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Projects: Projects for Investigator
Reference Number EP/V033883/1
Title (D*)stratify: harnessing energetics to control thermally stratified fluids
Status Started
Energy Categories Energy Efficiency(Residential and commercial) 20%;
Not Energy Related 80%;
Research Types Basic and strategic applied research 100%
Science and Technology Fields PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS (Physics) 5%;
PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS (Applied Mathematics) 35%;
PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS (Computer Science and Informatics) 15%;
ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Architecture and the Built Environment) 45%;
UKERC Cross Cutting Characterisation Not Cross-cutting 80%;
Systems Analysis related to energy R&D (Energy modelling) 20%;
Principal Investigator Dr J Craske

Civil and Environmental Eng
Imperial College London
Award Type Standard
Funding Source EPSRC
Start Date 20 September 2021
End Date 19 September 2025
Duration 48 months
Total Grant Value £640,260
Industrial Sectors Energy
Region London
Programme NC : Engineering
 
Investigators Principal Investigator Dr J Craske , Civil and Environmental Eng, Imperial College London (99.998%)
  Other Investigator Dr DA Ham , Mathematics, Imperial College London (0.001%)
Professor G Hughes , Civil and Environmental Eng, Imperial College London (0.001%)
  Industrial Collaborator Project Contact , Trend Control Systems Ltd (0.000%)
Web Site
Objectives
Abstract Everyone knows that warm air rises and cold air sinks. Yet the implications of this apparently simple phenomenon are neither widely appreciated nor properly understood. The phenomenon produces vertical variations in temperature, known as thermal stratifications, that play a profound role in civil and environmental engineering. Thermal stratifications determine how much thermal and mechanical energy is needed to produce comfortable temperatures in the lowest parts of a room. By restricting the direction of air flow, thermal stratifications also determine the eventual fate of airborne pathogens and are therefore crucial in influencing the spread of viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 inside buildings. In reservoir management, thermal stratification is often biologically undesirable; hence energy is used for mixing to destratify the water. In water tanks, on the other hand, thermal stratifications are used as an effective means of storing solar-thermal energy. In all cases, the evaluation of appropriate design and control strategies requires understanding of how hot fluid and cold fluid interact to produce or destroy a stratification, which is an extremely challenging and open question at the forefront of current research in turbulence. This project will address the outstanding problem of predicting the thermal stratifications that are produced by non-uniform heating and cooling of a confined space and culminate in a design tool called (D*)stratify, which will enable the prediction and control of stratifications by identifying and using a limited number of key measurements. Our approach will transcend existing models by discovering and accounting for the energy behind turbulent plumes and thermal stratifications, coupling theory with real-time measurements. Utilising existing infrastructure, we will initiate a unique working laboratory for producing thermal stratifications, alongside direct numerical simulations of confined turbulent plumes. Our discoveries and modelling will facilitate the prediction, design and manipulation of thermal stratifications for both research and operation, whilst providing fundamental information about the underlying energy conversions
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Added to Database 16/11/21