We seek a highly motivated and quantitatively talented candidate to pursue a PhD project that will develop new and fundamental understanding of how complex multiphase suspensions flow under laminar, transitional and turbulent conditions. This position is part of the “Efficient Pipeline Transport of Highly Concentrated Wastewater Sludges” Linkage Project funded by the Australian Research Council, which aims to investigate the rheology and fluid mechanics of highly concentrated wastewater sludges (HCWS) and develop predictive tools for design and optimisation of pipeline transport systems.
The rheology of HCWS is strongly non-Newtonian and leads to complex flow phenomena in the transition and turbulent regimes. As such, conventional tools and techniques cannot accurately predict the pipe flow dynamics and pumping requirements of HCWS. To overcome these limitations, this PhD project will involve the development, application and validation of novel computational tools for the pipe flow of these complex materials and will involve close collaboration with a research team with extensive experience in the computational modelling and rheology of dense suspension flows.
A combination of spectral and finite volume Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) methods are required to understand and predict transitional and turbulent suspension flow. This problem sits at the cutting edge of scientific enquiry - despite its importance, suspension flow under such conditions has received very little attention to date and is not well understood. The progress to be made in this project will be at the forefront of research in this area.
