Annual Report (2016-2018) - Centre for Hypersonicshypersonics.mechmining.uq.edu.au/filething/get/1570/CfH annual report 2016_2018.pdfA major development within the group includes an

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Annual Report (2016-2018)

Centre for Hypersonics 7 March 2019

Annual Report (2016-2018) 2

Contents

Objectives and Expertise ................................................................................................................................. 3

Objectives ........................................................................................................................................................... 3

Expertise ............................................................................................................................................................. 3

The Centre for Hypersonics – at a Glance ..................................................................................................... 4

Key Performance Indicators ............................................................................................................................ 6

KPI 1 – Commercialisation ................................................................................................................................. 6

KPI 2 - Personnel ................................................................................................................................................ 9

Leadership Team .............................................................................................................................................. 11 Academic and Research Staff .......................................................................................................................... 13 Technical Staff .................................................................................................................................................. 14

KPI 3 – Education and Engagement ................................................................................................................ 15

KPI 4: Collaboration ......................................................................................................................................... 18

KPI 5 – Research and Development Excellence .............................................................................................. 21

University of Southern Queensland .................................................................................................................. 21

University of Queensland.................................................................................................................................. 22

Progress Reports on Grants and Fellowships .................................................................................................. 25

KPI 6 – Professional Development ................................................................................................................... 39

Appendix 1 – History of Hypersonics at UQ ................................................................................................ 41

Appendix 2 – HDR students (2016-2018) ...................................................................................................... 43

Appendix 3 - Publications (2016-2018) ........................................................................................................ 45

Appendix 4 – USQ publications (2016-2018) ............................................................................................... 53


Hypersonic aerodynamics has been a major research activity at The University of Queensland for nearly 40 years.

********************

Our researchers continue to be active nationally and internationally, and are involved in collaborative research programs with approximately 40 universities and research organisations around the world.

Objectives and Expertise

Objectives

Provide visible international leadership in the Centre’s areas of expertise in hypersonics.

Maintain a high level of activity in both fundamental and applied research.

Provide graduate and undergraduate training opportunities of the highest international standards.

Play a pivotal role as collaborators in major international projects.

Contribute to providing the skilled workforce required to support Australia’s growing space industry.

Expertise

Development of hypervelocity test facilities

Scramjet propulsion (experiment in the laboratory and in flight – analysis and design)

Rocket flight testing

Aerothermodynamic experimentation and analysis

Advanced instrumentation for aerodynamic measurements

Computational fluid dynamic analysis of hypervelocity flows

Optical diagnosis for hypervelocity superorbital flows

Study of radiating and ablating flows

Development of reusable air breathing access to space systems


The Centre for Hypersonics – at a Glance

The three years covered by this report have been a time of unprecedented progress, and a growing global

awareness of the significance of hypersonic technology. This was well illustrated in the recent statement by

Michael Griffin, the Pentagon’s new Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, who said that

“development of hypersonic capabilities is (his) ‘highest technical priority’”.

“I’m sorry for everybody out there who champion some other high priority, some technical thing; it’s

not that I disagree with those. But there has to be a first, and hypersonics is my first…”1

This is reinforced by the comments of Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the US House of Representatives:

“The U.S. is on the brink of a tremendous tipping point of commercial, military and political

opportunities. This historic moment is enabled by a combination of reusable rockets and hypersonic-

vehicle technologies”2.

In fact, the coming intersection of reusable launch and hypersonic flight offers the kind of opportunity not seen

since the invention of the steam-powered locomotive. These technologies could soon allow humans to travel

anywhere on the globe in a couple of hours — and provide consistent low-cost access to space. This will be a

tremendous boon to U.S. commerce. Meanwhile, a fleet of hypersonic military vehicles could revolutionise the

way we defend our country. If the railroad opened and secured our continent, the combination of reusable

rockets and hypersonics will open and secure our solar system3.

The strategic work performed in the Centre for Hypersonics over many decades has set up the infrastructure

and skill base required for Australia to participate in this new technology as a major provider of services and

hardware.

A major development within the group includes an increased level of collaboration with DST (formerly DSTO

and DST Group) culminating in a 5 year $10 million collaborative agreement signed in November 2018. The

agreement involves the development of a new hypersonics ground test facility (X3R), which was designed and

built at UQ, and the establishment of a new hypersonics laboratory at a new DST site to be opened at Eagle

Farm, Brisbane in 2019.

It is envisaged that this laboratory will become an international hub for research in hypersonics, and will help

cement Queensland’s place as a major player in space research for many decades to come. The agreement

also supports a broad based research program in hypersonics, incorporating most of the staff at the UQ Centre

for Hypersonics. This is a very positive development, and goes a long way towards meeting our objectives, in

particular with regard to providing high quality graduate education and international exposure.

Our collaborative activities with DST date back to the 1980’s when UQ did a fundamental study of the

Australian ‘hover roc’ project which developed into the ‘Nulka’ decoy missile, and escalated strongly in the late

90’s when the flight testing program pioneered by Professor Allan Paull from UQ led to the HyShot and HIFiRE

international flight testing programs. The success of these projects led to the establishment of a Hypersonics

branch of DST at Pinjarra Hills, Brisbane led by Professor Paull. This collaboration has continued, and the

relocation of the DST Hypersonics groups to Eagle Farm will greatly strengthen the relationship. Professor

Morgan’s position at UQ is now co-funded by DST with a focus on new hypersonic facility development.

1 https://www.defensenews.com/pentagon/2018/03/06/hypersonics-highest-technical-priority-for-pentagon-rd-

head/

2 https://aviationweek.com/space/opinion-how-seize-revolution-hypersonics-and-space

3 http://aviationweek.com/space/opinion-how-seize-revolution-hypersonics-and-space

https://www.defensenews.com/pentagon/2018/03/02/as-putin-touts-hypersonic-weapons-america-prepares-its-own-arsenal-will-it-be-in-time/


Professor Paull has now assumed the DST Chair of Future Space Technologies at UQ, which ensures an

ongoing close collaboration between UQ and DST and our large group of international collaborators.

Several new research initiatives have commenced, including ARC Discovery Project grants, ARC DECRA

awards, and a major research program with the National University of Singapore. In addition, new

AFOSR/AOARD (US Air Force Office of Scientific Research) grants have been awarded and collaboration with

our existing overseas collaborators continue.


Key Performance Indicators

KPI 1 – Commercialisation

Commercialisation – The research program in the Centre for Hypersonics has been very successful and all-encompassing of our time which continues to preclude us from pursuing commercialisation activities.

Activities

Establishment of operational procedures for the management of

QHTF’s fee for service activities within three (3) years of the

Commencement Date.

There were no fee for service activities in 2016-18

Establishment of material promoting QHTF’s fee for service

activities internally and outside UQ within three (3) years of the

Commencement Date.


Regular review of operating procedures and promotional opportunities for QHTF’s fee for service activities.


Sale of Rockets. There were no commercial sales in 2016-2018. There has been strong

recent interest in the further development of larger rockets, and the

establishment of a more extensive test facility off campus, to be led by

USQ is being proposed. The propellant manufacturing and rocket

testing facilities that have been established at UQ are a timely

resource, and will be very useful for the future development of a local

rocket industry. In 2016, a small rocket gas generator was developed

for Ariane Group, with the intention of doing scaled wind tunnel tests

to investigate possible plume interaction and base heating effects in

the new Ariane 6 rocket, due for first flight in 2020. The scaled rocket

worked successfully in the test program, but was subsequently

cancelled as no wind tunnel operators were prepared to have rocket

exhaust products released in their facilities. R. Morgan worked with

Ariane Group during his SSP in 2018 on the base heating issues.

Testing Services. As the inherent value of this research to the State exceeds the

fees for commercial testing which could be raised instead, it was

recommend in 2012 that this item be removed permanently, so

that the best support can be given to developing the research

capability of the State.

Consulting Services. There were no consulting services activities in 2016-18.


Defence Connect Announcement of 5 year Collaboration Agreement with DST and UQ, 20 November 2018

20 November 2018

By: Louis Dillon4

Defence Science and Technology (DST) and the University of Queensland (UQ) have announced a

collaboration agreement to undertake advanced research in flight science and enabling technologies.

The $10 million agreement will see the consolidation of both parties' test facilities to help muster the

expertise of academic and industry researchers and international partners.

Professor Richard Morgan, UQ's director of the Centre for Hypersonics, has been appointed to provide

expertise in the development and operation of advanced large-scale test facilities and facilitate close

collaboration under the agreement.

Professor Morgan is the only non-US scientist to have received a hypersonic systems and technologies

award from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

High-speed flight science is one of the priority areas to be developed under the Next Generation

Technologies Fund, a program focusing on research and development in emerging future technologies.

UQ has undertaken major research projects on hypersonic aerodynamics over the past two decades,

and the Centre lists its objectives as:

to provide visible international leadership in the Centre's areas of expertise in hypersonics;

to maintain a high level of activity in both fundamental and applied research;

to provide graduate and undergraduate training opportunities of the highest international

standards; and

to play a pivotal role as collaborators in major international projects.

4 https://www.defenceconnect.com.au/key-enablers/3173-dst-and-uq-announce-collaboration-for-

high-speed-flight-research

https://www.defenceconnect.com.au/key-enablers/3173-dst-and-uq-announce-collaboration-for-high-speed-flight-research

https://www.defenceconnect.com.au/key-enablers/3173-dst-and-uq-announce-collaboration-for-high-speed-flight-research


The Centre's areas of expertise are:

Development of test facilities based on shock wave generation (shock tunnels, expansion

tunnels, light-gas guns, blast generators);

Scramjet propulsion (experiment, analysis and design);

Rocket-launched flight testing;

Aerothermodynamic experimentation and analysis;

Advanced instrumentation for aerodynamic measurements;

Computational fluid dynamic analysis of high-speed transient and steady flows; and

Optical diagnostics for hypervelocity superorbital flow.


KPI 2 - Personnel

Personnel

10 UQ Teaching and Research Staff

6 UQ Research Focused Staff

5 UQ Technical Staff

15 UQ Honorary / Adjunct Staff

9 DST staff

1 Teakle Composites staff

The figure overleaf will appear in the Times Higher Education in March 2019.



Leadership Team

Professor Richard Morgan, Director

Professor Richard Morgan is the founding Director of the Centre for Hypersonics and lectures in Mechanical

and Aerospace Engineering within the School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering.

He has a strong research record in the development of hypervelocity impulsive facilities on which the UQ

Centre for Hypersonics research program is based; this includes the ‘X’ series of superorbital expansion tubes.

Richard has extensive experience in hypersonic aero-thermo-dynamics and scramjet propulsion. Richard has

been developing superorbital ground based facilities for many years, and has collaborative research programs

with NASA, ESA, Oxford University, Ecolé Centrale (Paris) and AOARD in radiating flows. He is leading the

DST funded ‘X3R’ shock tunnel project, which will be the largest reflected shock tunnel in Australia, and will

be housed in a new DST Laboratory at Eagle Farm, Brisbane.

Professor Morgan has had continuing ARC support in this area since 1990, including two ARC Discovery

Projects grants in this reporting period in partnership with European, Japanese and American partners. He

was involved as a flight team member in the 2010 airborne observation of the Japanese ‘Hayabusa’ asteroid

sample return mission, for which he was a co-recipient of the NASA Ames ‘honour’ award for 2010.

Richard regularly gives invited talks in international meetings, and gave a plenary presentation to the American

Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Hypersonic Spaceplanes Conference in San Francisco in

April 2011. In 2014, Richard gave the ‘Cullpepper’ plenary lecture at the AIAA Aerospace planes conference

in memorial to Professor Ray Stalker, the pioneering Australian Researcher from UQ who passed away in

February 2014. In 2017, Professor Morgan received the AIAA Hypersonic Systems and Technologies Award.

He is only the fourth recipient of the award and the first non-American based researcher to be so honoured.

Professor Morgan was also one of three UQ advisors awarded a 2012 Excellence in Research Higher Degree Supervision award for encouraging student development through international student exchanges with overseas collaborators, whilst engendering internal cooperation within the study body. With the signing of a 5 year collaborative agreement between UQ and DST in November 2018, Prof Morgan’s position is co-funded by DST, and he will focus his work primarily on facility development and strengthening the collaboration between the two groups and their international partners.

Dr Ingo Jahn, Deputy Director

Dr Ingo Jahn’s research interest are in hypersonic flows and vehicle design. Dr Jahn graduated with a Master

in Engineering Science from The University of Oxford in 2003. He completed his PhD at the Oxford

Thermofluids Laboratory (Osney Lab), which was awarded in 2011. From 2007 to 2012 he worked for Rolls-

Royce plc in Derby, United Kingdom, where he led research on Advanced Seals and Oil Systems for large gas

turbine aero-engines. He has been part of the academic staff at UQ since 2012 and took up the role of Deputy

Director in the Centre for Hypersonics in 2018.


Ingo has a wide research record covering hypersonic aerodynamics & control, hypersonic combustion

fundamental, aerospace gas turbines, and turbomachinery and power cycles operating with complex fluids.

His current research foci are fluid structure interactions in hypersonics and efficient aerodynamic control of

hypersonic vehicles. These activities are supported by ARC Discovery Project grants and AFOSR grants in

partnership with collaborators from Europe and America.

Professor Michael Smart

Professor Michael Smart’s research interests are in hypersonic aerodynamics, scramjets and compressible

fluid flow. Professor Smart graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) from UQ in 1985. He completed

a Master of Engineering Science at UQ in 1987, and completed a PhD at the Polytechnic University, Brooklyn,

New York, in 1995. He was appointed as an Associate Professor in the Centre for Hypersonics in 2005 after

spending ten years as a research scientist at NASA’s Langley Research Centre in Virginia.

Michael is the chief investigator on the five-year National and International Research Alliances partnership

collaboration between UQ, the Queensland Government, Boeing, USAF and DST Group to conduct scramjet-

related flight tests as part of the Hypersonic International Flight Research Experimentation (HIFiRE) program.

As head of UQ’s HyShot Group, Professor Smart leads scramjet related research within the Centre for

Hypersonics, with particular emphasis on flight applications.

He is heavily involved in the HIFiRE series of scramjet launches, which are using the T4 shock tunnel for

validation of flight hardware. He received the 2012 International Congress for Aeronautics (ICAS) Von Karman

Award for International Co-operation in Aeronautics.

In 2018, Michael founded the company ‘Hypersonix’ to develop Scramjet assisted access to space launch

systems with the objective of giving Australia a strong commercial foothold in the space industry (see page 7).

Professor David Mee

Professor David Mee’s research interest is in hypersonic and supersonic flow. After completing his PhD at

UQ, he spent five years as a Research Fellow in the turbomachinery group at Oxford University in the UK. He

returned to UQ as an ARC Queen Elizabeth II Research Fellow in 19191 and joined the academic staff in

1993. David became the Head of Division of Mechanical Engineering in 2007 and the Head of School of the

School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering from 2009-2017.

David has a strong research record in the field of hypersonic aerothermodynamics. He is recognised worldwide

for his work on rapid response force balances, which is essential technology for categorising the performance

of scramjet engines in transient facilities such as our shock tubes. He was a member of the team that

conducted the first known wind tunnel test in which a scramjet vehicle produced net thrust. He has pioneered


the use of stress wave force balances for measurement of multiple components of force on scramjet powered

vehicles; these techniques are in use around the world.

Academic and Research Staff

Name Position

Dr Hans Alesi Research Fellow (DST; DLR, Germany from 2018)

Dr Daryl Bond Research Fellow

Dr Aaron Brandis Adjunct Research Fellow (NASA, Ames)

Dr Stefan Brieschenk Adjunct Research Fellow (Rocket Lab, New Zealand)

Professor David Buttsworth Honorary Professor (University of Southern Queensland)

Dr Bianca Capra Honorary Research Fellow (UNSW Canberra/ADFA)

Dr Wilson Chan Adjunct Fellow (DST)

Dr Troy Eichmann Adjunct Fellow (DLR, German Aerospace Agency)

Mr Myles Frost Research Assistant (DST Group, HyShot)

Mr Donald Fry Adjunct Professor (NQEA)

Dr David Gildfind Lecturer (currently on ARC DECRA award)

Dr Rowan Gollan Lecturer

Dr Carloyn Jacobs Honorary Lecturer, University of the Sunshine Coast

Dr Peter Jacobs Associate Professor (Reader)

Dr Ingo Jahn Senior Lecturer

Dr Chris James Research Fellow

Dr Steven Lewis Research fellow (DST)

Dr Michael Macrossan Honorary Research Consultant

Dr Matthew McGilvray Honorary Senior Fellow (Oxford University)

Associate Professor Tim McIntyre Associate Professor, School of Mathematics and Physics (UQ)

Professor David Mee Professor

Dr Neil Mudford Honorary Senior Fellow

Dr Noel Morris Postdoctoral Research Fellow. Deceased 2018.

Professor Richard Morgan Professor

Dr Judith Odam Research Fellow (DST Group, HyShot)

Professor Allan Paull Program Leader (DST Group, HyShot) and UQ Adjunct Professor. Appointed as UQ staff member from 1/1/2019.

Dr Ross Paull Research Fellow (DST Group, HyShot). Deceased 2017.

Dr Hadas Porat Research Officer (DST Group)

Dr Sarah Razzaqi Postdoctoral Research Fellow (DST Group)

Dr Todd Silvester Adjunct Fellow (DST Group, HyShot)

Professor Michael Smart Professor

Dr Phillip Teakle Research Consultant, Teakle Composites, and Adjunct Associate Professor

Dr Sandy Tirtey Adjunct Lecturer (Rocket Lab, New Zealand)

Mr Pierpaulo Toniato Research Officer

Dr Anand Veeraragavan Senior Lecturer

Associate Professor Vince Wheatley Associate Professor

Dr Fabien Zander Adjunct Fellow (University of Southern Queensland)


Technical Staff

Name Specialty

Mr Barry Allsop Electronics

Mr Frans De Beurs X3 expansion tube upgraded driver installation

Mr Neil Duncan X3 shock tunnel facility

Mr Samuel Grieve T4 shock tunnel facility (now with Faculty Workshop Group)

Mr Keith Hitchcock T4 shock tunnel facility


KPI 3 – Education and Engagement

Encourage involvement of Higher Degree by Research Students

See Appendix 2 for a list of current RHD students, and Appendix 3 for a list of 2016-18 publications.

HDR Education

We currently have 27 Higher Degree by Research (HDR) students enrolled in the Centre. A further 2 students

submitted their thesis in 2018. There were also three PhD graduates in 2016, eight in 2017, and seven in 2018,

bringing the number of HDR graduations from the Centre for Hypersonics at UQ to 18 for the period 2016 to 2018.

The total number of HDR graduates from the Centre now stands at 138.

Steven Lewis received the Dean’s award for Outstanding Higher Degree by Research Thesis from the UQ Graduate

School for his 2017 Thesis entitled “Hypervelocity Shock-Layer Emission Spectroscopy with High Temperature

Ablating Models”.

In addition, research students participate in many national and international conferences, and present the results of

their research in person, with further details of these engagements below.

PhD graduates again found employment in respected overseas institutions including the California Institute of

Technology (Caltech), Princeton University, the University of Illinois, Oxford University, Tokai University, and Rocket

Lab (NZ). Rocket Lab is pioneering the development of innovative space propulsion systems, indicating the value

and relevance of the experience they gained at UQ to state of the art in this field.

Other graduates are employed locally with Gilmour Space. Domestically, graduates have become academic staff at RMIT,

USQ, USC and UNSW Canberra. A core group of graduates have taken up positions at DST Brisbane and DST Adelaide,

putting their hypersonics expertise to use to help assure national security. Other graduates took up positions in consulting

engineering firms and in the financial industry.

HDR Engagement

Many HDR students enriched their studies through periods overseas with our collaborators.

Christopher James spent 12 months in 2014/2015 working with École Centrale Paris (ECP) under the Cotutelle program whereby a student undertakes a joint PhD between UQ and a French University, receiving a degree from both institutions. He kept up the collaboration on return to UQ and was awarded his PhD in December 2018.

Tamara Sopek spent time at Stanford University, working with the pioneering Professor Ron Hanson on optical diagnostics.

Sangdi Gu spent one month in the United States of America. Here he presented at The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Science Meeting and conducted research at NASA Ames with our ARC Discovery Project partner investigator.

Sreekanth Raghunath, was supported by a UQ Postgraduate Travel Grant to spend one month at Texas A&M University working

Kyle Damm visited the computational fluid dynamics laboratory at Seoul National University, Korea. The visit duration was 18 months and significantly enhanced the development of the steady-state and adjoint flow solvers with the hypersonics researchers there looking at boundary layer transition in their hypersonic tunnel.

Sholto Forbes-Spyratos, was supported by a UQ Postgraduate Travel Grant to spend 3 months in 2018 at the Institute for Space Systems at the German Aerospace Centre, DLR, to develop new trajectories for their Space Liner.

PhD students Brad Wheatley, Andreas Andrianatos, Steven Lewis and Sandgi Gu visited collaborators at IRS, Stuttgart.

Andreas Andrianatos visited the HIEST facility at JAXA in 2017 for meetings with ARC Discovery Grant partner investigator Dr Hide Tanno.


Undergraduate Education

The UQ Summer/Winter Research Program provides students with an opportunity to gain research experience

working alongside some of the University’s leading academics and researchers. By participating, they are able to

extend their knowledge of an area of interest and develop their analytical, critical thinking, and communication skills.

The Centre typically hosts ten of these students per year.

Oliver Street’s internship was particularly successful; his work on extracting quantitative data from flow visualisations

was a major contribution to a paper presented at the AIAA International Space Planes and Hypersonic Systems and

Technologies Conference in Orlando, Florida, USA and he is now undertaking a PhD within the Centre.

Undergraduate students continued to undertake final year thesis projects with the group. Jonathan Ho has

continued onto a PhD at Stanford. Heather Muir won a John Monash scholarship for study at Cambridge

University and Kieren Wood has also gone on to study at Cambridge University.

Staff Awards and Teaching Grants

Vincent Wheatley was awarded an Australian Award for University Teachers (AAUT) Award for Teaching Excellence in 2017.

Vincent Wheatley was also awarded a UQ Teaching Innovation Grant in 2017 and a UQ Teaching Fellowship in 2018 for the project “Authentic, active and inspired learning – transforming large courses”

Ingo Jahn and Rowan Gollan were awarded a UQ Teaching Innovation Grant in 2018 for the project “Lab in the clouds: using the cloud to deliver customised computing environments – easily deployed for teaching at scale or remotely.

Ingo Jahn, Rowan Golan, and Peter Jacobs also received a “Citation for Teaching and Learning Excellence” for the CFD course that included the use of the UQ compressible CFD codes in 2016 and 2017 saw the introduction of the latest Eilmer4 version of the flow solver.

Massively Open Online Course (MOOC)

EdX is a not-for-profit online education venture founded by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of

Technology (MIT) that is committed to making high-quality educational experiences more widely available. By joining

EdX, The University of Queensland (UQ) has partnered with a consortium of “X-University” institutions including the

University of California Berkley, the University of Texas System, Georgetown University, McGill University, École

Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, University of Toronto, and the Australian National University.

In 2014, the Centre commenced participation in the MOOC program pioneered by MIT, Harvard and Stanford

2Universities by offering a hypersonics course “Hypersonics – from Shock Waves to Scramjets”. It was the first to

be offered in that field. Over 26,000 students from over 120 countries have enrolled in the course (see Table 1).

The online resources developed for the course have also been adapted by Associate Professor Vincent Wheatley

to deliver compressible flow theory to undergraduate engineers at UQ. This allows students to focus on solving

challenging problems from research and industry when on campus. The inclusion of these resources into the

curriculum was a major factor in him winning a 2017 Australian Award for University Teaching.


Table 1 MOOC Enrolments (2014 –2018)

Year Enrolments Male

%

Female

%

Other

%

High

School

%

University

%

Advanced

Degree %

USA

%

India

%

AUS

%

UK

%

2014 8,697 91.0 9.0 30.6 40.2 26.3 22.3 17.7 4.4 4.0

2015 6,661 88.0 12.0 34.6 41.4 21.7 20.6 21.3 3.3 4.4

2016 3,168 87.6 11.4 36.4 40.5 20.5 21.1 17.7 4.8 4.8

2017 3,873 88.0 11.3 0.7 35.5 35.5 22.6 17.9 21.4 3.4 3.6

2018 3,328 88.9 10.8 0.3 34.8 34.8 23.0 20.1 17.6 3.7 4.8

2019* 457 90.6 9.4 36.9 36.9 20.6 15.8 20.5 4.7 4.2

Total 26,184

*as at 20 February 2019

The UQ Hypersonics MOOC, coordinated by Professor David Mee, can be found online5.

5 https://www.edx.org/course/hypersonics-from-shock-waves-to-scramjets


KPI 4: Collaboration

Engagement and Collaboration

As previously noted, the Centre for Hypersonics and QHTF have served as the focal point for numerous funding

grants and collaborative research projects. These research collaborations are outlined under Research Summary

(KPI 5), which follows this section.

The Centre hosted a number of visitors in connection with the HIFiRE, the ARC research programs, and the GO8-

DAAD award which we hold with IRS (Institute of Space Systems) Stuttgart. Following on from the successful Asia

Pacific International Symposium on Aerospace Technology (APISAT) in Cairns in November 2015, UQ hosted a

series of lectures in Aerothermodynamics. The meeting was chaired by Richard Morgan and was attended with

invited speakers from Japan, Germany, China, Korea and Australia.

Associate Professor Vincent Wheatley co-chaired the 2016 International Workshop on the Physics of Compressible

Turbulent Mixing at the University of Sydney. This workshop brought together over 100 international research leaders

in the field, primarily focused on shock induced mixing in applications as varied as inertial confinement fusion and

scramjets.

UQ staff members organised the AIAA International Space Planes and Hypersonic Systems and Technologies

Conference. Dr Vincent Wheatley was on the organizing committee of the 2017 conference in Xiamen, China. Dr

Anand Veeraragavan was on the organising committee of the 2018 conference in Orlando, Florida, USA. He also

gave the Australian country report in Hypersonics at this meeting.

In addition, the Centre sponsored a seminar on 30 November – 1 December 2015. The theme of the seminar was

“aerothermodynamics” and “diagnostics”. The seminar was attended by Centre staff as well as visiting academics

from KAIST (South Korea), JAXA (Japan), IRS (Stuttgart) and Tsinghua University (China). UQ presentations

included seven HDR students presenting their work.

Dr Peter Jacobs spent his Special Studies Program (SSP) in Semester 2, 2016, at École Centrale, Paris and at the

University of Oxford. Dr Anand Veeraragavan spent his 2017 SSP between Stanford and the University of Illinois

Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) focusing on advanced laser based diagnostic techniques for high speed flows. This has

also initiated collaboration with these two world-leading groups.

Associate Professor Wheatley was also on the organising committee of the 1st International Conference on High-

Speed Vehicle Science and Technology, which was held in Moscow, Russia in 2018.

Staff also travelled overseas to present Australian Research progress in the area of hypersonic flows with visits to

the Whittle Laboratory (University of Cambridge) and Osney Laboratory (University of Oxford) in 2016, 2017, and

2018. The focus of these visits was to strengthen out collaborative ties with the UK.

Two Hypersonics Symposia, supported by the French Embassy and Airbus, were held in 2016 jointly with

Centrale Supelec, Paris, one in Brisbane and other in Paris, co-chaired by Professor Morgan and Professor

Christophe Laux from Centrale. This coincided with the signing of a collaborative agreement between UQ and

Centrale Supelec, arising primarily form the close collaboration between our groups in Hypersonics since 2005.

In March 2017 we hosted a small workshop for visitors from the Temasek Centre at the National University of

Singapore (NUS), whose delegation included the following:

Professor KHOO Boo Cheong Associate Professor TEO Chiang Juay Dr CUI Yongdong Dr LI Jiun-Ming Dr NGUYEN Van Bo Dr NADESAN Thirukumaran Ms NG Keng Bee Mr WEI Han


This was a very productive exchange, which subsequently led to a $600 He alsok collaborative research

program with NUS, which is ongoing.

Visiting Academics

A number of visiting academics were invited to the Centre during the period 2016-2018. These included:

Dr Corin Segal: University of Florida, USA (2015)

Professor Dale Pullin: California Institute of Technology, USA (2015)

Associate Professor Matt McGilvray, University of Oxford (2016, 2017, 2018)

Dr Gaiji Yamada, University of Tokai, Japan (2017)

Dr Matthew Smith: National Cheng Kung University of Technology, Taiwan (2017)

Mr Luke Doherty: University of Oxford, UK (2017)

Dr Thirukumaran Nadesan: National University of Singapore (2018)

Dr Han Wei, NUS (2018)

Dr Yongdong Cui: National University of Singapore (2018)

Professor Klaus Hannemann: DLR, Germany (2018)

Visiting Research Students

Several Visiting Research Students (formerly called Occupational Trainees) were invited to work in the Centre

during 2016-2018 (Table 2). These students are typically HDR or coursework masters students from other

countries who are required to do an internship overseas as part of the degree requirements from their home

institution. The students generally are enrolled in European countries and attend a university with which the

Centre collaborates. Table 3 lists research topics undertaken by Visiting Research Students.

Table 2. Visiting Research Students (2016 – 2018)

Year Country Number

2016 United Kingdom 1

2016 France 2

2016 Netherlands 1

2016 Scotland 1


2017 Australia/NZ 1

2017 France 1

2017 Netherlands 1

2007 USA 1


2018 Singapore 2

2018 Netherlands 1

2018 USA 3

2018 France 1


Table 3. Visiting Research Student Research Projects (2016-2018)

Non-equilibrium recombination processes in high enthalpy flows

Calculation of rocket performance during hypersonic flight

Computational fluid mechanics of combustion

Assess advanced propulsion systems for surface to orbit aerospace vehicles

High response diamond based heat transfer gauge development

Computational fluid mechanics for compressible flows

Measuring transition in hypersonic flows in T4

Design of a hypersonic flight experiment test bed

Simulation of roughness-induced boundary layer transition

Expansion tube studies of high temperature gases

Development of non-intrusive approach to measure regression rate inside hybrid rocket engines.

Feasibility of non-integer system identification for heat transfer measurements in shock tubes


KPI 5 – Research and Development Excellence

Research Summary

The Research Summary includes work done at UQ and by our collaborators at the University of Southern

Queensland (USQ).

University of Southern Queensland

Research at USQ (2016-2018) centred on combustion, hot surfaces, fluid-structure interaction, and hypersonic

control. References are to publications in listed in Appendix 4.

Combustion

Axisymmetric cavity combustion at Mach 2 flight enthalpy conditions has been demonstrated using an annular

cavity with slot injection of hydrogen [16, 18, 27]. Diagnostic tools for fuels and combustion measurements in

the TUSQ facility have also been developed [1, 5], and further activity in this area is continuing. We are seeking

to develop a new condition for the TUSQ facility where we can duplicate flight enthalpy at Mach 4 in order to

test a rotating detonation wave engine combustor coupled to a realistic inlet and thrust nozzle [6]. Rotating

detonation wave engines is the focus of an ARC-DECRA application being planned by a new member of USQ

staff, Dr Fabian Zander (appointed to USQ in 2018) in 2019.

Hot surfaces

Methods for prescribing non-uniform temperature distributions on hot surfaces has been investigated [19], and

a new method for heating axisymmetric disk-like heat shield models has been developed based on TIG welding

principles. Publication of this technique is anticipated in 2019.

Free Flight Experiments

Free-flying experiments on models of the HEXAFLY-INT hypersonic glider and its separation from the service

module have resulted in several publications [10, 11, 22, 28, 31]. Subsequent work was performed for DST on

the HIFiRE-4 for aerodynamic coefficient database verification and on the HIFiRE-8 configuration, looking

particularly at the question of booster separation and whether active mechanical separation devices would be

required or whether passive separation associated with the aerodynamic drag differential would be sufficient.

Fluid-structure interaction

The pioneering work in the TUSQ facility has received substantial international recognition and activity in this

area is now being supported through ARC-Discovery funding for “Fluid-Structural Interactions in High-Speed

Flows”, and the AFOSR funding for “Characterisation and control of a flap undergoing hypersonic fluid-

structure interaction”, both in collaboration with UNSW. Publications arising from this area are [13, 21, 30],

with further manuscripts currently being prepared for journal publication.

Hypersonic control

The pivoted wing-with-elevator experiment which was initiated through fundamental fluid-structure interaction

work [3] has seen publication at various forums [12, 15, 23], and has been used as the focus of further

development of moving-mesh capabilities in Eilmer [9]. A pivoted wing with a hinged elevator was tested in TUSQ

as a hypersonic control capability demonstration. The wing was pivoted at the ¼ chord location and the elevator

occupied approximately 15 % of the chord length of the wing. The wind was 3D printed with an internal cavity that

allowed a gyro plus level shifting electronics, and servos for the elevator to be installed. A simple feedback control

arrangement was implemented and successfully demonstrated that it was possible to either damp out or amplify

the wing oscillations, depending on the phasing of the actuation of the elevator relative to the gyro signal. We

anticipate hypersonic aerodynamic control work forming an important part of the TUSQ portfolio in the near future.


Support for other research areas

The vacuum chambers of the TUSQ facility have been used in other research relating to ejectors, and several

publications [2, 4, 7, 8, 17, 24, 26] have arisen by virtue of this equipment.

Energy Deposition

An axisymmetric model with forward and aft electrodes sandwiching a cylindrical graphite sample has been

developed for experiments on heat shield ablation and chemistry in the hypersonic flow produced by TUSQ.

Experiments using a slightly modified version of this model have also been performed to investigate the possibility

of hydrogen combustion against hot carbon surfaces in hypersonic flows.

Free Flight Experiments

Internally-funded, free-flying experiments on a model of the HEXAFLY-INT hypersonic glider were performed at

USQ in collaboration with colleagues from UNSW Canberra. USQ, The University of New South Wales (UNSW)

and The University of Sydney formed the Australian arm of the EU-funded consortium working towards flight testing

of the glider configuration in 2018. 3D printed models were assembled with an instrumentation package consisting

of a 6-axis gyro board, microcontroller, battery and blue tooth for data download. Models were lead-ballasted to

achieve the correct centre of mass. Measurements of moment coefficients were achieved and future work with

additional instrumentation including pressure sensitive paints,

IR surface temperature detection, and two axis Schlieren visualisation are planned for 2016. Following the

success of the free flight work with the HEXAFLY-INT configuration, a program of free flight experiments

sponsored by the DST Group on the HIFiRE-4 glider configuration was completed in 2016, with further testes on

HIFiRE8 completed in 2017.

Fluid-structure interaction

High quality experimental data on hypersonic fluid-structure interactions does not currently exist but is necessary

for validation of both CFD models and reduced-order modelling of hypersonic fluid-structure interactions.

Recent work in the TUSQ facility is targeting the development of such data. Experiments on a cantilevered plate in

the Mach 6 hypersonic flow were performed in collaboration with colleagues from UNSW. The cantilevered plated

was instrumented with pressure transducers and pressure sensitive paint was also used. Schlieren flow visualisation

was also used to identify flow structures and the dynamics of the plate deformation. Experiments were also

performed on a wing structure in collaboration with colleagues from UQ. The wing was free to oscillate about its ¼

chord location, and was initially set at 15 degrees prior to flow onset. The step-like flow establishment process

initiated periodic wing oscillations about the zero angle of attack and analysis of Schlieren images revealed

hysteresis in flow structures that developed.

University of Queensland

CFD development

For the compressible-flow CFD project at The University of Queensland, the end of 2016 brought the release of the

core of the Eilmer4 flow simulation code and its associated documentation. Eilmer4 can be used for the simulation

of transient and steady two- and three-dimensional flows which have complex high-temperature thermochemistry.

Presently, other capabilities include conjugate heat transfer with solid structures and shared-memory parallel

execution on multi-core computers. Applications of the code include the design and analysis of hypersonic-flow

pulse facilities for the testing of subscale aerothermodynamic models and scramjet compression inlet analysis. The

source code for Eilmer4 is available from a public repository on BitBucket.6

Further developments in 2017 and 2018 have focussed on the creation of a steady-state solver and the adjoint

solver for design optimisation studies. On more fundamental flow physics, we have further developed high-

6 https://bitbucket.org/cfcfd/dgd/


temperature thermochemical models in the flow simulations codes, such as a two-temperature model for ionising

argon. Recently, in collaboration with Paris-Saclay University, we have introduced advanced state-specific models

to the flow solver.

In 2018, Lockheed Martin's StellarLab sponsored the development of a boundary condition to model electron

emission from thermionic material surfaces. This sponsorship supported Will Landsberg to work on the

implementation and testing. The modelling work is now included in Eilmer4 and this work was a foundation towards

submitting an ARC Linkage Project application in December 2018.

Hypersonic International Flight Research Experimentation (HIFiRE)

The Hypersonic International Flight Research Experimentation (HIFiRE) program continued its investigation of

the fundamental science of hypersonics technology and its potential for next generation aeronautical systems

and will involve up to ten flights.

HIFiRE is jointly established by DST Group and the US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL). The HIFiRE 7

scramjet was launched from Andoya, Norway on 31 March 2015. It was boosted successfully to a Mach 7 re-

entry. The HIFiRE 7 payload entered the atmosphere at the correct orientation and the scramjet engine started.

However, telemetry was lost on the vehicle at an altitude of 63 km, which was before fuel was turned on. The

telemetry failure was traced to overheating of electronics in the telemetry power system

Trajectory Optimisation

The research student, Sholto Forbes-Spyratos, supervised by Dr Ingo Jahn, Dr Michael Kearney and Prof

Michael Smart has been applying advanced methods taken from the area of control to optimised vehicle

trajectories for a rocket-scramjet-rocket system. By using pseudo-spectral methods, Sholto has been able to

establish improved trajectories that better integrate the different vehicle stages yielding up to 10% increase in

payload to orbit and reducing dynamic pressure seen by the third stage by more than 30%, without changing

the vehicle design. These are significant improvements further increasing the viability of scramjet based access

to space systems.

Computational modelling

Computational modelling of the performance enhancements of porous injection over porthole injection in a 2D

radical farming scramjet was completed. This modelling assumed that the porous walls are a uniform

substance with permeability described by a semi-empirical relation that includes experimental data (provided

by partner DLR of their supplied Ceramic Matrix Composite porous ceramic injectors). Results from this and

combustion efficiency are increased with porous injection. Further, they show that for the same engine and

operating condition, the combustion chamber could be reduced by 25% and achieve the same combustion

efficiency when porous injection is used. Preliminary 2D computational studies were performed on the

interaction that separated ordered channel structures (i.e. idealized individual pores) would have on a

hypersonic cross flow. Estimates of the porous percentage and associated mass flow were conducted with

electron microscopy. Due to the irregular nature of the porous material an off-parameter sensitivity study was

performed to examine the influence of the material’s composite composition on the resultant integrated mass

flow through the material. Three-dimensional CFD modelling of the experimental configuration for the

fundamental T4 experiments was completed. This was used to identify the quality of the flow on the test surface

for the experiments and assisted in the design of the experimental model for the test campaign 2.

Experimental campaign

The first experimental campaign was conducted in the T4 Stalker Tube to determine the performance of a

scramjet engine with oxygen enriched porous fuel injection. This was a first. A significant effort was focused

on analysing these results, which show, through pressure measurements, that thrust and specific impulse

increased with oxygen enrichment. Results from this study were presented in the Journal of Fluid Mechanics.


The T4 test section was modified to allow for optical diagnostics (PLIF) measurements and model mounting

from the bottom of the test section. Appropriate tunnel test conditions were established to ensure information

on the porous injectant gas temperature and pressure could be captured with the PLIF system. This was

scheduled to be done at ambient conditions and in a hypersonic cross flow. Design of the test model, including

integration with the porous sample from DLR, and appropriate implementation of boundary layer trips for

turbulent flow studies, was completed. DLR supplied four porous samples for the test campaigns.

The first test campaign required the design and manufacture of a new wind tunnel model (a heavily

instrumented flat plate with porous injection and interchangeable leading edges. The system of mounting the

model from the floor of the test section worked well. The testing involved injecting hydrogen (the fuel) through

one of the porous injectors supplied by the PI from DLR Stuttgart. The schlieren flow visualisation of the

injection indicated that there may have been some discreet jets within the porous injection. It was decided not

to push further with the testing program until that issue was resolved. This test campaign was useful in

identifying the issues that would need to be solved before test campaign 2.

An analysis of the wind-tunnel results from test campaign 1 also indicated that the quality of the flow over the

plate was poorer than required due to the blockage to the flow under the test plate. A major re-design of the

test plate was undertaken and thermocouple heat transfer gauges were replaced with higher-sensitivity nickel

thin-film heat transfer gauges. In order to ensure a successful outcome of the project, the mounting of the

porous injector was altered. Also, two additional porous inserts were designed and manufactured in case the

non-uniformities in the porous injector identified in the first tests precluded an appropriate injection being

achieved. One porous injected consisted of a dense array of 0.5 mm diameter holes that would serve as a

quantifiable porous injector. Test campaign 2 was completed and much improved flow quality and results were

obtained. An extensive set of flow conditions and fuel injection rates was completed. Schlieren photography

proved very useful. The last step was the PLIF flow visualisation. Unfortunately, the laser for the visualisation

failed just as testing with it was about to commence and the test campaign had to be ceased without the PLIF

visualisation. It was concluded that sufficient data had been obtained with the other instrumentation to enable

the major objectives of the project to be achieved.

Overall, the project achieved results that demonstrate that porous injection is a promising method of fuelling

scramjets.

Fuel Jet - Vortex interactions:

The research project investigation the interactions between injected fuel jets and streetwise vortices naturally

occurring in scramjet engines, especially shape transitioning engines such as the REST engine is nearing

completion. The PhD student Juan R. Llobet, supervised by Dr Ingo Jahn and Dr Rowan Gollan, has spent the

last three years conducting numerical simulations to better characterise the vortical flow structures that are

present in scramjet engines such as 2-D multi ramp engines and shape transitioning engines (e.g. REST

engine) and how this vortex can be utilised to enhance fuel mixing. As our scramjet engines are typically mixing

limited any improvements in fuel mixing can be translated into an increase in combustion efficiency. The

research has shown that by optimised placement of the injector, approximately half way between the

separation line and the core of the vortex formed by the boundary layer roll up, mixing improvements of up to

300% can be seen close to the injector. This rapid increase in mixing, can be utilised to reduce the overall

length of scramjet combustor, leading to improved performance. At the same time this project has also

investigated the effects on wall heat transfer of this combined fuel injection-vortex flow field. This research

project will be completed with an experimental campaign in the T4 shock tunnel to validate the findings. This

campaign has just commenced.


Progress Reports on Grants and Fellowships

ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Awards (DECRA)

Three members of the Centre held ARC DECRA projects during the reference period: Vincent Wheatley,

Rowan Gollan, and David Gildfind.

Dr Vincent Wheatley. “The General Richtmyer-Meshkov Instability in Magnetohydrodynamics (2012-2015). (DE1201202942)

This project was to examine and understand the effects of magnetic fields of arbitrary orientation and strength

on the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability (RMI) in magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), along with non-ideal effects.

This instability is detrimental to inertial confinement fusion (ICF), thus its magnetic suppression is desirable.

An analytical model was developed for the transverse field MHD RMI, where the initial magnetic field is parallel

to the mean interface location. Its prediction of purely oscillatory interface behaviour was verified by comparing

to the results of non-linear compressible simulations. These simulations revealed the suppression mechanism

for the instability to be the transport of vorticity on finite amplitude Alfvén wave that travel parallel and to the

magnetic field, never leaving the vicinity of the interface. The interface oscillates as these waves periodically

reconstruct with alternating phase as they propagate, whereas an earlier paper attributed this solely to field

line tension.

A more complex analytical model for the MHD RMI was then developed for the case where the initial magnetic

field can have arbitrary orientation. Again the interface behaviour is dominated by vorticity transport on MHD

waves parallel and anti-parallel to the magnetic field. The interface-parallel transport of vorticity, due to the

tangential field, continuously alters the phase of the induced velocities with respect to the interface, causing

the growth rate to oscillate. Simultaneously, the induced velocities at the interface, and hence the growth rate,

decay as vorticity is transported normally due to the normal component of the magnetic field. A simple

expression was obtained for the asymptotic interface perturbation amplitude at large times. The model has

been successfully applied to predict the local interface behaviour in nonlinear simulations of plasma

implosions.

With RA Pavaman Bilgi, a solver for the MHD shock refraction problem was automated and generalized. This

was used to map out solutions over a wide parameter space. The limit of regular refraction was identified and

irregular refraction solutions were numerically generated. Together with RA James Barth, irregular MHD shock

refraction has been simulated over a broad range of parameters. The structure is more complex than originally

understood, and sensitive to problem parameters. Critically, the shock refraction process always leaves the

density interface vorticity free, which is the underlying mechanism for the suppression of the RMI.

With RA Daryl Bond, we have begun to examine the RMI in the far more general context of two-fluid MHD,

where electrons and ions are simulated separately. We have established that for reasonable plasma

parameters, vorticity is still effectively transported in the two-fluid system, but a wide range of new phenomena

occur that have implications for the growth of perturbations.

The role of the RMI in another context, mixing and combustion enhancement in scramjets, was also

investigated and published. Large-Eddy Simulations (LES) of axisymmetric and planar inlet-injected scramjets

demonstrated that inlet injection allows the interaction of turbulent fuel plumes with primary compression

shocks at the combustor entrance, triggering the RMI, which has a transformational effect on the mixing

process. The mixing rate is more than doubled due to this. We also demonstrated this effect in a complex 3D

scramjets. Also in scramjets, the mixing and combustion initiated by a laser induced plasma were investigated

using LES and published. It was determined that the blast wave driven by the laser induced plasma was

primarily responsible for ignition and drove substantial localised mixing due to the RMI.

In collaboration with RA Xin Kang, a study was conducted on the effect of viscosity and resistivity on the MHD

RMI with a normal magnetic field. The main result is that increased viscosity suppressed the instability and

slightly decreases the critical magnetic field strength required to prevent it from entering its non-linear phase,


while finite resistivity reduces the effectiveness of the suppression mechanism. Since resistivity allows field

lines to slip across the flow, discontinuous waves do not immediately form to transport the vorticity from the

interface. While the vorticity does not immediately depart the interface when the resistivity is finite, it does

disuse away slowly so that the instability is still inhibited, but to a lesser extent. For these non-ideal effects to

be significant, the viscosity and resistivity had to be large.

Overall, the project findings indicate that the concept of magnetically suppressing instabilities detrimental to

ICF has merit, and is unlikely to be disrupted by dissipative effects. Two-fluid plasma effects were identified as

a key area for further investigation.

We have developed a preliminary simulation capability for two fluid plasmas. The formulation, verification and

application of this capability to conduct an initial investigation of the two-fluid plasma Kelvin-Helmholtz instability was

presented at the AFMC [2]. The capability was developed to enable the effects of charge separation, plasma

oscillations, differential electron motion etc. on the RMI to be investigated. Preliminary simulations reveal that the two-

fluid plasma RMI differs substantially from the hydrodynamic case. The Riemann problem used to initialise the flow

drives a precursor electron shock that creates substantial charge separation. The fields generated by charge

separation and motion electromagnetically accelerate the electron and ion density interfaces. This drives variable

acceleration RTI of the interfaces, which generate fine scale structures and increase the growth of low-mode

interface perturbations. These effects are reduced for a smaller Debye length plasma. Self-generated magnetic

fields are observed and the transmitted ion shock is distorted by the complex interactions with electron vortices.

These results have been submitted for publication as a JFM Rapid.

[1] V.Wheatley, W.M Mostert, D.M. Bond and R. Samtaney. Local field effects on magnetic suppression of

the converging Richtmyer-Meshkov instability. 20th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, Perth,

Australia. 5-8 December 2016.

[2] D.M. Bond, V. Wheatley and R. Samtaney. Plasma flow simulation using the two-fluid model. 20th

Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, Perth, Australia. 5-8 December 2016.

Dr Rowan Gollan. “Development of a computer-based optimisation to improve hypersonic aerodynamic design”. (2014-2017) (DE140101546)

Development of computer-based optimisation to improve hypersonic aerodynamic design

Next-generation launch vehicles using high-speed jet engines will make it cheaper and more reliable for

humankind to engage in activities in space. This project will contribute to the technology of high-speed jet

engines by developing optimised air intake systems. The research aims to advance the use of computational

engineering and apply this to improve the design of air intake systems. Specifically, the project has focussed

on development and application of adjoint-based optimisation in high-speed flow regimes.

The funded portion of the project on using computer-based optimisation for the design of hypersonic inlets

ended in December 2016. During the initial stages of the project, it became clear that the flow solver

infrastructure would need to be upgraded significantly in order to undertake the flow optimisation work. A new

flow solver was implemented in the D programming language, Eilmer4. The use of the D programming

language is a novel approach to building large-scale high-performance simulation codes. This novel approach

was communicated to the research community at the Australian Conference on Computational Mechanics.

This work appears as an archival journal paper in a special issue of the Applied Mechanics and Materials in

Australia [1]. This was an unexpected development in the project plan. The newly implemented flow solver

infrastructure allowed for other modelling developments that were not originally planned. Chief amongst these

was the development of a conjugate wall model. This will give a more realistic boundary condition for scramjet

inlet studies than what was originally proposed in the project. The work on implementing and verifying the

conjugate wall model was reported in the Journal of Computational Physics [2].

In late 2015, Kyle Damm joined as a PhD student on this project. His thesis work is nearing completion and

we expect an April 2019 submission. Kyle's PhD work extends the scope and capability of the adjoint-based

optimiser to both internal and external hypersonic flows. We have successfully applied the optimiser to a


hypersonic inlet test case, and will look at optimised external vehicle aerodynamics in the final phase of the

project. The results of the optimised hypersonic inlet test case were presented at the 2018 conference of the

Korean Society for Computational Fluids Engineering.

[1] Jacobs, P.A. and Gollan, R.J. (2016) Implementation of a Compressible-Flow Simulation Code in the D

Programming Language, Applied Mechanics and Materials, 846: pp. 54--60

[2] Veeraragavan, A., Beri, J. and Gollan R.J. (2016). Use of the Method of Manufactured Solutions for the

Verification of Conjugate Heat Transfer Solvers. Journal of Computational Physics, 307: pp. 308--320

Dr David Gildfind.”Magnetohydrodynamic aerobreaking to enable landing of heavy payloads on Mars” (2017-2020) (DE170100263)

In the thin atmosphere of Mars, aerodynamic drag alone is not enough to land a spacecraft larger than 1 tonne.

A human mission to Mars requires landing of payloads up to 80 tonne. The aim of this project is to

experimentally explore how to increase vehicle deceleration by applying a magnetic field to the hot ionized

gases which form around the vehicle. Interaction of the magnetic field with the ionized flow provides a path for

dissipating kinetic energy and can reduce surface heating. The significance of this project is its potential to

make Mars-return missions feasible by enabling greatly increased payloads. The project aims to deliver the

first-ever evaluation of magnetohydrodynamic braking and heat mitigation at true flight conditions.

David’s 2015 UQ Early Career Researcher (ECR) award was used to fund the design and manufacture of a

series of proof-of-concept shock visualisation and force measurement experiments. Performance analysis of

UQ’s X2 facility was undertaken to identify optimum operating points for magnetohydrodynamic (MHD)

experimentation using various test gases. Argon was selected as the test gas for initial experiments, since it

readily ionises, and has relatively simple chemistry which will assist with initial attempts to analyse and model

initial experiments. Test gas can be changed to Mars of Earth atmosphere once experimental and numerical

techniques are sufficiently developed.

In 2016 and 2017 three experimental campaigns were undertaken. These experiments were based on

spherical permanent magnets in 6km/s argon test flows, and involved high speed imaging, Schlieren, and

spectroscopy. Three features were evident from these experiments: the shock standoff was increased,

radiative intensity was also significantly increased, and that electrically insulating the model surface was

required for sustained shock-stand off increase. These initial experiments validated the methodology

employed, and demonstrate strong MHD interaction for a planetary entry flowfield with electrodynamically

correct boundary conditions.

One finding from these initial experiments was that shot-to-shot variation was large for the insulated models.

This was attributed to the surface coating choice, and in 2018 new coatings were investigated to improve

consistency. A new model configuration was developed to reduce the chance of current leakage from the

plasma to the support, and a new technique was developed to test for current leakage through the model

coating itself. Several coatings were tested, and it was found that the ceramic coating used in the previous

experiments failed the leakage test. A new high temperature thermally conductive epoxy was the only coating

that passed the current leakage test, and will be used in experiments in March 2019 to evaluate if consistency

is now improved. Preliminary findings of this work were presented at the AIAA Flow Control Conference in

Atlanta, in 2018:

Gildfind, David E., Smith, Daniel, Lewis, Steven W., Kelly, Rory, James, Christopher M., Wei, Han and

McIntyre, Timothy (2018). Expansion Tube Magnetohydrodynamic Experiments with Argon Test Gas. 2018

Flow Control Conference, Atlanta, Georgia, 25-29 June 2018. Reston, Virginia: American Institute of

Aeronautics and Astronautics.https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2018-3754

A new PhD student, Daniel Smith, was recruited in 2017 to perform the drag force experiments. He has

evaluated accelerometer and stress-wave force balance (SWFB) measurement techniques. In 2018, he

measured MHD drag force for a planetary entry flowfield for the first time, using the accelerometer based

model. However, he has encountered significant challenges with SWFB making measurements in the


electrically conducting plasma flow field. Significant effort has been required to overcome these issues, and

progress is being made. He presented his work at the AIAA Flow Control Conference in Atlanta, in 2018:

Smith, D., Gildfind, D., James, C., McIntyre, T. & Wheatley, V. (2018). Magnetohydrodynamic drag force

measurements in an expansion tube. In 2018 Flow Control Conference. 9th AIAA Flow Control Conference,

2018, [state] GA, [city] Atlanta. June 25, 2018-June 29, 2018.

New operating conditions were developed. A significant part of the study has involved developing wind tunnel

test conditions using argon test gas which produce the required shock layer properties and electrodynamic

boundary conditions. In addition to this, significant computation fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis was performed

to better understand the ionised flow field around the models. This work has been submitted to the AIAA

Journal in February 2019:

Gildfind, D., Smith, D., Jacobs, P., and McIntyre, T. (2018). Expansion Tube Test Flow Design for

Magnetohydrodynamic Aerobraking. Under Review, AIAA Journal.

A second PhD students was recruited to this project in October 2018, Mr Alexis LeFevre. He is investigating

heat transfer mitigation for Earth re-entry, and developing MHD capability in the Centre’s CFD code collection.

We have had three conference papers accepted to present this work to the International Symposium on Shock

Waves in Singapore in July 2019.

ARC Discovery Projects (DP)

Professor Richard Morgan: Ablative thermal protection systems (2012-2014) (DP120102663)

The project investigated ablative re-entry heat shields by experiments simulating hypervelocity atmospheric

flight. The results will enable the design of the advanced spacecraft which are needed to extend man’s

exploration of the universe.

Follow on work continued on the project in 2016-18, although the ARC funding ended in 2014. It was a very

productive period, with seven journal and 11 conference papers accepted. Ten UQ and overseas PhD students

did experiments relating to the grant in the UQ facilities. Collaboration between the partner institutions was

strong, with eight student exchanges and two Chief Investigator (CI) visits taking place between the partners

in 2015, with related experiments being performed in four of the collaborating laboratories (UQ, USQ, IRS and

ECP). A UQ PhD student completed a Cotutelle exchange at ECP, on gas giant radiation, extending the

capability of the ECP Plasma Torch and modelling software to include gas giant atmospheres. Three of our

recent postdoctoral fellows are now employed at respected institutions in Europe, including IRS Stuttgart,

EPFL Lausanne and DLR Goetingen. Dr Fabian Zander worked on the grant as a student at UQ and spent

time as a postdoctoral research fellow at IRS Stuttgart, further strengthening our ties, and nine staff and student

exchanges occurred in 2015. Ms Elise Fahy from UQ spent a year of her PhD at Ecolé Polytecnique Fédérale

de Lausanne (EPFL) working on related aspects of both the ESA and ARC grants; she was instrumental in

integrating the numerical modelling techniques used by all the partners. IRS and ECP also developed new

instrumentation for heat transfer measurements in the ECP plasma torch.

Professor Richard Morgan, Associate Professor Tim McIntyre, Professor David Buttsworth et al Radiation and Ablation in Rapidly Expanding Flows (2015-2018) (DP150100631)

This was a busy and productive grant. Six PhD students have completed with experimental work based on the

grant, and follow on work is ongoing. Collaborative activity has been strong, with P Jacobs spending an SSP

at ECP with C Laux, and Morgan and McIntyre having shorter visits. An ECP student spent 3 months at UQ

working on the facilities, and another is doing a year of his Cotutelle with the group. Christopher James

completed his Cotutelle secondment at ECP and is now back in the UQ laboratory working on the project and

completed his PhD with joint supervision from UQ and ECP. Sangdi Gu spent a month at NASA Ames working

on the grant with PI Brandis after presenting the results of his work at Scitec 2017. Two follow on

AOARD/AFOSR grants have been awarded after strong interest in the project was shown from the Air Force


Institute of Technology (AFIT) who have been our collaborators on previous ARC grants, and experiments

have been performed by their students on related work in the UQ labs. Subsequent to the acquisition of new

hardware from an ARC LIEF grant in 2016, new experiments have been completed and published extending

our spectrometry capacity into the mid-infrared spectrum, which is extremely useful for interrogating Mars entry

leeward flows, which is of great current interest to NASA. Analysis of these results was the focus of Gu’s visit

to AMES in January 2017. Subsequent to interest in the project being shown by Airbus Defence and Space,

two Hypersonics workshops were held at UQ and ECP (now a part of the larger Paris-Saclay University unit),

cosponsored by UQ, ECP the French Embassy in Canberra and Airbus. These were extremely lively and

productive meetings, and a proposal to establish a CNRS sponsored ‘Laboratoire International Associee’ (LIA)

was initiated based on the common research interests revealed amongst the French and Australian research

groups involved. Extensive experiments were performed in the UQ expansion tubes using air and carbon

dioxide gases, and the validity of the testing methodology proposed in the grant has been validated. A follow

on Discovery grant application has been submitted involving most of the investigators to implement the latest

developments in thermo-chemical and radiation modelling into a robust CFD code which can simulate

engineering flight geometries. The validity of the code and the associated theoretical modelling will be

established through a series of benchmark experiments in the UQ Facilities. Seven Journal papers were

accepted in 2016, and four more are currently under review. Four conference/workshop papers were

presented, and three more have been accepted for forthcoming meetings. Subsequent to discussions with

National University of Singapore (NUS) researchers at the ISSW meeting in Tel Aviv, July 2015, we identified

common interests in hypersonics, and a Singapore funded grant has been awarded for a collaborative research

program which includes further work in the area of this current DP grant. One of our recent PhD graduates has

now been recruited by NUS to work exclusively on this new grant, which we take as a strong endorsement of

the methodology and value of our Discovery program. R Morgan was awarded the AIAA 2017 Hypersonic

Systems and Technologies award presented at Hypersonics 2017 in Xiamen in March 2017 This award is

based primarily on the outputs of this and other ARC grants by the whole team, and is more encouraging

feedback of the value of the grant. Nine journal and six conference papers were presented on the work.

Associate Professor Vince Wheatley, Professor David Mee, et al Acoustic loads on hypersonic engines (2017-2019) (DP170101105)

The aims of this project are to:

Theoretically explore how flow disturbances generate acoustic waves in scramjet engines

Experimentally investigate acoustic wave production in supersonic flows at low-frequencies

Experimentally measure acoustic loads in a scramjet engine under realistic hypersonic flight and fuel injection conditions

Refine and validate an LES approach for scramjet aeroacoustics

Good progress has been made against these aims thus far in the project.

The University of Queensland has recruited three PhD students (with external scholarships) to the project and

a wide variety of research is in progress. Eric Chang’s PhD thesis is initially investigating hypersonic laminar

and turbulent shock boundary layer interaction with heated walls in the T4 Stalker Tube. They represent an

excellent opportunity to gather data on sound generation in this canonical hypersonic flow, and to examine

how/if this is affected by the wall temperature. To enable this, Eric will utilize the focused laser differential

interferometry (FLDI) system funded under this project, and its first application will be to his experiments. These

experiments will occur in early 2019.

Ramandeep Kaur is the second PhD student who has been carrying out and analysing Large-Eddy Simulations

(LES) of the experiments involved in this project, including Eric’s, the full scramjet flow-path and the

experiments conducted at UNSW. From these simulations (validated by the experiments) we hope to gain a

complete understanding of the dominant sound generation mechanisms and sources of unsteady structural

loading.


Ian Cartmill has also conducted Direct Numerical Simulation of a hypersonic reacting mixing layer, which is a

fundamental element of scramjet flows. From this it was determined that sound is strongly preferentially radiate

into the air layer, and that heat release results in reduced sound generation due to the growth of the mixing

layer being inhibited. These results have been accepted for publication at the Australasian Fluid Mechanics

Conference. The scramjet flowpath for the primary UQ experiments has been designed and built by an existing

PhD student, Augusto Moura, and tested in the T4 Stalker Tube. This initial campaign concluded in February

2018 provides surface measurements, OH PLIF visualization of the combustion process and high speed

schlieren imagery. These will help give us a detailed understanding of the flow structure which will greatly aid

in understanding the acoustic signals measured in subsequent campaigns. The third PhD student recruited to

the project, Ramprakash Ananthapadmanaban, will undertake the experimental PhD topic on scramjet

acoustic loading specified in the application. He will setup utilize the focussed schlieren and FLDI system to

image and quantitatively measure acoustic disturbances in the scramjet flowpath.

In 2018, a series of fundamental experiments were performed at UNSW Sydney to compare with theory and

to explain acoustic wave production at low frequencies. These data will be used as validation data for

numerical codes and form the basis for a series of publications.

Professor Richard Morgan, Dr David Gildfind, Professor David Mee, Dr Rowan Gollan, et al. Turbulent heat transfer during Mars, Venus and Earth atmospheric entry (2017-2019) (DP171003191)

Instrumentation purchased under LE160100194 (see below) has been set up for infrared thermography and

measuring surface heat transfer contours through the shock layer, using a filtering technique demonstrated by

the group in single channel mode in 2015. Two PhD students have started on the project, and have developed

sample flow conditions at very high Reynolds numbers in the X2 superorbital expansion tube which are suitable

for the turbulent shock layer conditions required for the study. Partner investigator, Matthew McGilvray from

Oxford University, has developed prototype diamond based heat transfer gauges which have the potential to

give high speed and reliable heat transfer measurements in the very erosive environment of a heat shield.

Prototype gauges were successfully tested in UQ’s X2 facility in 2016, using a 2D model geometry representing

the centreline of the ESA IXL capsule, and compared with the outputs of adjacent thermocouple gauges. The

results were published at the AIAA ground testing conference.

Two Oxford researchers (one postdoctoral fellow and one DPhil student) visited UQ testing improved models

in the X2 facility in 2017. These gauges when used in parallel with the (lower speed, but improved spatial

resolution) 2D infrared pyrometry will be very useful for quantifying the levels of turbulent heat transfer in re-

entry shock layers that have not been reproduced in the laboratory before. Two new postdoctoral fellows spent

a fraction of their time working on the project and assisting the HDR students. CI David Mee visited Matthew

McGilvray at the Oxford University Engineering Laboratory, and Matthew McGilvray made short visits to UQ

in December 2017 and also in 2018. CI Morgan visited OUEL twice in 2018 as part of his sabbatical in Europe,

and the collaboration was very productive. JAXA obtained approval to send their instrumented Apollo re-entry

capsule to UQ for expansion tube testing and PI Tanno visited UQ. Many of the group attended the ISSW in

Nagoya in July 2017, and we had useful interactions there with PI Tanno and visited JAXA. At the meeting UQ

was invited to host the ISSW in 2021 where we will present in detail the results of this project.

For Earth entry investigations, a blunt capsule model was built and successfully tested by PhD student Tim

Cullen, with a heated strip across the front which enables infrared thermography to be obtained by looking

through the shock layer. In this way we can obtain turbulent heat transfer profiles across the windward surface

using non-intrusive instrumentation. This project is also relevant in regard to the Orion capsule, which is

expected to make its first manned entry in 2023, and will experience Reynolds numbers of a similar order. With

regards to Mars entries, Ranjini Ramesh started her PhD in 2017 on high Reynolds number shock layers

representative of Mars and Venus entry trajectories. She has chosen to use the Mars Surface Lander (MSL)

mission as a case study to reproduce. Because of the large diameter and mass of that capsule, it has the

highest Reynolds number and ballistic coefficient of any man initiated entry to the Martian atmosphere so far,

and is the most relevant mission to the objectives of this project, and is the only entry so far to have induced

turbulent flow. It is also the same capsule design that is to be used for the ‘Mars2020’ mission, which is of


topical interest as there are uncertainties regarding the safety parameters for that design. Appropriate test

conditions have been generated for a forthcoming test program in X2 and X3, the methodology, hardware and

instrumentation developed by Cullen. PhD student Andreas Andrianatos did full scale testing in X3 of the

Hayabusa entry capsule at peak heating, the first time a full scale entry vehicle has been tested like this,

removing the scaling issues usually associated with laboratory testing of radiating flows. 6 Journals and 7

conference papers have been presented relating to the grant.

Dr Ingo Jahn, Professor David Buttsworth, et al. “Fluid-structural interactions in high speed flows (2018-2021) (DP180103480)

Flight at extreme speeds challenges the very best of our engineering abilities. The structures of high-speed

vehicles are subjected to fluid-structural interactions (FSI) in which the deformation of the structure, induced

by the aerodynamic loads, can in turn influence this flow field and this coupling can detrimentally deform and

even catastrophically damage the vehicle.

The aims of this project are to improve our ability to accurately predict the fluid-structural behaviour and fatigue

lifetime of structures subjected to such high-speed flows. This is achieved by designing and performing first-

of-kind measurements of FSI in hypersonic flows and use this unique data to develop and validate our

predictive codes in combination with numerical simulations to better reveal the detail of the underlying flow

physics. We aim to establish the relative significance of a range of relevant parameters including Mach number,

Reynolds number, dynamic pressure and stiffness (geometric and material), in isolation and in combination,

in determining the severity of FSI in high-speed flows using a tightly integrated experimental and numerical

approach.

In the first year of the project we have recruited a number of international students and were successful in

securing UQ international APA scholarships and they are due to start shortly.

In the meantime, we have continued to develop the experimental approach with Prof Buttsworth and his group

at USQ for the cantilevered plate cases, including the novel inclusion of a moving shock generator that

passively oscillates in the free stream flow. In parallel to this Dr Jahn has been implementing a moving mesh

capability within the Eilmer solver at UQ to simulate our FSI cases and has been testing this using the cantilever

plate measurements. The capability in Eilmer has been updated from 2D to 3D to more accurately model the

interactions. In addition, we have been working with CI McNamara’s group at OSU to test the ability of the

surrogate modelling approach to predict the response measured in our cantilever plate FSI experiments.

Publications to date:

[1] Neely AJ, Currao GMD, McQuellin LP (2018) Using Radiative Heating to Perform Fluid-Thermal-

Structural Interaction Experiments in a Short-Duration Hypersonic Wind Tunnel, 21AFMC, Adelaide.

[2] Currao G, Freydin M, Dowell E, McQuellin L, Neely A (2018) Design of a Panel Flutter Experiment in

a Short Duration Hypersonic Facility, 21AFMC, Adelaide.

[3] Jahn I, Currao G, Neely A, Gollan R, Jacobs P (2018) Two Way Coupled Hypersonic Fluid Structure

Interaction Simulations with Eilmer, 21AFMC, Adelaide

ARC Large Infrastructure and Equipment Fund (LIEF)

Professor Richard Morgan, Professor David Buttsworth, Professor David Mee, et al. Optical diagnostics for the investigation of high speed energetic processes (2015 -2016) (LE160100194)

This was a collaborative grant between three institutions, UNSW Canberra, USQ and UQ. UNSW was the lead

Institution for the grant, the equipment was intended to be shared between the three institutions. The

equipment has been widely used in many experimental investigations. It continues to be fully utilised and has


proven to be a very productive acquisition, and instrumental for the success of several subsequent grant

applications. The following summarises some of the outcomes:

The ability to observe highly transient processes with unprecedented spatial and temporal resolution has

allowed us to experimentally verify and/or measure the existence of several previously unknown processes in

high-speed flows and impact scenarios such as:

the persistence of irregular shock reflection off ramps with concave rounded inlets the propagation of elastic waves in armoured metals the detailed opening process of diaphragms bursting under pressure the chemiluminescence in subsonic hydrogen flames the detection/measurement of afterbody radiation and temperature distributions on re-entry vehicles in

hypervelocity flows

The behaviour of armoured material during ballistic impact- the burst behaviour of diaphragms was reliably

quantified - the efficiency of cavity flameholders for combustion processes in subsonic and supersonic flows

was determined - the most endangered zones of thermal load on a re-entry vehicle were identified, and

afterbody radiation in the wake of objects flying at hypervelocity can significantly add to the heat loading of

these objects and must be addressed by adequate protection.

The above contributions are important because:

knowledge of this experimentally previously unverified behaviour has consequences for the design of protection barriers against blast waves

the results support the development of more efficient protection systems against ballistic impact safety standards for vessels with diaphragm-type relief valves can be re-examined combustion processes in sub- and supersonic flows can be made more efficient the heat protection of objects flying at hypervelocity can be improved

We verified that the new instrumentation can be used for visualising very small dynamic processes like bubble

collapse or deformation of microstructures. This opens new research possibilities to investigate highly dynamic

and energetic processes at scales previously deemed too small for optical observation. This can also be used

to investigate whether bacteria can survive hypervelocity impacts, which would contribute to the Panspermia

debate (the distribution of organisms via asteroid impact). The persistence of irregular reflection in the so-

called double solution domain had only been predicted analytically and numerically. The experiments

conducted with the high-speed camera constituted the first time this behaviour was experimentally observed.

Professor Richard Morgan, Dr David Gildfind, Dr Peter Jacobs, Professor David Mee Hypersonic Driver -NWTF Project (2014-2015)

In 2014, we received a collaborative Grant from Oxford University, funded by the UK National Wind Tunnel

Facility Scheme (NWTF) for $454,710 to develop what will be the fastest shock tunnel in the UK.

The structural and functional design of the facility was completed by Richard Morgan and David Gildfind,

working with the team from Oxford University. Richard Morgan spent three months at the Rolls Royce

technology Centre at Oxford University in 2015 working on the project. During this time, collaborative links

between Oxford and UQ were strengthened, with two Bachelor of Engineering/Master of Engineering students

on placement and a UQ PhD student on exchange in the Oxford laboratory. New grant proposals were

developed for ARC and EPSRC projects, and Richard Morgan participated in the annual ‘Luddock day’

festivities, giving a presentation on the long-term links between UQ and OUEL.

The tunnel was commissioned in 2018, and Richard Morgan spent 2 weeks in that year participating in the

process7.

7 http://www.eng.ox.ac.uk/about/news/the-41st-maurice-lubbock-memorial- lecture-the-departments-biggest-event

http://www.eng.ox.ac.uk/about/news/the-41st-maurice-lubbock-memorial-


Queensland Government Funding

Dr Anand Veeraragavan” Advance Queensland Research Fellowship (AQRF) (Mid-Career): Supersonic Combustion of Hydrocarbon Fuels for High-Mach-Number Axisymmetric Scramjets (2017-2020)

Dr Veeraragavan has been awarded an AQRF that started in late 2017. This project will aim to combine the

recent advancements in supersonic combustion of hydrocarbon fuels by the candidate at the University of

Queensland (UQ) with the hydrocarbon fuel thermal processing capabilities at the Defence Science and

Technology (DST) Group based in Brisbane in collaboration with research groups from Stanford and Illinois

on thermochemistry/optical diagnostics. The success of this fellowship will position Queensland based

research groups to become world-leaders in the development of hydrocarbon fuelled supersonic combustors.

This will provide the basis for Queensland to become the hub of future industry activity and jobs.

DST funded projects

Development of X3R, an advanced scramjet testing shock tunnel (MYIP 5828, MYIP6303, MYIP6788) (2015 -2018)

In response to the clear need for enhanced ground testing capability in Australia for the Mach 5 to 8 speed

range, with extended test times and larger physical dimensions than can be achieved in any existing facilities, UQ

is collaborating with the DST Group Applied Hypersonics branch to develop a new reflected shock tunnel, X3R.

The facility is based on the existing X3 superorbital expansion tube platform, and uses the same driver and the

first driven tube configured as a reflected shock tunnel. The facility will give test times in the range from 10 to 20

milliseconds, and is predicted to have useful core flows of the order of 600 mm diameter. The primary role

anticipated for the facility will be for the testing of flight scale scramjet combustors for use with hydrocarbon fuels.

Progress has been good, with driver commissioning experiments completed in August 2018, thereby achieving the key

technical challenge of the new facility operating mode. The project was extended with phase two funding in 2016, and

the project was hen expanded in November 2018 to form the cornerstone of a new five year agreement between

UQ and DST Group, the “Hypersonic Enabling Technologies collaborative agreement”. As part of this

agreement, X3/X3R will be relocated to DST’s new Eagle Farm site. While X3 remains the property of UQ,

DST will maintain and operate the facility. As part of this agreement, DST Group will gain equal timeshare of

the facility, and be able to operate it within a more suitable security environment. The benefit to UQ will be that

the cost of maintaining the facility will be met by DST, and UQ will also have the benefit of operating the facility

in a larger and well equipped laboratory. Furthermore, DST is establishing a collaborative space at Eagle Farm

which will ensure much deeper collaboration between the groups into the future, providing immense benefit to

both collaborators. Three postdoctoral researchers are currently working on the project, which is being led by

Richard Morgan and David Gildfind.

Major recent achievements in this project include experimentally demonstrating the new operating conditions

in August 2018, thereby confirming the analysis and development work over the preceding two years. This

work has been presented at the International Symposium on Shock Waves in 2017 (winning best student

paper award) and AIAA Flow Control Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, in June 2018. Driver development work

was also used as a basis to develop new piston sensor technology which provided the first in-situ time-resolved

measurement of piston trajectory, which was published in Shock Waves Journal in 2018:

Stennett, Samuel, Gildfind, David and Jacobs, Peter A. (2019). Optimising the X3R Reflected Shock Tunnel

Free-Piston Driver for Long Duration Test Times. 31st International Symposium on Shock Waves, Nagoya,

Japan, 9-14 July 2017.

Stennett, Samuel J., Gildfind, David E., Jacobs, Peter A. and Morgan, Richard G. (2018). Performance

optimization of X3R: A new reflected shock tunnel mode for the X3 expansion tube. 34th AIAA Aerodynamic

Measurement Technology and Ground Testing Conference, 2018, Atlanta, GA, June 25, 2018-June 29, 2018.

Reston, Virginia: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Inc, AIAA.https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2018-

3563


Gildfind, D. E., Hines, T., Jacobs, P. A., Stennett, S. and Dimitrijevic, I. (2019). Use of acceleration and optical

waypoint measurements to estimate piston trajectory in an impulse facility. Shock Waves.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00193-018-0877-2

Professor Michael Smart. HiFiRE Postdoctoral Research Fellow A8 (2015-2016) (MYIP 6075)

The effect of increasing wall temperature on the combustion process in scramjets operating at Mach 7 was

investigated. Wall temperatures up to 2000K were considered, and the overall combustion efficiency and

combustor length was of primary importance.

Professor Michael Smart. HiFiRE Postdoctoral Research Fellow A6 (2015-2016) (MYIP 6074)

The project performed preliminary research to determine the effectiveness of materials to emit electrons when

heated. The effectiveness was referenced to a heated combustor as well as to aerodynamic heating of leading

edges of a hypersonic vehicle. The research involved bench testing of the material to temperatures of 2000K.

Professor Michael Smart. Full scale HIFiRE 8 engine testing (2017-2019) (MYIP 6993)

As part of the HIFiRE Program, the HIFiRE 8 engine was ground tested in the T4 Stalker Tube at UQ at Mach

7, and a reduced scale compared to flight. The engine exhibited strong performance and dual-mode operation

at equivalence ratios between 0.8 and 1.0 with gaseous hydrogen fuel. It is presently not known how this

engine would perform at the larger flight scale. To investigate the influence of scaling, this project involved the

modification/enhancement of another larger facility at UQ (X3R} to allow full-scale scramjets of interest to DST

to be tested.

Professor Michael Smart. Critical Science and Technology Review and Forecast – High Speed Propulsion (2016)(MYIP 6344)

This project for DST involved an assessment of the current state-of-the-art in High Speed Propulsion. DST

recognised the knowledge of UQ in this area, and asked that a summary be complied. The summary included

all international research and development in the USA, China, Russia, Europe and Australia. Based on the

summary, it was clear that the leaders in these technologies were the USA and Australia. However, China

had made significant advances in the previous 10 years, and were catching up the USA and Australia at a

quick rate due to significant strategic investments.

Associate Professor Vincent Wheatley, Professor Michael Smart, Dr Anand Veeraragavan, Associate Professor Timothy McIntyre. Ethylene Fuelled Axisymmetric Scramjet Testing (2017-2019) (MYIP 6994)

The aim of the research agreement is to extend an axisymmetric scramjet engine concept to allow the ignition

and combustion of gaseous Ethylene fuel at a flight Mach number of 7.6. Experimental tests will be conducted

in the University of Queensland’s T4 shock tunnel (Stalker tube) to demonstrate and characterise the engine’s

performance and operability. The engine has been designed with advanced features to aid mixing, ignition and

combustion while reducing losses. Numerical simulations have been conducted to estimate the efficacy of this

features. The engine model has been manufactured and is presently being tested in T4.

Associate Professor Vincent Wheatley. Large Eddy Simulation of Scramjet Fuel Array Injection (2018) (MYIP 8069)

The aim of this project was to construct and perform Large-Eddy simulations of an axisymmetric scramjet fuel

injector array. The project provided results that gave unprecedented insight into the fluid mechanics of how

the injector array influences the transition to turbulence, and gave quantitative predictions of measurable

quantities (both means and fluctuations) for comparison to experimental data.


Other funding

Professor Michael Smart, Dr Vince Wheatley, Dr Anand Veeraragavan. Mach 6-8 scramjet combustion experiments using hydrocarbon fuel (Asian Office of Aerospace Research and Development) (2015-2017)

The T4 shock tunnel is a facility designed for generation of true scramjet flight conditions (matching Mach

number, velocity and altitude) between Mach 6 and 12. This research involved experiments with a relatively

large scale (45mm/1.8in. diameter) axisymmetric isolator/combustor in the Mach 6-8 flight regime using

gaseous hydrocarbon fuels. As well as high frequency surface pressure and heat transfer measurements,

PLIF visualisations were made in the exhaust plume downstream of the combustor. This experimental set-up

allowed visualisation of the combusting flow exiting an axisymmetric scramjet.

Professor Richard Morgan, Associate Professor Tim McIntyre, Dr Anand Veeraragavan, Dr Rowan Gollan, et al... Rapidly expanding non equilibrium hypersonic flow (Asian Office of Aerospace Research and Development) (2016-2018)

This project has done a series of experiments using a 2D compression wedge-expansion corner configuration

with heated graphite surfaces, and studied the entrainment of ablative products into hypersonic shock layers,

and their subsequent propagation through the non-equilibrium expansion region which forms the interface

between the windward and leeward flows on entry capsules. There has been close collaboration with the Air

Force Institute of Technology (AFIT), two of whose students have completed PhD’s based on experiments

done under the program, with three joint campaigns performed during the reporting period for this report. A

follow on grant from AOARD has been awarded to extend the collaboration into the study of wake flows.

Associate Professor Vincent Wheatley: Magnetic suppression of instabilities in shock driven converging flows (2015-2017) (Competitive Research Grant, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology)

This project was successfully concluded in 2017 and resulted in a following grant from the same funding

source.

Hydrodynamic instabilities such as shock-driven Richtmyer-Meshkov (RM) and Rayleigh-Taylor (RT) have

inhibited ignition and fusion of heavy hydrogen isotopes in inertial confinement fusion (ICF). It was shown that

the RM instability is suppressed in the presence of a magnetic field. We proposed to investigate the

suppression of shock-driven hydrodynamic instabilities in converging cylindrical and spherical geometries

relevant to ICF: (a) investigations of cylindrical and spherical Riemann problems to determine symmetry

preserving or asymmetry minimizing initial seed magnetic field configurations, (b) linear and nonlinear

simulations of single and double interface RM instability investigations modelled using equations of ideal

magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), (c) stability of converging MHD fast shocks, and (d) investigations into the

detailed patterns of MHD shock refraction at density interfaces using a self-similar formulation of the MHD

equations. These investigations enhanced the knowledge base of the plasma physics discipline. Successful

suppression of hydrodynamic instabilities in ICF will have a tremendous impact and potentially pave the way

to make fusion energy a reality.

The effects of uniform and saddle topology seed magnetic field configurations on spherically converging

Richtmyer-Meshkov instability (RMI) in magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) were investigated using 3D nonlinear

compressible simulations. Our focus was on understanding the effects of field configuration, strength and the

perturbation wavenumber on suppression of the RMI and subsequently the Rayleigh-Taylor instability (RTI).

As for the cylindrical flow, all cases simulated with a seed field demonstrated suppression of the RMI and RTI.

The degree of instability suppression achieved was found to increase with seed field strength and in general

is insensitive to the field configuration. For strong saddle topology fields, however, a slow shock-density

interface interaction occurs that causes severe low-mode distortion of the interface, resulting in substantially

greater interface perturbation growth than for a uniform field. As in the planar and cylindrical cases, the

mechanism leading to instability suppression is the transport of vorticity away from the location where it is

baroclinically generated during the shock-interface interaction. This transport occurs roughly parallel to

magnetic field lines, and thus can range from parallel to perpendicular to the interface depending on the local


field orientation. The anisotropic suppression results in perturbation growth on different portions of the interface

being suppressed to different extents, with suppression maximized where the field orientation is locally parallel

to the interface and minimized where the field orientation is locally normal. As in the cylindrical case, the saddle

field configuration was found to introduce a lower degree of distortion from spherisymmetry in the underlying

imploding flow than the uniform-field configuration, whilst having similar performance in terms of instability

suppression. This suggests that the saddle field configuration is more suitable for suppressing instabilities in

spherical implosion experiments designed for maximizing peak compression.

We examined whether the non-uniform suppression of the converging shock-driven RMI, due to variations in

local magnetic field strength and orientation, can nonlinear simulation and the linear model for uniform and

saddle fields along multiple radial rays. The model was found to provide reasonable estimates of the peak

perturbation amplitude and the time this occurs at all locations investigated, making it a valuable tool for seed

field design.

Associate Professor Vincent Wheatley: Investigation of Shock-driven Instabilities in Two-fluid Plasmas (2018-2021) OSR-2017-CRG6-3418, Competitive Research Grant, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology)

The overall aim of this project is to fully characterise and understand the behaviour of the converging-shock

driven interfacial instabilities in the presence of a magnetic field within the framework of a two-fluid plasma

model. We will carry out simulations in both cylindrical and spherical geometries.

In the single-fluid MHD model, the suppression of the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability (RMI) through the

application of an initial magnetic field has been theoretically demonstrated whereby the vorticity generated at

the density interface during the shock interaction is transported away by MHD waves. We have now

investigated the vorticity transport dynamics resulting from shock-density interface interactions over a range

of plasma regimes under the two-fluid plasma approximation such that finite plasma length scale effects may

be observed. To most clearly show these effects, the problem of a shock wave interacting with an inclined

planar density interface was studied for the case of a very strong initial magnetic field (𝛽 = 0.01). The

suppression of the RMI through the application of the initial magnetic field was demonstrated over the full

range of plasma regimes investigated. At larger plasma length scales (𝑑𝐷

𝐿~0.05-0.01) this suppression is due

to sign reversal in vorticity, but as scales decrease vorticity is increasingly transported away from the interface.

At intermediate plasma length scales (𝑑𝐷

𝐿~0.01-0.005), the transport of vorticity is on widespread, continuous,

oscillatory plasma waves. For smaller scales still (𝑑𝐷

𝐿~0.001 and smaller), the oscillatory wave packets begin

to coalesce into narrower, steeper waves in a manner that appears to converge towards MHD like behaviour.

Thus it is observed that instability suppression due to the presence of an initial magnetic field is present across

all plasma regimes but with varying mechanisms and effectiveness. These findings provide confidence in the

results from the more approximate MHD model and support the use of initial magnetic fields in the suppression

of hydrodynamic instabilities, such as the RMI, in plasma flows. These results were published at the 2018

Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference.

To facilitate the implementation of lower dissipation numerical method for the field equations based on a

staggered-grid, constrained transport approach for divergence constraint enforcement, our two-fluid plasma

solver has been ported to a new Adaptive Mesh Refinement framework, AMREX, which has native support for

staggered grids. Implementation of the constrained transport approach for uniform grid patches has been

completed. The approach has been demonstrated to improve the fidelity, in terms of a substantial reduction in

numerical dissipation, and long term stability of simulations. The diverged constraints on the fields have been

demonstrated to be satisfied to near machine precision.

Dr Ingo Jahn et al: Characterisation and control of a flap undergoing hypersonic fluid-structure interactions (2016-2018; UNSW-Canberra, USQ, Ohio State, FA2386-16-1-4024, R&D Proposal 16IOA024)

Dr Ingo Jahn is part of a collaborative team between UNSW-Canberra (Andrew Neely), USQ (David

Buttsworth), and The Ohio State University (Jack McNamara) who obtained a research grant from the Air


Force Office of Scientific Research (OFOSXR) for $US160,000 to investigate the fundamentals of fluid

structure interactions around control surfaces on hypersonic vehicles. The project commenced in late 2016

and the design of a first prototype for testing in USQ’s TUSQ has commenced. The project team has been

successful both with developing simulation and test capabilities to look at wings incorporating both rigid and

flexible actuators, These work has led to new capabilities in the Eilmer CFD solver, including capabilities to

conduct Hardware in the Loop Simulations (HiLS) to investigate different control strategies and new first of its

kind experimental data to support FSI research. The project was extended by 6 months until April 2019 and a

continuation project is currently in preparation.

Dr Ingo Jahn: University of Queensland Early Career Researcher (ECR) Award

Dr Ingo Jahn obtained a $30,000 University of Queensland ECR award to develop a Ludweig tube based

facility for testing and investigation of fundamental flow physics in supercritical CO2 environments. Expertise

from the Centre enabled Dr Jahn to preform transient tests at high pressures and high temperatures that are

difficult to obtain in a steady state facility.

Dr Anand Veeraragavan and Associate Professor Vincent Wheatley. Examining growth of turbulence over heated walls in hypersonic flows. Air Force Office of Scientific Research FA9550-18-1-0265 (2018-2021)

This project will focus on developing a fundamental understanding of how turbulent structures form and evolve

in the presence of wall heating in a high-enthalpy hypersonic flow. Experiments conducted on a heated flat

plate at UQ’s T4 shock tunnel, utilizing sophisticated optical diagnostic techniques such as Focused Laser

Differential Interferometry will provide fundamental data. This will be analysed to inform theory and subsequent

correlations that will be useful to the research community on the effect of wall heating on transition and growth

of turbulence in hypersonic flows.

Dr Anand Veeraragavan, Professor Richard. Morgan, Professor David Mee, Associate Professor Tim McIntyre, Dr David Gildfind, Dr Rowan. Gollan, Dr Peter Jacobs, Experimental Studies of High Speed Flows. National University of Singapore (NUS)

This collaborative agreement with NUS spans across four fundamental projects: shockwave boundary layer

interactions over heated plates in hypersonic flows led by Dr Anand Veeraragavan; study of heated ablative

surfaces in hypersonic flows led by Professor Richard Morgan, growth of turbulence spots in hypersonic flows

by Professor David Mee, and performance calculations of hypersonic test facilities by Dr David Gildfind. The

work undertaken in these projects is supported by the laser diagnostics and optical measurements expertise

of Associate Professor Tim McIntyre and computational fluid mechanics expertise of Dr Rowan Golland and

Associate Professor Peter Jacobs.



KPI 6 – Professional Development

Staff Development and Publications

Supervisory Skill Development

All staff, including Research Focused (RF) staff, are encouraged to be active in higher degree by research

supervision (PhD and Master of Philosophy students), final year engineering undergraduate thesis supervision,

and masters coursework student supervision. Staff who supervise RHD students are required to complete a

program of professional development run by the University’s Graduate School.

Staff can enrol in a number of courses under the topic “Maximising your RHD Advisory Skills”. In addition, in

2015, the University introduced a new policy “Eligibility and Role of Higher Degree by Research Advisors”.

This policy sets out criteria for eligibility of principle advisors, associate advisors, and other members of the

candidature team and is used as for quality assurance purposes. All principle advisors must be registered on

the University’s Principal Advisory Registry.

Higher Degree by Research Skill Development

The majority of hypersonics students enrol through the School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering, with a

small number enrolling through the School of Mathematics and Physics. They all have access to a free

University wide Career Development Framework run by the UQ Graduate School.

Students are also encouraged to participate in the Faculty’s annual Postgraduate Conference. This conference

provides an opportunity for HDR students to present their research to academia and industry, improve

presentation skills, and network with potential employers and research partners.

The conference also provides a chance for attendees to interact and gain an overview of research across the

different schools within the Faculty. Each year, the Centre for Hypersonics sponsors “The Professor Raymond

Stalker Prize” for best presentation related to Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.

The University also participates in the annual 3 Minute Thesis (3MT) competition. The 3MT is a research

communication competition that challenges PhD students to communicate the significance of their project

without the use of props or industry jargon, in just three minutes. This exercise develops academic,

presentation, and research communication as well as supports the development of a research student to

quickly explain their research in a language appropriate to a non-specialist audience leaving them to want to

learn more. The School strongly encourages all PhD students to participate at least once during their studies.

Institute for Teaching and Learning Innovation (ItaLI)

The Institute for Teaching and Learning Innovation (ITaLI) provides practical support to faculties and schools

to achieve and celebrate teaching excellence. ITaLI staff collect and interpret data about teaching practices to

enhance learning and teaching practices and anticipate future impact and opportunities for the University. ITaLI

also coordinates the student evaluation of courses and teaching (SECaT) surveys which are undertaken each

semester and are used to help teaching staff improve their courses, teaching, and provision of feedback to

students. Examples of projects undertaken by ITaLI include: “flipped classrooms”, tutor training, electronic

marking of assignments, and a new program “Teaching@UQ” which is designed to provide technology

enhanced professional development to new teaching staff.

Associate Professor Vincent Wheatley has collaborated with ITaLI staff to transform the Compressible Flow

module of UQ’s advanced Fluid Mechanics course to a blended learning approach making use of the online

content developed for the Hypersonics MOOC. This brought about major improvements in student learning,

and contributed to Vincent winning an Award for Teaching Excellence at the 2017 Australian Awards for

University Teaching. Centre for Hypersonics staff members Professor David Mee and Associate Professor

Vincent Wheatley have since won a UQ Teaching Innovation Grant to transform three further core Mechanical

Engineering courses to a blended format as part of the UQ2U Program. Vince Wheatley contributes to ITaLI


as a member of the Blended Learning Steering Committee, the eAssessment Advisory Group, and as a mentor

for award and fellowship applicants.

UQ Staff Development Program

The University’s staff development program is run at no cost to staff. Areas of staff development activities

include: “managing people”, “research skills development”, “teaching, learning and assessment”, and “OH&S

and sustainability”. Some courses are compulsory, including a number of managing people and OH&S

courses.

Conferences and Publications

Conference attendance has been strong, with many staff and students given the chance for professional

development by presenting their work to international audiences and visiting other research organisations

overseas. Refer to Appendix 3 for a list of conferences attended and publications.


Appendix 1 – History of Hypersonics at UQ

Hypersonics research at UQ commenced in 1980 when Professor Ray Stalker AO, pioneer of the free piston

shock tube driver technique which powers some of the most advanced facilities for hypersonic flow simulation

in the world (now universally known as ‘Stalker tubes’), started Australia’s first research program on scramjet

propulsion. Rapid progress in the 1980’s and early 1990’s led to the introduction of the Mechanical and Space

Engineering degree program in 1993, which was expanded in 2005 into the Mechanical and Aerospace

program with broader aeronautical content. Hypersonics continues to be the core discipline supporting the

Mechanical and Aerospace program, and the primary field of research for the aerospace staff in the School.

Related to this activity is a strong program of higher degree by research (namely MPhil and PhD) in

Hypersonics. Our 100th higher degree by research student (Dr David Gildfind) graduated in 2012. Our 138th

HDR student graduated in 2018, and in the three year time frame covered by this report, 18 have graduated.

UQ has the largest alumni of hypersonics graduates from any university, and they have been extremely

successful, finding employment in varied institutions such as National Aeronautics and Space Administration

(NASA), Stanford, Oxford, Loughborough and École Centrale (Paris) universities, Airbus, Defence Science

and Technology Organisation (DSTO) and many Australian universities. Many opportunities for overseas study

have arisen subsequent to or as part of the UQ hypersonics research program, including student placements

at Oxford, Stanford, École Centrale (Paris), EPFL (Lausanne), IRS (Stuttgart University) Universities, and the

Indian Institute of Science.

Subsequent to the successful scramjet tests in the early 1980’s (which were performed in the ‘T3’ Stalker tube

at the Australian National University), the need for a more powerful facility was evident. Ray Stalker designed

the T4 shock tube at UQ, which was commissioned in 1987, and has performed more scramjet tests than any

other facility in the world.

Following on from this, in the mid 1980’s Ray Stalker and Allan Paull applied the free piston driver concept to

the so called ‘expansion tube’ facilities.

These ‘expansion tubes’ operate by means of a cascade of shock tubes in series, and have the capability of

flow at much higher speeds and pressures than conventional shock tubes. This was an extremely successful

proof of concept study, and identified fundamental flaws and performance limits in the way previous expansion

tubes had been operated. The next stage of development was to push the limits of the expansion concept in

1990, by means of a compound driver system upstream of the shock tube cascade. Thus the ‘super-orbital’

expansion tube was developed at UQ, capable of simulating the hyperbolic flight conditions of reentry from

outside the Earth’s gravitational field.

The family of ‘X tube’ facilities X1, X2 and X3 was then developed by Richard Morgan and many colleagues

and students. These X tubes have formed the backbone of our research in re-entry capsules and radiating and

ablating flows ever since. They are also used to simulate flight in the atmospheres of the planets, including

Mars, Venus, Jupiter and the moon Titan.

By 1993, understanding of scramjet operation had progressed to the stage that a viable propulsion unit could

be produced, and a system designed by Ray Stalker, Allan Paull and David Mee demonstrated in T4 the

operation of a scramjet powered flight vehicle developing more thrust than drag. This was the first ever

published data of such an achievement.

In 1997 an opportunity to demonstrate scramjet operation in flight arose, and Allan Paull started the HyShot

program. This was a non-thrust producing scramjet combustor, flown on a sounding rocket from Woomera,

configured to demonstrate that supersonic air breathing propulsion was possible in flight, and to validate the

results of ground based shock tube testing. Despite the first flight crashing due to a rocket fin failure, the


second was a complete success. It demonstrated supersonic combustion in flight for the first time ever, some

months before the first successful flight of NASA’s Hyper-X X43A scramjet in 2004.

The success of the HyShot program led to the HIFiRE program, a ten flight $54 million collaborative scramjet

research and development project involving UQ, Defence Science and Technology Organisation, National

Aeronautics and Space Administration, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Boeing and other

aerospace participants. The experiences of the HyShot campaign led to the formation of the Defence Science

and Technology Organisation Brisbane Hypersonics Branch, founded and led by Allan Paull, to handle the

payload preparation and flight testing component of our collaborative scramjet program. Allan still maintains

an advisory position as an Adjunct Professor at the UQ Centre for Hypersonics, which was formally established

in November 1997 jointly between the departments of Mechanical Engineering (now the School of Mechanical

and Mining Engineering) and Physics (now the School of Mathematics and Physics).

In 2010 the Scramspace project started based on funding from the Federal Government initiative to develop

space capability in Australia. This was led by Professor Russell Boyce, and was configured around a program

of laboratory research on scramjet fundamentals, and a demonstration flight of a scramjet using a flowpath

developed by Allan Paull and the DSTO group. In October 2013 the Scramspace rocket failed on lift off from

Andoya, Norway, and the payload was lost. The Scramspace program ended in 2013, and the research

outcomes and knowledge gained were very positive despite the loss of the demonstrator.

The ongoing HIFiRE program is led by Professor Smart and is building up to a peak of activity with a further

three flights, demonstrating the use of advanced intakes in flight, and sustained and controllable flight.

Advanced intakes, using efficient compression processes and self-starting capabilities, were developed and

pioneered by Michael during his ten years with NASA. These are a critical feature required for using scramjet

propulsion for practical engineering applications, and for breaking the Mach 10 speed barrier req4uied for

scramjets to be viable as part of access to space systems.

Since 2005 the group has also been involved in re-entry studies, with particular emphasis on the ablation and

radiating processes occurring on thermal protection systems for spacecraft. In this area we have received five

consecutive ARC Discovery grants, and many other awards from NASA, ESA and AOARD. We have

developed strong collaborative links with leading researchers in the area, including NASA’s AMES and Langley

Research Centers, École Centrale Paris, Institute of Space Sciences (IRS) Stuttgart and the Indian Institute of

Science (Bangalore). We have recently been invited to join the NATO working group on turbulence and

transition, AVT-240, and this involvement has led to a new ARC Discovery grant application in partnership with

JAXA (Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency). The group participated in the 2010 return of the Japanese

‘Hayabusa’ re-entry vehicle, which recovered the first ever samples from an asteroid. Instrumentation

developed on X2 was flown on the NASA observation flight monitoring the re-entry over Woomera. A Hayabusa

2 return is planned for 2020; however, the details of the re-entry and any potential observation campaigns are

not released yet.

In the development of hypersonic facilities, the group continues to push the limits of technology, and has been

involved in the design of the Oxford University ‘T6’ Stalker tube, and the development of a new UQ reflected

shock tunnel, X3R, together with DST. Increasingly close links with DST have been a feature of recent years,

and the new DST laboratory being completed at Eagle Farm, Brisbane, will house X3R and will be an

international hub for collaborative research in Hypersonics.

To summarise, hypersonics is a growing area of research in the School, and covers a broad multidisciplinary

range of topics, including fundamental studies of radiation, combustion and heat transfer, the design of

hypersonic flight vehicles, numerical modelling, facility development, and flight testing.


Appendix 2 – HDR students (2016-2018)

Name Principal Supervisor Program Project Title

Graduates

Sanchito Banerjee Professor Russell Boyce PhD L1 adaptive control augmentation for a hypersonic glider. Graduated 2016

Jorge Sancho Ponce Professor Richard Morgan PhD Scramjet testing at high total pressure. Graduated 2016.

Hadas Porat Professor Richard Morgan PhD Measurement of radiative heat transfer in Titan and Mars atmosphere in expansion tubes. Graduated 2016.

Guerric de Crombrugghe Professor Richard Morgan PhD On binary scaling and ground-to-flight extrapolation in high-enthalpy facilities. Graduated 2017.

Zachary Denman Dr Anand Veeraragavan PhD Optimisation of fuel-air mixing and burning in shape transitioning scramjet engines. Graduated 2017.

Elise Fahy Professor Richard Morgan PhD Superorbital re-entry shock layers: flight and laboratory comparisons. Graduated 2017.

Wen Han Professor Richard Morgan PhD Air radiation in superorbital expanding flow. Graduated 2017.

Xin Kang Dr Anand Veeraragavan PhD Micro/meso combustion based portable power generating system. Graduated 2017.

Steven Lewis Professor Richard Morgan PhD Melting models of CO2, in re-entry flow conditions. Graduated 2017.

Han Wei Associate Professor Timothy McIntyre

PhD Interaction between shock layer and ablative products from heat shields during atmospheric entry. Graduated 2017.

Brad Wheatley Associate Profesor Timothy McIntyre

PhD Tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy of aerospace flows. Graduated 2017

Sangdi Gu Professor Richard Morgan PhD Ablative thermal protection systems for re-entry into Titan. Graduated 2018.

Christopher James Professor Richard Morgan MPhil Radiation from Simulated Atmospheric Entry into the Gas Giants. Graduated 2018.

Will Landsberg Dr Anand Veeraragavan PhD Optimisation of inlet and combustor fuel injection in shape transitioning scramjet engines. Graduated 2018.

Juan Llobet Gomez Dr Ingo Jahn PhD Vortex-fuel jet interactions to enhance mixing in scramjets. Graduated 2018.

Sreekanth Raghunath Professor David Mee PhD Boundary layer transition lengths in hypersonic flows. Graduated 2018.

Tamara Sopek Associate Professor Timothy McIntyre

PhD Fuel injection/mixing studies in hypersonic flows using advanced optical diagnostic techniques. Graduated 2018.

Tristan Vanyai Associate Professor Timothy McIntyre

PhD Scramjet accelerators investigated using advanced optical diagnostic techniques. Graduated 2018.

Thesis submitted/under examination

Augusto Fontan Moura Dr Ingo Jahn PhD Investigation and optimization of complex porthole injector arrangements in scramjet inlets. Thesis submitted 2018.

Pierpaolo Toniato Professor Richard Morgan PhD High mach number scramjet testing in the X3 expansion tube. Submitted 2018.

Current HDR candidates

Andreas Adrianatos Dr David Gildfind PhD Radiation scaling studies in an expansion tube.

Steven Apriana Professor Richard Morgan PhD Studying earth re-entry post shock relaxation using a mach disk.

Jamie Border Dr Rowan Gollan PhD Walsh functions for high-resolution shock capturing and their application to expansion tube simulations.

Joseph Chai Professor Michael Smart PhD Trajectory optimisation and control of a fly-back rocket booster.

Won Keun (Eric) Chang Dr Anand Veeraragavan PhD Wall temperature effects in hypersonic flow.


Name Principal Supervisor Program Project Title

Isaac Convery-Brien Professor David Mee MPhil Concentrated breakdown in boundary layer transition in a hypersonic flow.

Timothy Cullen Professor Richard Morgan PhD Infrared thermography in expansion tubes.

Damian Curran Associate Professor Vincent Wheatley

PhD Investigation of flow field manipulation, thermal compression and mode transition in a Mach 5-10 scramjet accelerator

Kyle Damm Dr Rowan Gollan PhD Many-parameter aerodynamic optimization of a hypersonic vehicle.

Sholto Forbes-Spyratos Dr Ingo Jahn PhD Trajectory optimisation of a partially-reusable rocket-scramjet-rocket satellite launch system.

Nicholas Gibbons Associate Professor Vincent Wheatley

PhD Dynamics and simulation of hypersonic combustion.

Rory Kelly Associate Professor Timothy McIntyre

PhD Advanced imaging of rapidly expanding flows.

Jens Kunze Professor Michael Smart PhD 3D design of shape-transitioning nozzles for scramjet powered vehicles.

Yu (Daisy) Liu Professor Richard Morgan PhD Gas giant atmospheric entry.

Pierre Mariotto Dr Rowan Gollan PhD Radiating flows.

Andrew McGregor Dr Rowan Gollan MPhil Numerical modelling of Piston-Driven compression for high-enthalpy flow production. Withdrawn 2018.

Ranjini Ramesh Professor Richard Morgan PhD Transitional and turbulent heating during atmospheric entry.

Anand Ramprakash Professor David Mee PhD Experimental investigation of scramjet acoustic loads.

Ranjith Ravichandran Professor Richard Morgan PhD Ablation and radiation super-orbital re-entry flows.

Ramandeep Kaur Associate Professor Vince Wheatley

PhD Design of combustor for supersonic combustion of hydrocarbons in high Mach number scramjets.

Michael Roberts Professor David Mee PhD Investigation of heated hydrocarbon fuelling in a radical farming scramjet engine.

Daniel Smith Dr David Gildfind PhD Mars atmosphere magnetohydrodynamic aerobraking.

Samuel Stennett Dr David Gildfind PhD Test flow optimisation and characterisation for a new large reflected shock tunnel facility.

Nils Temme Professor Richard Morgan PhD Non-equilibrium aerothermodynamics of superorbital reentry.

Matthew Thompson Professor Richard Morgan PhD Development of X2 driver conditions producing low density hypersonic test flows.

Alexander Ward Professor Michael Smart PhD Multidisciplinary design of an accelerating hypersonic vehicle.

Ryan Whitside Professor Michael Smart PhD Design of a variable Mach number scramjet flowpath for access to space.

Studies interrupted/did not complete

Kevin Basore Associate Professor Vincent Wheatley

PhD Flow physics of scramjet fuel injection through porous walls. Enrollment deferred.

Ian Cartmill Associate Professor Vince Wheatley

PhD Withdrawn 2018.

Alexander Grainger Professor Russell Boyce PhD Mechanism for hypersonic scramjet inlet starting. Studies interrupted 2017.


Appendix 3 - Publications (2016-2018)

Publ Year

Book Chapter

2018 Veeraragavan, A.* (2018) Advanced measurements and monitoring techniques. In (Eds.), Underground coal

gasification and combustion (pp. 627-635). Kidlington, United Kingdom: Woodhead Publishing.

2016 Gildfind, D.*, Morgan, R.* & Jacobs, P.* (2016) Expansion tubes in Australia. In (Eds.), Experimental methods of shock wave research (pp. 399-431). Basel, Switzerland: Springer.

2019 Liu, Q., Baccarella, D., Landsberg, W.*, Veeraragavan, A.* & Lee, T. (2019) Cavity flameholding in an optical axisymmetric scramjet in Mach 4.5 flows. Proceedings of the Combustion Institute, 37(3): 3733-3740.

2018 Bricalli, M., Brown, L., Boyce, R., Gollan, R.*, Vanyai, T.* & Pudsey, A. (2018) Scramjet Performance with Nonuniform Flow and Swept Nozzles. AIAA Journal, 56(10): 1-16.

2018 Chang, E.*, Yang, S., Park, G. & Choi, H. (2018) Ethylene flame-holding in double ramp flows. Aerospace Science and Technology, 80: 413-423.

2018 Chan, W.*, Jacobs, P.*, Smart, M.*, Grieve, S.*, Craddock, C. & Doherty, L. (2018) Aerodynamic design of nozzles with uniform outflow for hypervelocity ground-test facilities. Journal of Propulsion and Power, 34(6): 1467-1478.

2018 Chan, W.*, Razzaqi, S.*, Turner, J.*, Suraweera, M.* & Smart, M.* (2018) Freejet testing of the HIFiRE 7 scramjet flowpath at Mach 7.5. Journal of Propulsion and Power, 34(4): 844-853.

2018 Forbes-Spyratos, S.*, Kearney, M.*, Smart, M.* & Jahn, I.* (2018) Trajectory design of a rocket–scramjet–rocket multistage launch system. Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, 56(1): 1-14.

2018 Gibbons, N.*, Gehre, R.*, Brieschenk, S.* & Wheatley, V.* (2018) Blast Wave-Induced Mixing in a Laser Ignited Hypersonic Flow. Journal of Fluids Engineering, 140(5)

2018 Gibbons, N.*, Gehre, R.*, Brieschenk, S.* & Wheatley, V.* (2018) Simulation of Laser-Induced Plasma Ignition in a Hypersonic Crossflow. AIAA Journal, 56(8): 3047-3059.

2018 James, C.*, Bourke, E.* & Gildfind, D.* (2018) Calculating shock arrival in expansion tubes and shock tunnels using Bayesian changepoint analysis. Experiments in Fluids, 59(6).

2018 James, C.*, Cullen, T.*, Wei, H.*, Lewis, S.*, Gu, S.*, Morgan, R.* et al. (2018) Improved test time evaluation in an expansion tube. Experiments in Fluids, 59(5).

2018 James, C.*, Gildfind, D.*, Lewis, S.*, Morgan, R.* & Zander, F.* (2018) Implementation of a state-to-state analytical framework for the calculation of expansion tube flow properties. Shock Waves, 28(2): 349-377.

2018 Landsberg, W.*, Wheatley, V.*, Smart, M.* & Veeraragavan, A.* (2018) Enhanced supersonic combustion targeting combustor length reduction in a Mach 12 scramjet. AIAA Journal, 56(10): 1-6.

2018 Landsberg, W.*, Wheatley, V.*, Smart, M.* & Veeraragavan, A.* (2018) Performance of high mach number scramjets - Tunnel vs flight. Acta Astronautica, 146: 103-110.

2018 Mostert, W., Pullin, D., Samtaney, R. & Wheatley, V.* (2018) Singularity formation on perturbed planar shock waves. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 846: 536-562.

2018 Mostert, W., Pullin, D., Samtaney, R. & Wheatley, V.* (2018) Spontaneous singularity formation in converging cylindrical shock waves. Physical Review Fluids, 3(7).

2018 Qin, K., Jacobs, P.*, Keep, J.*, Li, D. & Jahn, I.* (2018) A fluid-structure-thermal model for bump-type foil thrust bearings. Tribology International, 121: 481-491.

2018 Thornber, B., Wheatley, V. & Schilling, O. (2018) Special Section on the 15th International Workshop on the Physics of Compressible Turbulent Mixing. Journal of Fluids Engineering, 140(5)


2018 Vanyai, T.*, Bricalli, M.*, Brieschenk, S.* & Boyce, R. (2018) Scramjet performance for ideal combustion processes. Aerospace Science and Technology, 75: 215-226.

2017 Banerjee, S.*, Boyce, R., Wang, Z., Baur, B. & Holzapfel, F. (2017) L1 augmented controller for a lateral/directional maneuver of a hypersonic glider. Journal of Aircraft, 54(4): 1257-1267.

2017 Banerji, N., Leyland, P., Fahy, E.* & Morgan, R.* (2017) Earth reentry flow over a phenolic aeroshell in the X2 expansion tube. Journal of Thermophysics and Heat Transfer, 32(2): 414-428.

2017 Banerji, N., Leyland, P., Fahy, E.* & Morgan, R.* (2017) Venus entry flow over a decomposing aeroshell in X2 expansion tube. Journal of Thermophysics and Heat Transfer, 32(2): 1-11.

2017 Bond, D.*, Wheatley, V.*, Samtaney, R. & Pullin, D. (2017) Richtmyer-Meshkov instability of a thermal interface in a two-fluid plasma. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 833: 332-363.

2017 Denman, Z.*, Wheatley, V.*, Smart, M.* & Veeraragavan, A.* (2017) Supersonic combustion of hydrocarbons in a shape-transitioning hypersonic engine. Proceedings of the Combustion Institute, 36(2): 2883-2891.

2017 Gildfind, D.*, Jacobs, P.*, Morgan, R.*, Chan, W.* & Gollan, R.* (2017) Scramjet test flow reconstruction for a large-scale expansion tube, part 1: quasi-one-dimensional modelling. Shock Waves, 28(4): 1-21.

2017 Gildfind, D.*, Jacobs, P.*, Morgan, R.*, Chan, W.* & Gollan, R.* (2017) Scramjet test flow reconstruction for a large-scale expansion tube, Part 2: axisymmetric CFD analysis. Shock Waves, 28(4): 1-20.

2017 Hermann, T., Lohle, S., Bauder, U., Morgan, R., Wei, H.* & Fasoulas, S. (2017) Quantitative emission spectroscopy for superorbital reentry in expansion tube X2. Journal of Thermophysics and Heat Transfer, 31(2): 257-268.

2017 Kang, X.*, Gollan, R.*, Jacobs, P.* & Veeraragavan, A.* (2017) Numerical study of the effect of wall temperature profiles on the premixed methane–air flame dynamics in a narrow channel. RSC Advances, 7(63): 39940-39954.

2017 Kang, X.*, Gollan, R.*, Jacobs, P.* & Veeraragavan, A.* (2017) On the influence of modelling choices on combustion in narrow channels. Computers and Fluids, 144: 117-136.

2017 Kang, X.* & Veeraragavan, A.* (2017) Experimental demonstration of a novel approach to increase power conversion potential of a hydrocarbon fuelled, portable, thermophotovoltaic system. Energy Conversion and Management, 133: 127-137.

2017 Landsberg, W.*, Gibbons, N.*, Wheatley, V.*, Smart, M.* & Veeraragavan, A.* (2017) Improving scramjet performance through flow field manipulation. Journal of Propulsion and Power.

2017 Lewis, S.*, James, C.*, Morgan, R.*, McIntyre, T.*, Alba, C. & Greendyke, R. (2017) Carbon ablative shock layer radiation with high surface temperatures. Journal of Thermophysics and Heat Transfer, 31(1): 193-204.

2017 Lewis, S.*, James, C.*, Ravichandran, R.*, Morgan, R.* & McIntyre, T.* (2017) Carbon ablation in hypervelocity air and nitrogen shock layers. Journal of Thermophysics and Heat Transfer, 32(2): 449-468.

2017 Llobet, J.*, Gollan, R.* & Jahn, I.* (2017) Effect of vortex-injection interaction on wall heat transfer in a flat plate with fin corner geometry. Transactions of the Japan Society for Aeronautical and Space Sciences, Aerospace Technology Japan, 15(No.APISAT-2016): a17-a26.

2017 Loehle, S., Zander, F., Hermann, T., Eberhart, M., Meindl, A., Oefele, R. et al. (2017) Experimental simulation of meteorite ablation during earth entry using a plasma wind tunnel. The Astrophysical Journal, 837(2).

2017 Mostert, W., Pullin, D., Wheatley, V.* & Samtaney, R. (2017) Magnetohydrodynamic implosion symmetry and suppression of Richtmyer-Meshkov instability in an octahedrally symmetric field. Physical Review Fluids, 2(1): 1279-1281.

2017 Moura, A.*, Wheatley, V.* & Jahn, I.* (2017) Thermofluidic compression effects to achieve combustionin a low-compression scramjet engine. Shock Waves, 28(4): 863-875.

2017 Parekh, V.*, Gildfind, D.*, Lewis, S.* & James, C.* (2017) X3 expansion tube driver gas spectroscopy and temperature measurements. Shock Waves, 28(4): 851-862.

2017 Preller, D.* & Smart, M.* (2017) Reusable Launch of Small Satellites Using Scramjets. Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, 54(6): 1317-1329.


2017 Raghunath, S.*, Mee, D.* & Narasimha, R. (2017) Estimating turbulent spot initiation rates from transition lengths in hypersonic boundary layers. AIAA Journal, 55(11): 3640-3647.

2017 Sheikh, U.*, Wei, H., Lewis, S.*, James, C.*, Leyland, P., Morgan, R.* et al. (2017) Spectrally filtered imaging and vacuum ultraviolet spectroscopy of preheated models in X2. AIAA Journal, 55(12): 1-14.

2016 Alba, C., Greendyke, R., Lewis, S.*, Morgan, R.* & McIntyre, T.* (2016) Numerical modeling of Earth reentry flow with surface ablation. Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, 53(1): 84-97.

2016 Bakhsh, A., Gao, S., Samtaney, R. & Wheatley, V.* (2016) Linear simulations of the cylindrical Richtmyer-Meshkov instability in magnetohydrodynamics. Physics of Fluids, 28(3)

2016 Banerjee, S.*, Wang, Z., Baur, B., Holzapfel, F., Che, J. & Cao, C. (2016) L1 adaptive control augmentation for the longitudinal dynamics of a hypersonic glider. Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, 39(2): 275-291.

2016 Bond, D.*, Wheatley, V.* & Goldsworthy, M. (2016) Numerical investigation into the performance of alternative Knudsen pump designs. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 93: 1038-1058.

2016 de Crombrugghe, G.*, Morgan, R.* & Chazot, O. (2016) Theoretical approach and experimental verification of the role of diffusive transport under binary scaling conditions. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 97: 675-682.

2016 Denman, Z.*, Chan, W.*, Brieschenk, S.*, Veeraragavan, A.*, Wheatley, V.* & Smart, M.* (2016) Ignition experiments of hydrocarbons in a mach 8 shape-transitioning scramjet engine. Journal of Propulsion and Power, 32(6): 1462-1471.

2016 Hermann, T., Loehle, S., Zander, F., Fulge, H. & Fasoulas, S. (2016) Characterization of a re-entry plasma wind-tunnel flow with vacuum-ultraviolet to near infrared spectroscopy. Journal of Thermophysics and Heat Transfer, 30(3): 673-688.

2016 Kang, X.*, Gollan, R.*, Jacobs, P.* & Veeraragavan, A.* (2016) Suppression of instabilities in a premixed methane–air flame in a narrow channel via hydrogen/carbon monoxide addition. Combustion and Flame, 173: 266-275.

2016 Landsberg, W.*, Wheatley, V.* & Veeraragavan, A.* (2016) Characteristics of cascaded fuel injectors within an accelerating scramjet combustor. AIAA Journal, 54(12): 3692-3700.

2016 Lewis, S.*, Morgan, R.*, McIntyre, T.*, Alba, C. & Greendyke, R. (2016) Expansion tunnel experiments of earth reentry flow with surface ablation. Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, 53(5): 887-899.

2016 Macrossan, M.* (2016) Restricted Collision List method for faster Direct Simulation Monte-Carlo (DSMC) collisions. Journal of Computational Physics, 319: 1-8.

2016 Mostert, W.*, Pullin, D., Samtaney, R. & Wheatley, V.* (2016) Converging cylindrical magnetohydrodynamic shock collapse onto a power-law-varying line current. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 793: 414-443.

2016 Mostert, W., Pullin, D., Samtaney, R. & Wheatley, V.* (2016) Geometrical shock dynamics for magnetohydrodynamic fast shocks. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 811.

2016 Sheikh, U.*, Morgan, R.* & McIntyre, T.* (2016) Optical thickness measurements of vacuum ultraviolet radiation in the X2 expansion tube. AIAA Journal, 54(8): 2407-2417.

2016 Stalker, C., Morgan, R.* & Tanner, R. (2016) Raymond John Stalker 1930-2014. Historical Records of Australian Science, 27(1): 70-80.

2016 Veeraragavan, A.*, Beri, J.* & Gollan, R.* (2016) Use of the method of manufactured solutions for the verification of conjugate heat transfer solvers. Journal of Computational Physics, 307: 308-320.

2016 Yamada, K., Jahn, I.* & Buttsworth, D. (2016) Experimental and analytical investigation of hypersonic fluid-structure-interactions on a pitching flat plate airfoil. Applied Mechanics and Materials, 846: 157-162.

2016 Zander, F.* (2016) Surface temperature measurements in hypersonic testing using digital single-lens reflex cameras. Journal of Thermophysics and Heat Transfer, 30(4): 919-925.

Publ Year

Conference Paper


2018 Chai, J., Smart, M. & Kearney, M. (2018). Re-entry dynamics and control of pivot wing fly back boosters. In 2018 AIAA SPACE and Astronautics Forum and Exposition. AIAA Space and Astronautics Forum and Exposition, 2018, Orlando, FL. September 17, 2018-September 19, 2018.

2018 Curran, D., Wheatley, V. & Smart, M. (2018). Investigation of combustion mode control in a mach 8 shape-transitioning scramjet. In 22nd AIAA International Space Planes and Hypersonics Systems and Technologies Conference. 22nd AIAA International Space Planes and Hypersonics Systems and Technologies Conference, 2018, Orlando, FL. September 17, 2018-September 19, 2018.

2018 Donegan, B., Greendyke, R., Ravichandran, R.*, Lewis, S.*, Morgan, R.*, McIntyre, T.* et al. (2018). Experimental analysis of the interaction of carbon and silicon ablation products with expanding hypersonic flows. In 22nd AIAA International Space Planes and Hypersonics Systems and Technologies Conference, 2018. 22nd AIAA International Space Planes and Hypersonics Systems and Technologies Conference, 2018, Orlando, FL, United States. 17-19 September 2018.

2018 Forbes-Spyratos, S.*, Kearney, M.*, Smart, M.* & Jahn, I.* (2018). Fly-back of a scramjet-powered accelerator. In AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting, 2018. AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting, 2018, Kissimmee, FL, United States, (1-16). January 8-12, 2018.

2018 Gildfind, D., Jacobs, P., Gollan, R., Toniato, P., McIntyre, T., Andrianatos, A. et al. (2018). Flow characterization and modeling of the X2 and X3 expansion tubes. In VKI Lecture Series STO-AVT-235 on Flow Characterization and Modeling of Hypersonic Wind Tunnels. VKI Lecture Series STO-AVT-235 on Flow Characterization and Modeling of Hypersonic Wind Tunnels, Brussels, Belgium. 3-5 December 2018.

2018 Gildfind, D.*, Smith, D.*, Lewis, S.*, Kelly, R.*, James, C.*, Wei, H.* et al. (2018). Expansion Tube Magnetohydrodynamic Experiments with Argon Test Gas. In 2018 Flow Control Conference. 2018 Flow Control Conference, Atlanta, Georgia. 25-29 June 2018.

2018 Jahn, I.*, Currao, G., Neely, A., Gollan, R.* & Jacobs, P.* (2018). Two way coupled hypersonic fluid structure interaction simulations with Eilmer. In 21st Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference. 21st Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, Adelaide, SA, Australia. 10-13 December 2018.

2018 Jahn, I.*, Zander, F., Stern, N. & Buttsworth, D. (2018). Simulation in the loop control of a planar hypersonic wing with a rigid control surface. In 21st Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference. 21st Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, Adelaide SA, Australia. 10-13 December 2018.

2018 James, C., Smith, D., McLean, C., Morgan, R., Lewis, S. & Toniato, P. (2018). Improving high enthalpy expansion tube condition characterisation using high speed imagery. In 2018 Aerodynamic Measurement Technology and Ground Testing Conference. 34th AIAA Aerodynamic Measurement Technology and Ground Testing Conference, 2018, Atlanta, GA. June 25, 2018-June 29, 2018.

2018 Kunze, J.*, Smart, M.* & Gollan, R.* (2018). A design method for elliptical to rectangular shape transition nozzles. In 22nd AIAA International Space Planes and Hypersonics Systems and Technologies Conference, 2018. 22nd AIAA International Space Planes and Hypersonics Systems and Technologies Conference, 2018, Orlando, FL, United States. September 17, 2018-September 19, 2018.

2018 Liu, Y., James, C., Morgan, R. & McIntyre, T. (2018). Experimental study of saturn entry radiation with higher amount of diluent in an expansion tube. In 2018 Joint Thermophysics and Heat Transfer Conference. 12th AIAA/ASME Joint Thermophysics and Heat Transfer Conference, 2018, [state] GA, [city] Atlanta. June 25, 2018-June 29, 2018.

2018 Smith, D., Gildfind, D., James, C., McIntyre, T. & Wheatley, V. (2018). Magnetohydrodynamic drag force measurements in an expansion tube. In 2018 Flow Control Conference. 9th AIAA Flow Control Conference, 2018, [state] GA, [city] Atlanta. June 25, 2018-June 29, 2018.

2018 Stennett, S., Gildfind, D., Jacobs, P. & Morgan, R. (2018). Performance optimization of X3R: A new reflected shock tunnel mode for the X3 expansion tube. In 2018 Aerodynamic Measurement Technology and Ground Testing Conference. 34th AIAA Aerodynamic Measurement Technology and Ground Testing Conference, 2018, Atlanta, GA. June 25, 2018-June 29, 2018.


2018 Stern, N., Jahn, I., Choudhury, R., Zander, F., Steelant, J. & Buttsworth, D. (2018). Analysis of hypersonic model pitching experiments in the TUSQ facility. In HiSST: International Conference on High-Speed Vehicle Science Technology. HiSST: International Conference on High-Speed Vehicle Science Technology, Moscow, Russia. 26-29 Novermber 2018.

2018 Toniato, P.*, Gildfind, D.*, Andrianatos, A.* & Morgan, R.* (2018). Full free-stream mach 12 scramjet testing in expansion tubes. In 2018 Applied Aerodynamics Conference. 36th AIAA Applied Aerodynamics Conference, 2018, Atlanta, GA, United States. 25-29 June 2018.

2018 Vanyai, T.*, Grieve, S.*, Street, O.*, Denman, Z.*, McIntyre, T.*, Veeraragavan, A.* et al. (2018). Fundamental scramjet combustion experiments using hydrocarbon fuel. In 22nd AIAA International Space Planes and Hypersonics Systems and Technologies Conference. AIAA International Space Planes and Hypersonics Systems and Technologies Conference, AIAA SPACE Forum, Orlando, FL, United States. 17–19 September 2018.

2018 Ward, A., Smart, M. & Gollan, R. (2018). Development of a rapid inviscid-boundary layer aerodynamics tool. In 22nd AIAA International Space Planes and Hypersonics Systems and Technologies Conference. 22nd AIAA International Space Planes and Hypersonics Systems and Technologies Conference, 2018, Orlando, FL. September 17, 2018-September 19, 2018.

2017 Chai, J.*, Smart, M.*, Forbes-Spyratos, S.* & Kearney, M.* (2017). Fly Back Booster Design for Mach 5 Scramjet Launch. In 68th International Astronautical Congress. 68th International Astronautical Congress, Adelaide, Australia, (1-11). 25-29 September 2017.

2017 Chai, J., Smart, M., Forbes-Spyratos, S. & Kearney, M. (2017). Fly back booster design for Mach 5 scramjet launch. In Proceedings of the International Astronautical Congress, IAC. 68th International Astronautical Congress: Unlocking Imagination, Fostering Innovation and Strengthening Security, IAC 2017, Adelaide, SA, (10140-10150). September 25, 2017-September 29, 2017.

2017 Forbes-Spyratos, S.*, Kearney, M.*, Smart, M.* & Jahn, I.* (2017). Trajectory design of a rocket-scramjet-rocket multi-stage launch system. In 21st AIAA International Space Planes and Hypersonics Technologies Conference, Hypersonics 2017. 21st AIAA International Space Planes and Hypersonics Technologies Conference, Hypersonics 2017, Xiamen, China. 6-9 March 2017.

2017 Geraets, R., McGilvray, M., Doherty, L., Morgan, R.*, James, C.*, Vanyai, T.* et al. (2017). Development of a fast-response calorimeter gauge for hypersonic ground testing. In AIAA Aerodynamic Measurement Technology and Ground Testing Conference. AIAA Aerodynamic Measurement Technology and Ground Testing Conference, Denver, CO, United States. 5-9 June 2017.

2017 Geraets, R., McGilvray, M., Doherty, L., Morgan, R.*, James, C.*, Vanyai, T.* et al. (2017). Development of a fast-response calorimeter heat transfer gauge for hypersonic ground testing. In 33rd AIAA Aerodynamic Measurement Technology and Ground Testing Conference. 33rd AIAA Aerodynamic Measurement Technology and Ground Testing Conference, Denver, Colorado. 5-9 June 2017.

2017 Gildfind, D.* & Morgan, R.* (2017). A new sliding joint to accommodate recoil of a free-piston driven expansion tube. In The 30th International Symposium on Shock Waves. The 30th International Symposium on Shock Waves, Tel Aviv, Israel, (1397-1400). 19-24 July 2015.

2017 Gu, S.*, Morgan, R.* & McIntyre, T.* (2017). Study of afterbody radiation during mars entry in an expansion tube. In AIAA SciTech Forum - 55th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting. 55th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting, Grapevine, TX, United States. 9 - 13 January 2017.

2017 Hoste, J., Casseau, V., Fossati, M., Taylor, I. & Gollan, R.* (2017). Numerical modeling and simulation of supersonic flows in propulsion systems by open-source solvers. In 21st AIAA International Space Planes and Hypersonics Technologies Conference, Hypersonics 2017. 21st AIAA International Space Planes and Hypersonics Technologies Conference, Xiamen, China. 6-9 March 2017.

2017 Hoste, J., Fossati, M., Taylor, I. & Gollan, R. (2017). Modeling scramjet supersonic combustion via eddy dissipation model. In Proceedings of the International Astronautical Congress, IAC. 68th International Astronautical Congress: Unlocking Imagination, Fostering Innovation and Strengthening Security, IAC 2017, Adelaide, SA, (9165-9177). September 25, 2017-September 29, 2017.


2017 James, C.*, Gildfind, D.*, Morgan, R.*, Lewis, S.* & McIntyre, T.* (2017). Experimentally simulating gas giant entry in an expansion tube. In 21st AIAA International Space Planes and Hypersonics Technologies Conference, Hypersonics 2017. 21st International Space Planes and Hypersonic Systems and Technologies Conference, Xiamen, China. 6 - 9 March 2017.

2017 Landsberg, W.*, Gibbons, N.*, Wheatley, V.*, Smart, M.* & Veeraragavan, A.* (2017). Flow field manipulation via fuel injectors in scramjets. In 21st AIAA International Space Planes and Hypersonics Technologies Conference, Hypersonics 2017. 21st AIAA International Space Planes and Hypersonics Technologies Conference, Hypersonics 2017, Xiamen, China. 6 - 9 March 2017.

2017 Landsberg, W., Wheatley, V., Smart, M. & Veeraragavan, A. (2017). Performance of high Mach number scramjets - Tunnel vs flight. In Proceedings of the International Astronautical Congress, IAC. 68th International Astronautical Congress: Unlocking Imagination, Fostering Innovation and Strengthening Security, IAC 2017, Adelaide, SA, (9156-9164). September 25, 2017-September 29, 2017.

2017 Landsberg, W.*, Wheatley, V.*, Smart, M.* & Veeraragavan, A.* (2017). Reducing combustor length within a mach 12 shape-transitioning scramjet. In 11th Asia-Pacific Conference on Combustion, ASPACC 2017. 11th Asia-Pacific Conference on Combustion, ASPACC 2017, Sydney, Australia. 10-14 December 2017.

2017 Llobet, J.*, Gollan, R.* & Jahn, I.* (2017). Effect of Vortex-injection Interaction on Wall Heat Transfer in a Flat Plate and Fin Corner Geometry. In Transactions of the Japan Society for Aeronautical and Space Sciences. Asia-Pacific International Symposium on Aerospace Technology, Toyama, Japan, (A17-A26). 25-27 October 2016.

2017 Raghunath, S., Narasimha, R. & Mee, D. (2017). Dependence of Turbulent Spot Initiation Rates on Hypersonic Boundary Layer Flow Parameters. In AIAA SciTech Forum - 55th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting. 55th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit, Dallas, TX, United States. 9-13 January 2017.

2017 Vanyai, T.*, Brieschenk, S.* & McIntyre, T.* (2017). OH imaging in a non-uniform, hydrogen-fueled scramjet engine. In A.R. Masri, M. Cleary, M. Dunn, A. Kourmatzis, E.R. Hawkes, S. Kook, Q.N. Chan (Eds.), 11th Asia-Pacific Conference on Combustion, ASPACC 2017. 11th Asia-Pacific Conference on Combustion, ASPACC 2017, Sydney, Australia. 10-14 December 2017.

2017 Wei, H.*, Morgan, R.*, McIntyre, T.*, Brandis, A. & Johnston, C. (2017). Experimental and numerical investigation of air radiation in superorbital expanding flow. In 47th AIAA Thermophysics Conference. 47th AIAA Thermophysics Conference, Denver, CO, United States. 5 - 9 June 2017.

2017 Wei, H.*, Morgan, R.*, Sheikh, U.*, Jacobs, P.*, Gollan, R.* & McIntyre, T.* (2017). Preliminary experimental investigation of air radiation in super-orbital expanding flow. In International Symposium on Shock Waves. International Symposium on Shock Waves, Tel Aviv, Israel, (827-831). 19-24 July 2015.

2016 Andrianatos, A., Gildfind, D. & Morgan, R. (2016). Preliminary development of high enthalpy conditions for the X3 expansion tube. In 20th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, 20AFMC. 20th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, 20AFMC, Perth, WA, Australia. 5-8 December 2016.

2016 Banerji, N., Leyland, P. & Morgan, R.* (2016). Expansion tunnel ablation testing in venus entry condition. In 46th AIAA Thermophysics Conference. 46th AIAA Thermophysics Conference, Washington, DC, United States. 13 - 17 June 2016.

2016 Basore, K.*, Selzer, M., Wheatley, V.*, Boyce, R., Mee, D.*, Capra, B. et al. (2016). Performance Comparison of Distributed Injection Methods for Hypersonic Film-Cooling. In 20th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference. 20th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, Perth, Western Australia. 5-8 December 2016.

2016 Bond, D.*, Wheatley, V.* & Samtaney, R. (2016). Plasma flow simulation using the two-fluid model. In 20th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference. 20th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, Perth, Western Australia. 5-8 December 2016.

2016 Chua, A., Rufford, T., Arami-Niya, A., Rose, E. & Gildfind, D. (2016). Evaluation of a pressure-swing adsorption process for recovery of helium from a laboratory shock-tunnel facility. In 12th International Conference on the Fundamentals of Adsorption (FOA12). 12th International Conference on the Fundamentals of Adsorption (FOA12), Friedrichshafen, Germany. 29 May - 3 June 2016.

2016 Damm, K.*, Gollan, R.* & Veeraragavan, A.* (2016). On the effect of workload ordering for reacting flow simulations using GPUs. In 20th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference. 20th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, Perth, Australia. 5 – 8 December 2016.


2016 Denman, Z.*, Wheatley, V.*, Smart, M.* & Veeraragavan, A.* (2016). Fuel injection and mixing in a Mach 8 hydrocarbon-fuelled scramjet. In 20th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference. 20th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, Perth, Australia. 5 – 8 December 2016.

2016 Fahy, E.*, Gollan, R.*, Buttsworth, D.*, Jacobs, P.* & Morgan, R.* (2016). Experimental and computational fluid dynamics studies of superorbital earth re-entry. In 46th AIAA Thermophysics Conference. 46th AIAA Thermophysics Conference, Washington, DC, United States. 13 - 17 June 2016.

2016 Gibbons, N.*, Wheatley, V.* & Doolan, C. (2016). Preliminary Investigation of Sound Generation in Scramjets. In 20th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference. 20th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, Perth, Western Australia. 5-8 December 2016.

2016 James, C., Gildfind, D., Morgan, R., Lewis, S. & McIntyre, T. (2016). Simulating Gas Giant Entry with Increased Helium Diluent in in an Expansion Tube. In Ben-Dor (Eds.), 30th International Symposium on Shock Waves. 30th International Symposium on Shock Waves, Tel Aviv, Israel, (1-1). 19-24 July 2015.

2016 Kang, X.*, Gollan, R.*, Jacobs, P.* & Veeraragavan, A.* (2016). On the effect of outflow boundary truncation for numerical simulation of narrow-channel flames. In 20th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference. 20th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, Perth, Australia. 5 – 8 December 2016.

2016 McGilvray, M., Pearce, W. & James, C. (2016). Non-Helium Secondary Driver. In 7th International Workshop on Radiation of High Temperature Gases in Atmospheric Entry. 7th International Workshop on Radiation of High Temperature Gases in Atmospheric Entry, Stuttgart, Germany. 21-26 November 2016.

2016 Mee, D. (2016). Force Measurement in Impulse Hypersonic Facilities. In First International Symposium on Hypersonics. First International Symposium on Hypersonics, Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. 27-30 November 2016.

2016 Mee, D. & Raghunath, S. (2016). Boundary layer transition in hypersonic flows. In Franco-Australian Symposium on Hypersonics and High Enthalpy Flows. Franco-Australian Symposium on Hypersonics and High Enthalpy Flows, Châtenay-Malabry, France. 7-9 September 2016.

2016 Mee, D. & Raghunath, S. (2016). UQ research in transitional flows. In 1st French-Australian Workshop on Re-entry and Hypersonic Aerothermodynamics. 1st French-Australian Workshop on Re-entry and Hypersonic Aerothermodynamics, Brisbane, QLD, Australia. 23-25 February, 2016.

2016 Mora-Monteros, J., Leyland, P., Hannema, G., Sheikh, U., Fahy, E.*, Morgan, R.* et al. (2016). Analysis and rebuilding of experiments on a heated carbon graphite model in the X2 expansion tube. In 46th AIAA Thermophysics Conference. 46th AIAA Thermophysics Conference, Washington, DC, United States. 13 - 17 June 2016.

2016 Moura, A.*, Wheatley, V.*, McIntyre, T.* & Jahn, I.* (2016). On the development of a Mach 10 scramjet engine for investigation of supersonic combustion regimes. In 20th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference. 20th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, Perth, Western Australia. 5-8 December 2016.

2016 Stennett, S.*, Chan, W.*, Gildfind, D.* & Jacobs, P.* (2016). Validating the k-omega turbulence model for 3D flows within the CFD solver Eilmer. In Australasian Conference on Computational Mechanics. Australasian Conference on Computational Mechanics, Brisbane, Australia, (67-72). 30 November - 1 December 2015.

2016 Toniato, P.*, Gildfind, D.*, Jacobs, P.* & Morgan, R.* (2016). Development of a new Mach 12 scramjet operating capability in the X3 expansion tube. In Asia-Pacific International Symposium on Aerospace Technology (APISAT). Asia-Pacific International Symposium on Aerospace Technology (APISAT), Cairns, QLD, Australia. 25 – 27 November 2015.

2016 Toniato, P.*, Gildfind, D.*, Jacobs, P.* & Morgan, R.* (2016). Extension of the X3 expansion tube capabilities for Mach 12 scramjet testing: flow condition: development and nozzle optimization. In 20th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference. 20th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, Perth, Western Australia, Australia. 5-8 December 2-16.

2016 Toniato, P., Gildfind, D. & Morgan, R. (2016). Current progress of the development of a Mach 12 scramjet operating condition in the X3 expansion tube. In 11th International Workshop on Shock Tube Technology. 11th International Workshop on Shock Tube Technology, Gottingen, Germany. 30 June -2 July 2016.


2016 Wang, J.*, Gollan, R.* & Veeraragavan, A.* (2016). Verification of RANS turbulence model in Eilmer using the Method of Manufactured Solutions. In 20th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference. 20th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, Perth, Australia. 5 – 8 December 2016.

2016 Wheatley, V.*, Mostert, W., Bond, D.* & Samtaney, R. (2016). Local field effects on magnetic suppression of the converging Richtmyer-Meshkov instability. In 20th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference. 20th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, Perth, Western Australia. 5-8 December 2016.

2016 Zander, F. & Loehle, S. (2016). Analysis of air plasma flows in magnetoplasmadynamic arcjet testing. In 32nd AIAA Aerodynamic Measurement Technology and Ground Testing Conference. 32nd AIAA Aerodynamic Measurement Technology and Ground Testing Conference, Washington, DC, United States. 13-17 June 2016.

2015 Doherty, L., Smart, M.* & Mee, D.* (2015). Measurement of three-components of force on an airframe integrated scramjet at Mach 10. In 20th AIAA International Space Planes and Hypersonic Systems and Technologies Conference, 2015. AIAA International Space Planes and Hypersonic Systems and Technologies Conference, Glasgow, Scotland. 6-9 July 2015.

2015 Ridings, A.* & Smart, M.* (2015). Investigation of the flow establishment of pre-combustion shock trains in a shock tunnel. In 20th AIAA International Space Planes and Hypersonic Systems and Technologies Conference, 2015. International Space Planes and Hypersonic Systems and Technologies Conference, Glasgow, Scotland, (2902-2911). 6-9 July 2015.

Publ Year

Department Technical Report

2018 Stennett, S., Gildfind, D., Jacobs, P. & Morgan, R. (2018) Operational verification of the X3R facility free-piston

driver. : 1-17.

2017 Gollan, R. & Jacobs, P. (2017) The User's Guide to the Dlang gas package. : 1-35.

2017 Jacobs, P. & Gollan, R. (2017) The user's guide to the Eilmer4 flow simulation program. : 1-102.

2017 Jacobs, P., Zawasky, P. & Nordman, M. (2017) Elements of FlashForth 5.. : 1-27.

2017 Jahn, I. (2017) SSCAR - Steady State Cycle AnalyseR. .

2017 Robinson, M., Rowan, S., Odam, J., Mee, D., Hitchcock, K., Malcolm, D. et al. (2017) T4 free piston shock tunnel operator’s manual version 2.1. .

2016 Jacobs, P. (2016) A Tutorial Guide to Programming PIC18, PIC24 and ATmega Microcontrollers with FlashForth. 2016 Revision. : 1-69.

2016 Jacobs, P. (2016) FlashForth 5 Quick Reference for PIC and AVR Microcontrollers. : 1-8.

2016 Jacobs, P. & Gollan, R. (2016) The user's guide to the Dlang geometry package. : 1-42.


Appendix 4 – USQ publications (2016-2018)

[1] Mengmeng Zhao, David Buttsworth, and Rishabh Choudhury, “Experimental and numerical study of

OH* chemiluminescence in hydrogen diffusion flames”, Combustion and Flame, vol. 197, pp. 369–377,

2018.

[2] K. Ariafar, T. Cochrane, R. Malpress, and D. Buttsworth, “Pitot and static pressure measurement and

cfd simulation of a co-flowing steam jet”, Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science, vol. 97, pp. 36–47,

2018.

[3] K Yamada, I Jahn, and D Buttsworth, “Experimental and analytical investigation of hypersonic fluid-

structure-interactions on a pitching flat plate airfoil”, Applied Mechanics and Materials, vol. 846, pp.

157–162, 2016, doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.846.157.

[4] K Ariafar, D Buttsworth, G Al-Doori, and N Sharifi, “Mixing layer effects on the entrainment ratio in

steam ejectors through ideal gas computational simulations”, Energy, vol. 95, pp. 380–392, 2016,

doi:10.1016/j.energy.2015.12.027.

[5] J Leis and D Buttsworth, “A temperature compensation technique for near-infrared methane gas

threshold detection”, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, vol. 63, no. 3, pp. 1813–1821, 2016,

doi:10.1109/TIE.2015.2495292.

[6] Mengmeng Zhao, David Buttsworth, Rowan Gollan, and Peter Jacobs, “Simulation of a rotating

detonation ramjet model in Mach 4 flow”, in 21st Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, 2018.

[7] A Al-Manea, D Buttsworth, J Leis, R Choudhury, and K Saleh, “Measurement of water vapour in

axisymmetric jet development using tdlas”, in 21st Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, 2018.

[8] R Al-Rbaihat, R Malpress, D Buttsworth, and Kh Saleh, “Detached eddy simulation of an adjustable

radial ejector”, in 21st Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, 2018.

[9] IHJ Jahn, F Zander, N Stern, and DR Buttsworth, “Simulation in the loop control of a planar hypersonic

wing with a rigid control surface”, in 21st Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, 2018.

[10] Johan Steelant, V Villace, Alexander Kallenbach, A Wagner, Jean-Yves Andro, S Di Benedetto, B

Saracoglu, SL Chernyshev, AA Gubanov, VA Talyzin, Voevodenko NV, Kukshinov NV, AN Prokhorov,

Grigoriev V, Neely AJ, Verstraete D, and Buttsworth D, “Flight testing designs in hexafly-int for high-

speed transportation”, in International Conference on High- Speed Vehicle Science and Technology

2018 (HiSST), 2018.

[11] Rishabh Choudhury, Villance Victor F., Johan Steelant, and David Buttsworth, “Micro-

aerothermodynamic analysis of protuberances and clearances on a hypersonic glider using a reduced

domain approach”, in International Conference on High-Speed Vechicle Science and Technology 2018

(HiSST), 2018.

[12] Nathan Stern, Ingo Jahn, Choudhury Rishabh, Fabian Zander, Johan Steelant, and David R. Buttsworth,

“Analysis of hypersonic model pitching experiments in the tusq facility”, in International Conference on

High-Speed Vechicle Science and Technology 2018 (HiSST), 2018.

[13] Sudip Bhattrai, Liam McQuellin, Gaetano M Currao, Andrew Neely, and David Buttsworth, “Influence of

hypersonic fluid-structure interaction on the control authority of a trailing-edge flap”, in 22nd AIAA

International Space Planes and Hypersonics Systems and Technologies Conference, 2018, AIAA Paper

2018-5265.

[14] Byrenn Birch, David Buttsworth, Rishabh Choudhury, and Nathan Stern, “Characterization of a Ludwieg

tube with free piston compression heating in Mach 6 configuration”, in 22nd AIAA International Space

Planes and Hypersonics Systems and Technologies Conference, 2018, AIAA Paper 2018-5266.


[15] Nathan Stern, David Buttsworth, Byrenn Birch, and Rishabh Choudhury, “Hypersonic pitching control

model development”, in 22nd AIAA International Space Planes and Hypersonics Systems and

Technologies Conference, 2018, AIAA Paper 2018-5267.

[16] Mengmeng Zhao, David Buttsworth, and Rishabh Choudhury, “Supersonic combustion of hydrogen in

Mach 2 flows over an axisymmetric model”, in 22nd AIAA International Space Planes and Hypersonics

Systems and Technologies Conference, 2018, AIAA Paper 2018-5252.

[17] David Buttsworth, “Calibration of a gas dynamic model for ejector performance”, in Second Thermal and

Fluids Engineering Conference. American Society of Thermal and Fluids Engineers, 2017, pp. 2463–

2477, doi:10.1615/TFEC2017.ipc.018332.

[18] Mengmeng Zhao, David R Buttsworth, Rishabh Choudhury, Ray Malpress, and Fei Xing, “Study of an

axisymmetric backward facing step model in a supersonic flow”, in 21st AIAA International space planes

and hypersonics technologies conference, 2017, AIAA Paper 2017-2181.

[19] Jai Vennik, Andrew J Neely, Sean Tuttle, Rishabh Choudhury, and David R Buttsworth, “Reproducing

non-uniform surface temperature profiles on hypersonic cruise vehicles in impulsive wind tunnels”, in

21st AIAA International Space Planes and Hypersonics Technologies Conference, 2017, AIAA Paper

2017-2194.

[20] Rowland T Penty Geraets, Matthew McGilvray, Luke Doherty, Richard G Morgan, Christopher M

James, Tristan Vanyai, and David R Buttsworth, “Development of a fast-response calorimeter gauge for

hypersonic ground testing”, in 33rd AIAA Aerodynamic Measurement Technology and Ground Testing

Conference, 2017, AIAA Paper 2017-3238.

[21] Gaetano MD Currao, Andrew J Neely, David R Buttsworth, and Sudhir L Gai, “Hypersonic fluid-structure

interaction on a cantilevered plate”, in 7th European Conference for Aeronautics and Space Sciences

(EUCASS), 2017, p. 14 pp., doi:10.13009/EUCASS2017-299.

[22] Chris Kennell, Bodo Reimann, Rishabh Choudhury, David Buttsworth, and Andrew Neely, “Subscale

hypersonic free flight dynamics of HEXAFLY-INT EFTV + ESM (multibody separation)”,in 7th European

Conference for Aeronautics and Space Sciences (EUCASS), 2017, p. 15pp. doi:10. 13009/EUCASS

2017-186.

[23] D Buttsworth, N Stern, and R Choudhury, “A demonstration of hypersonic pitching control in the tusq

hypersonic wind tunnel”, in 55th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting, AIAA SciTech Forum, 2017, AIAA

Paper 2017-0261, p. 17 pp.

[24] H Rahimi, R Malpress, and D Buttsworth, “Investigation of radial flow ejector concept through cfd

analysis”, in 20th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, Perth, Western Australia, 5-8 December

2016, paper 456.

[25] R Choudhury, J Fuata, N Stern, and D Buttsworth, “Surface convective heating rates for a double

swept-wedge configuration at Mach 6”, in 20th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, Perth,

Western Australia, 5-8 December 2016, paper 573.

[26] T R Cochrane, D R Buttsworth, B Thornber, and M Dennis, “Free shear layer development in an ejector:

a jet in an axisymmetric ducted coflow”, in 20th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, Perth,

Western Australia, 5-8 December 2016, paper 602.

[27] M M Zhao, R Choudhury, R Malpress, and D R Buttsworth, “Absolute concentration measurements of

OH* in an axisymmetric hydrogen-air premixed flame adjacent to a hot graphite”, in 20th Australasian

Fluid Mechanics Conference, Perth, Western Australia, 5-8 December 2016, paper 484.

[28] J Steelant, V Villace, M Marini, G Pezzella, B Reimann, S L Chernyshev, A A Gubanov, V A Talyzin, N

V Voevodenko, N V Kukshinov, A N Prokhorov, A J Neely, C Kennell, D Verstraete, and D Buttsworth,

“Numerical and experimental research on aerodynamics of a high-speed passenger vehicle with the

hexafly-int project”, in ICAS 2016: 30th Congress of the International Council of the Aeronautical

Sciences, 2016, p. 17 pp.


[29] E Fahy, D Buttsworth, R Gollan, P Jacobs, and R G Morgan, “Experimental and computational fluid

dynamics studies of superorbital earth re-entry”, in 46th AIAA Thermophysics Conference, AIAA

Aviation, 2016, AIAA Paper 2016-3532.

[30] G M D Currao, A J Neely, D R Buttsworth, and R Choudhury, “Measurement and simulation of

hypersonic fluid-structural interaction on a cantilevered plate in a Mach 6 flow”, in AIAA SciTech, 2016,

AIAA Paper 2016-1088, p. 16 pp.

[31] C Kennell, A Neely, M Tahtali, D R Buttsworth, and R Choudhury, “Free flight testing in hypersonic

flows: HEXAFLY-INT EFTV”, in AIAA SciTech, 2016, AIAA Paper 2016-1152, p. 13 pp.


Contact details

Professor Richard Morgan T +61 7 3365 4414 E [email protected] W uq.edu.au

CRICOS Provider Number 00025B

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.uq.edu.au/

Documents

Annual Report (2016-2018) - Centre for Hypersonicshypersonics.mechmining.uq.edu.au/filething/get/1570/CfH annual report 2016_2018.pdfA major development within the group includes an