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Mixed Matrix Membranes for post combustion carbon capture of CO2 |
Dr Maria-Chiara Ferrari
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Materials and Processes |
Membrane processes are a promising alternative to the more classical post-combustion capture technologies due to the reduced maintenance of the process, the absence of dangerous solvents and their smaller footprint. This project aims at supporting the development of new mixed matrix membranes for post-combustion applications. Mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) are composite materials formed by embedding inorganic fillers into a polymeric matrix in order to overcome the upper bound and combine the characteristics of the two solid phases: mechanical properties, economical processing capabilities and permeability of the polymer and selectivity of the filler. Despite several studies on the concept, the interactions between the two phases and their effect on the transport properties are not well understood. Yet, this fundamental knowledge is crucial in order to design the reliable materials needed for real-world-applications.
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Challenging RISK: Achieving Resilience by Integrating Societal and Technical Knowledge |
Professor Luke Bisby
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Infrastructure and Environment |
This project is concerned with socially integrated mitigation of multiple structural risks in the urban environment, with a focus on the linked risks of earthquake and fire. Fire is the largest contributor to building damage following earthquakes. To date, this research area has largely been ignored as it crosses the boundaries between the knowledge areas of earthquake and fire safety engineering. The combination of factors adds to the challenges in risk estimation already existing in each distinct area. There is currently no universally accepted method for accounting for the effect of strengthening practices on building vulnerability to earthquakes (let alone earthquakes followed by fire). In the case of fire safety engineering, few credible techniques for damage estimation or risk-based design currently exist due to a lack of requisite input data. This project will develop, through large scale structural testing and computational analysis, new technical engineering solutions to these problems. And, for the first time, these technical engineering solutions will be developed explicitly accounting for the social context within which they are to be enacted.
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Pressure-Tuning Interactions in Molecule-Based Magnets |
Professor Konstantin Kamenev
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Materials and Processes |
In optimizing the properties of functional materials it is essential to understand in detail how structure influences properties. Identification of the most important structural parameters is time-consuming and usually investigated by preparing many different chemical modifications of a material, determining their crystal structures, measuring their physical properties and then looking for structure-property correlations. It is also necessary to assume that the chemical modifications have no influence other than to distort the structure, which is often not the case.
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ThermaPower - Thermal Management of High Power Microsystems Using Multiphase Flows |
Professor Khellil Sefiane
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Multiscale Thermofluids |
Increased functionality and power consumption of microdevices and high power electronics has come at a cost: power dissipation and heating. This heat must be dissipated to ensure reliable operation of such devices in both earthly and reduced gravity environments (eg space industry), without adversely affecting their performance. With a highly competitive world market, worth tens of billions of Euros, it is imperative for EU to gain a competitive position in this field (currently led by USA and China).
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Boiling in microchannels: integrated design of closed-loop cooling system for devices operating at high heat |
Professor Khellil Sefiane
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Multiscale Thermofluids |
The project aims to advance the use of microchannels based cooling technology by solving major outstanding issues. Flow instabilities and maldistribution are identified as a major hurdle towards effective implementation of this technology to a variety of applications.
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Joint Experimental Investigation of two-phase flows in microscale |
Professor Khellil Sefiane
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Multiscale Thermofluids |
The proposal aims to advance the use of microchannels based cooling technology by solving major outstanding issues.
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VELaSSCo: Visualization for Extremely Large-scale Scientific Computing |
Prof. Jin Ooi
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Infrastructure and Environment |
The Vision of VELaSSCo is to provide new approaches for visual analysis of large-scale simulations for the Exabyte era. It does this by building on big data tools and architectures for the engineering and scientific community and by adopting new ways of in-situ processing for data analytics and hardware accelerated interactive visualization.
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DEM model calibration and validation for cohesive soil-machine interactions |
Prof. Jin Ooi
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Infrastructure and Environment |
The modelling of cohesive soils is a challenging task of great importance in many earth moving processes. In these cases, the understanding of the interaction soil-machine is vital to try to optimize the process and avoid problems. This project aims to investigate the capabilities of DEM cohesive contact models to capture with a sufficient level of accuracy the mechanical behaviours involved in soil-machine interactions.
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Measurement and modelling of powder flow in flexible containers |
Prof. Jin Ooi
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Infrastructure and Environment |
The research focuses on understanding cohesive powder flow in flexible bulk solid containers (buggies and bulk bags) with a view to develop a design methodology for ensuring reliable discharge from these containers. The project involves experimental powder flowability characterisation, finite element analysis of the stresses in flexible containers and pilot scale experiments to study the powder flow field and validate the new design methodology for reliable discharge.
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A multi-scale approach to characterising fluid contribution to conductive heat transfer in dense granular systems |
Prof. Jin Ooi
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Infrastructure and Environment |
For granular materials with low thermal conductivity heat transfer occurs through interstitial gases as well as through physical contacts. Existing particle based models are ill suited to dense systems so a multi-scale approach has been used to correlate the local packing structure to the gas contribution to conductive heat transfer in dense granular systems.
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