University of Birmingham researchers win national image prize

PhD Aerospace Engineering student Hibah Saddal and supervisor Dr Chandan Bose, Assistant Professor of Aerospace Engineering in the School of Metallurgy and Materials, have won the national EPCC ARCHER2 Best Image Prize for their research on morphing wings.

The winning image, "Formation of a Reverse Kármán Vortex Street in the Wake of a Morphing Wing", shows a fully flexible aerofoil, with varying flexibilities at the leading and trailing edges, that mitigates the effect of gust through passive morphing. The flexible morphing foil interacts with the incoming fluid flow, creating a symmetrical reverse Kármán vortex street in its wake through the alternate shedding of opposite-sense vortices resulting from the leading- and trailing-edge vortex interactions. The image capture required high-fidelity simulations on the Archer2 HPC system, achieved by coupling OpenFOAM (a finite-volume method) as the fluid solver with CalculiX (a finite-element method) as the solid solver. This wake pattern, formed by a coherent train of vortices with an opposite sense of rotation at a high Strouhal number, is representative of thrust generation. Visualised using finite-time Lyapunov exponent, the image showcases the benefits of dynamic fluid-structure interaction.

ARCHER2, the latest iteration of the UK National Supercomputing Service, holds the annual image competition to promote the contribution of ARCHER2 in outstanding research. This is the second year in a row that Dr Chandan Bose has been recognised by the competition, winning the Early Career Entry in 2024 for his image, "Separated vortex ring above a three-dimensional porous disc."

Many congratulations to Hibah and Dr Bose!