IES PhD Student wins 1st Prize in the ETP Industry Doctorates Poster Competition

Tamas Józsa, a PhD student in the Institute for Energy Systems, presented a poster of his research project on compliant coatings at the ETP annual conference and it was awarded the 1st prize.

Project Description:

The drag experienced by a tidal turbine blade limits the extractable power from the tidal stream and contributes to the structural loads. We aim to develop a compliant coating that will decrease the friction drag and, therefore, will enable more energy harvested and lower levellised cost of energy. We investigate the turbulent channel flow, which is used as a model of the boundary layer around a tidal turbine blade. Undertaking direct numerical simulations on ARCHER, the UK national supercomputer, we explore the fluid-structure interaction between in-plane deforming surfaces and the fully turbulent flow. Our simulations show, for the first time, that a coating passively deformed by the wall shear stresses in the streamwise direction allows drag reduction. The simulations will provide information on the material characteristics required for an efficient friction drag reducing compliant coating. 

Link to the project webpage: https://www.eng.ed.ac.uk/research/projects/compliant-coatings-drag-reduction

Link to Tamas’s webpage: http://eng.ed.ac.uk/about/people/mr-tam%C3%A1s-istv%C3%A1n-j%C3%B3zsa