Joseph Tierney

Thesis Title

Investigating the impact of mutual sheltering of roughness elements on the drag partition over surfaces

Research overview

Accurate predictions of drag over surfaces remains an important issue faced by engineers. The
complex interactions between the surface and the flow, which dictates the operational
performance of vehicles, remains inadequately understood when surface roughness is involved.
Surface roughness is a prevalent problem and is particularly detrimental for shipping, where
biofouling (the settlement of marine organisms on to the hull of the vessel) has enormous
financial and environmental consequences. We are striving towards enhancing our predictive
capability by systemically probing the effect of different physical measures of roughness. This
work is complemented by detailed investigations of flow sheltering, whereby the contribution
of roughness to drag depends on wake interactions with nearby surface features.

Supervisors

Prof Nicholas Hutchins
Prof Jason Monty

Qualifications

BSc, Mechanical Systems, University of Melbourne, Australia (2021)
MEng, Mechanical Engineering, University of Melbourne, Australia (2023)