“Engineering and weather forecasting may become more alike in future,” says Dr Julian Hunt, who delivered his inaugural speech as professor of turbulent flows at TU Delft yesterday.
Hunt is also a professor of climate modelling, in London, and a member of Britain’s House of Lords.
“When something makes a lot of noise, like an aircraft, you can try to control it with anti-noise or you can be clever and change the way the flow of air is developing, thus reducing the amount of noise being produced,” says Professor Julian Hunt, an engineer by training.
“Companies are very secret about it, but according to my information they are putting in some pulsation to control the flow around the compressor blades. Numerical simulation and experimental studies have shown that it may be possible to suppress the growth of instabilities within a turbulent boundary layer flow by appropriately forcing the flow with active elements, such as by small vertical movements of a set of wall panels. For this operation such a system needs to make ‘on-line’ measurements of the fluctuating motion upwind of the elements, and pass them to a processor which controls the active elements.”
“When you want to control the turbulence, engineering may become more similar with weather forecasting in which you are also constantly measuring flows and predicting the changes in those flows in time. And you don’t have all the information, because there are areas where you haven’t measured,” he says. However, turbulence is not always a bad thing. “If we understand it in a certain situation, we can use it for mixing or separating. Unfortunately, turbulence manifests itself differently in different situations, so one universal computer model won’t do for everything.”
Hunt enjoys working in Delft, because of the close co-operation with experimental groups. “This lab is doing pioneering work in measuring the structure of a turbulence, which is not easy.” Hunt comes to Delft once every two weeks. For him, the journey is no problem.
“I live in London and fly to Rotterdam. I usually only stay one night in Delft and return to England the following night,” says Hunt. Although he only spends a small part of his time in Delft, he sees his position here as being valuable for both parties. %I’m connecting the group in Delft to other groups in Europe, and vice versa. I like working with TU Delft students. They benefit my own research, because they ask questions I’ve never thought of before.”
Besides being a professor in two countries, Hunt is the non-executive director of his own company. “I founded a company, because applying my research in my own company is easier than convincing other companies to use it.” Hunt’s company specialises in modelling the spread of pollution in the atmosphere. “Our computer models are fast and easy to use. They’re now used in all the major English cities for planning.”
In May, Hunt became a member of Britain’s House of Lords. When he was a Cambridge University academic, Hunt was the leader of the Labour party in the city council, introducingmany environmental issues.
“In the House of Lords there are very few scientists. It’s been a long time since someone with a physics or mathematical background was appointed, so I’ll be on some science committees. The main point I want to address in the House of Lords is the availability of scientific information, like environmental and geographical data and health statistics. This kind of information is much more easily available in the United States, where all public organisations have websites and make much more use of the internet.”
“Everybody in Europe knows what happens in United States, instead of what happens in Europe. This lack of openness slows down the development of technology in Europe. However, the voice for openness is a quiet voice in Europe. Everybody seems to be comfortable in their own place.”
Hunt believes the House of Lords is a good place to address this issue. “The science and technology committee has high prestige and gets lots of publicity. The House of Lords is an important debating chamber. I think the European Union listens to what is said there.”
“Engineering and weather forecasting may become more alike in future,” says Dr Julian Hunt, who delivered his inaugural speech as professor of turbulent flows at TU Delft yesterday. Hunt is also a professor of climate modelling, in London, and a member of Britain’s House of Lords.
“When something makes a lot of noise, like an aircraft, you can try to control it with anti-noise or you can be clever and change the way the flow of air is developing, thus reducing the amount of noise being produced,” says Professor Julian Hunt, an engineer by training.
“Companies are very secret about it, but according to my information they are putting in some pulsation to control the flow around the compressor blades. Numerical simulation and experimental studies have shown that it may be possible to suppress the growth of instabilities within a turbulent boundary layer flow by appropriately forcing the flow with active elements, such as by small vertical movements of a set of wall panels. For this operation such a system needs to make ‘on-line’ measurements of the fluctuating motion upwind of the elements, and pass them to a processor which controls the active elements.”
“When you want to control the turbulence, engineering may become more similar with weather forecasting in which you are also constantly measuring flows and predicting the changes in those flows in time. And you don’t have all the information, because there are areas where you haven’t measured,” he says. However, turbulence is not always a bad thing. “If we understand it in a certain situation, we can use it for mixing or separating. Unfortunately, turbulence manifests itself differently in different situations, so one universal computer model won’t do for everything.”
Hunt enjoys working in Delft, because of the close co-operation with experimental groups. “This lab is doing pioneering work in measuring the structure of a turbulence, which is not easy.” Hunt comes to Delft once every two weeks. For him, the journey is no problem.
“I live in London and fly to Rotterdam. I usually only stay one night in Delft and return to England the following night,” says Hunt. Although he only spends a small part of his time in Delft, he sees his position here as being valuable for both parties. %I’m connecting the group in Delft to other groups in Europe, and vice versa. I like working with TU Delft students. They benefit my own research, because they ask questions I’ve never thought of before.”
Besides being a professor in two countries, Hunt is the non-executive director of his own company. “I founded a company, because applying my research in my own company is easier than convincing other companies to use it.” Hunt’s company specialises in modelling the spread of pollution in the atmosphere. “Our computer models are fast and easy to use. They’re now used in all the major English cities for planning.”
In May, Hunt became a member of Britain’s House of Lords. When he was a Cambridge University academic, Hunt was the leader of the Labour party in the city council, introducingmany environmental issues.
“In the House of Lords there are very few scientists. It’s been a long time since someone with a physics or mathematical background was appointed, so I’ll be on some science committees. The main point I want to address in the House of Lords is the availability of scientific information, like environmental and geographical data and health statistics. This kind of information is much more easily available in the United States, where all public organisations have websites and make much more use of the internet.”
“Everybody in Europe knows what happens in United States, instead of what happens in Europe. This lack of openness slows down the development of technology in Europe. However, the voice for openness is a quiet voice in Europe. Everybody seems to be comfortable in their own place.”
Hunt believes the House of Lords is a good place to address this issue. “The science and technology committee has high prestige and gets lots of publicity. The House of Lords is an important debating chamber. I think the European Union listens to what is said there.”
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