 45% for selected seam configurations.

Key Findings

• Textile roughness and seam placement influence flow separation and wake structure.
• Circular-cylinder tests provide a useful model for cyclist arms and legs.
• Selected seam configurations can substantially reduce aerodynamic drag.
• PIV measurements reveal how changes in the wake are linked to drag reduction.

Active Turbulence Generation

This research develops active methods for generating controlled turbulence in laboratory facilities. Using systems such as active grids, gust-generation mechanisms, and random-jet arrays, we create flow conditions with prescribed turbulence intensity, length scales, and unsteady behaviour. These tools allow us to study how complex turbulent environments affect aerodynamic performance, particle transport, and flow control.

Particle Transport in Turbulence

This work examines how fibres, rods, and microplastic-like particles move, orient, and settle in quiescent and turbulent flows. Experiments are designed to connect particle geometry, Reynolds number, turbulence intensity, and orientation dynamics to settling velocity and transport behaviour. The results support improved modelling of particle transport in environmental and engineering systems.

Active Flow Control

Active flow control uses small, controlled inputs to modify larger flow structures such as separated shear layers, vortices, wakes, and jets. Our work investigates synthetic jet actuators and actuator arrays to understand how forcing frequency, phase, and actuator configuration can influence jet vectoring, vortex formation, and wake behaviour.

Industrial and Environmental Flows

Our research applies experimental and computational fluid mechanics to industrial and environmental flow problems. Current and recent projects include flow and mixing in electroless plating systems, wake modelling for large mining vehicles, ventilation-related transport, and the development of simplified analytical flow models.