PhD Studentship: Investigation of Base Flows with Hypersonic Freestreams

This 4 year PhD is fully funded by EPSRC and MOD under the UK hypersonics programme. Tuition fees will be paid and you will receive a tax free stipend set at the UKRI rate (£19,237) plus a top up, making the final salary £24,700 per annum. This PhD is open to home students and those with settled status. The start date is September 2024.

The sensitivity of base flow topology to exit area ratio and pressure ratio is extremely important in the design of high-speed vehicles, especially missiles. Minor changes in pressure ratio and open area ratio can significantly impact the propulsive efficiency of a system and even introduce unwanted asymmetry and unsteadiness. There is very limited information available about such flows with a high supersonic/low hypersonic freestream.

To fill this knowledge gap, these base flows will be experimentally investigated in the University of Manchester High Supersonic wind tunnel. A new model and rig will be built to enable blown model testing and the flow topology will be investigated using non-intrusive measurement techniques. Axisymmetric and asymmetric nozzles can be investigated. Three-dimensionality can be investigated through the use state-of-the-art flow diagnostic methodologies such as full-surface pressure-sensitive paint (PSP) and off-surface particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements.

The UoM HSST wind tunnel is uniquely capable of such investigations in the UK and is capable of being operated at Mach 4, 5, and 6 across a wide total temperature range (300~950K). Long test durations (~7 seconds) and excellent optical access enables extremely high-fidelity (spatial and temporal) measurements to be captured generating CFD validation data.

Applicants should have achieved a minimum 2:1 honours BEng in a relevant engineering field (Mechanical or Aerospace preferred) - MSc or MEng preferred. Funding includes UK home student fees only.

Please contact the main supervisor, Dr Mark Quinn, before yo0u apply: mark.quinn@manchester.ac.uk

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