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Since the 1970's the influence of aerodynamics on racing car design has risen substantially, and now in the modern era it is seen as one of the most important factors in producing a race-winning car. Research carried out in the Department of Aeronautics at Imperial College London, into flow control techniques and the development of cutting-edge numerical and experimental methods has allowed specific and significant improvements in the aerodynamic design of Formula One racing cars. This has led to reduced lap times and a more competitive racing environment. These advances have also contributed to improving handling, resulting in a safer racing environment. This research has provided the Formula One industry, which has an estimated annual turnover of $2 billion, with a means to employ engineers who have the key knowledge and insights that allow them to continue to innovate in a tightly controlled engineering environment. The Chief Designer or Chief Aerodynamicist in six out of the twelve 2012 F1 teams have carried out relevant research at Imperial College London.
Since Prof Blunt's appointment as a Professor of Petroleum Engineering at Imperial College in 1999, his Consortium on Pore-Scale Modelling has developed numerical tools to analyse the pore spaces of reservoir rocks, predict multiphase flow properties and determine field-scale impacts on oil recovery. This technology is now exploited by at least two start-up service companies with annual revenue of around $20 million, and is widely employed by major oil companies, leading to better reservoir management and improved oil and gas recovery. Statements submitted from just one company (Kuwait Oil Company, KOC) suggest a benefit of $100 million from efficiency savings and improved recovery in a just single field.
Using advanced mathematics and numerical modelling we have demonstrated how fundamental understanding of laminar-turbulent transitions in fluid flows can save energy. From 2008 we helped the cleantech company, Maxsys Fuel Systems Ltd, to understand and improve their technology and demonstrate to customers how it can reduce fuel use by 5-8%. Customers including Ford Motor, Dow Chemical and Findus testify to the impact from financial savings and reduced carbon emissions obtained by installing Maxsys products on industrial burners used widely in many industrial sectors including automotive, bulk chemicals and food. In 2010, Selas Heat Technology Company bought the Maxsys brand to invest in this success.
Commercialisation: Through government grants, institutional and private investors, a medical devices company (Vascular Flow Technologies) was founded.
Products: Spiral Laminar Flow™ Vascular Grafts for use in bypass for peripheral arterial disease and vascular access for haemodialysis.
Market / Sales: Spiral Laminar Flow™ Grafts are sold in 18 countries, with over 3000 grafts implanted (<1% estimated market size) and sales in excess of £1million.
Patient Outcomes: Published and presented clinical series show the grafts have increased survival rates leading to reduced re-interventions and reduced amputations.
Research carried out in the School of Mathematics at the University of Bristol between 1998 and 2005 has been instrumental in the development of structures that arrest or deflect the rapid flow of snow that characterises avalanches in mountainous regions of the world. The research has been embodied in a series of guidance documents for engineers on the design of such structures and many defence dams and barriers have been built across Europe since 2008. The guidance is now adopted as standard practice in many of the countries that experience avalanches. Investment in avalanche defence projects based on the design principles set out in the guidance runs into tens of millions of pounds. The Bristol research is also used internationally in the training of engineers who specialise in avalanche protection schemes. Given the scale of the threat to life and property from these potent natural hazards, the impact of the research is considerable in terms of the societal and economic benefits derived from the reduction of the risk posed by snow avalanches.
Our flow modelling and process optimisation research has improved significantly the scientific understanding of key industrial coating, printing and droplet flow systems. We have implemented our research findings in software tools for staff training and process optimisation which have enabled: (i) the worldwide coating industry to improve the productivity and sustainability of their manufacturing processes; (ii) [text removed for publication]; (iii) a major automotive supply company to develop an award-winning droplet filtration system for diesel engines. [text removed for publication].
Research at GCU led to a novel method for backfilling pipeline tunnels providing the ability to fill tunnels three times more quickly than the traditional method resulting in a cost saving of £1.5M on a single project. This approach is now best practice at Murphy Pipelines Ltd (MPL) and features in current tenders to a value of £30M. The change in fill material lowered the carbon footprint by 5000 tonnes in a CEEQUAL award winning project, in addition, the removable fill material allows the recycling and re-use of tunnels, adding to the assets of the company and reducing costs.
This case study relates to research supported under contract by Statoil AS, one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, and is focused on two major issues of significance to that industry, namely, the mathematical modelling and analysis of (a) hydraulic two-layer gas/liquid flow in pipe lines and (b) wax formation in the interior walls of pipe lines transporting heated oil. These projects arose out of contacts between senior research staff at the Statoil Research Centre and the Nonlinear Waves group in the School of Mathematics. The theoretical research undertaken was designed to complement the major experimental programmes developed at the Statoil Research Centre and was performed in collaboration with scientists there. The work has provided Statoil with a reliable theoretical framework to contextualise and enable comparison with experimental results and to inform the design of future experimental programmes. In the larger context, the research has played a key role in advancing the capability of Statoil to design and implement more economical, energy efficient, and environmentally safe strategies for gas/oil delivery via extended pipeline networks. Statoil have stated that the benefit of access to robust flow models in the North Sea context is rapidly approaching an economic value of many billions of Norwegian kroner.
University of Huddersfield research into the optimal design of flow-handling systems has been credited with "transforming" the development strategies and global market sales of an industrial partner. Weir Valves and Control Ltd has enjoyed a 75% saving in design lead time and a 1,800% increase in annual sales - from several thousand before its collaboration to millions in 2013 - through the structured integration of researchers' computational fluid dynamics expertise in its design process. The success of this collaboration, which has been described as an exemplar of a Knowledge Transfer Partnership, has also led to further research contracts.
Computational Dynamics Ltd, partnering with adapco and trading as CD-adapco www.cd-adapco.com is the world's largest independent CFD-focused provider of engineering simulation software, with major products STAR-CD and STAR-CCM+. It was formed by Professor David Gosman and Dr Raad Issa and its turnover has grown more than 30 fold since 1993 and by over 250% since 2008 to currently ~ $190M pa. It employs around 750 staff, of whom roughly 80 are located in the London office. The company won a Queen's Award for Exports in 1997. Key technologies that underpin this growth were developed since 1993 in the Mechanical Engineering department at Imperial College. CD-adapco has over 7000 users of its software, working at 3000 different companies. It makes a major contribution in maintaining the competiveness of UK industry via improved understanding and design and lower costs through the reduced need to undertake expensive experimental studies.