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Professor Vincent Wheatley

Professor

School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering
Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology
v.wheatley@uq.edu.au
+61 7 336 52969

Overview

Prof. Wheatley is the Co-Director of the Centre for Hypersonics within the School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering. He was named Australia's Research Field Leader in Aerospace and Aviation Engineering (The Australian, Sept 28, 2018) and was a recipient of a 2017 Australian Award for University Teaching – Award for Teaching Excellence .

Prof. Wheatley's research interests are in the fields of supersonic plasma flows, hypersonics and computational fluid dynamics.

Prof. Wheatley's research in supersonic plasma flows focuses on the suppression of instabilities that are detrimental to inertial confinement fusion, a process that promises carbon free energy production. In hypersonics, he focuses on extending the capability scramjets to the point where they can power launch-vehicle stages. This technology could meet the need for safer, more economical space access, which has the potential to revolutionise the space industry. Computational fluid dynamics is his primary method of investigation in these areas.

Prof. Wheatley obtained his PhD in Aeronautics from the California Institute of Technology in 2005. He also earned an MEngSc (Mechanical) and a BE (Mechanical and Space) from the University of Queensland (UQ). After completing his PhD in the US, Dr Wheatley spent two years as post-doctoral fellow at ETH Zurich. He was then a Lecturer in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Adelaide before taking up his position at UQ in 2009.

Prof. Wheatley has expertise in the areas of:

  • Simulation of hypersonic flows (DNS, LES and RANS)
  • Using high fidelity numerical simulations, validated by experiments, to provide new details and understanding of scramjet flow physics
  • Mixing and combustion enhancement in scramjets through fuel/flow structure interactions and novel injector design
  • Analysis and simulation of plasma instabilities
  • Numerical methods for magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) and multi-fluid, ion-electron plasmas
  • Rarefied gas dynamics
  • Bluff body wake dynamics
  • Aeroacoustics, particularly passive noise control for bluff bodies

Qualifications

  • Doctor of Philosophy, California Institute of Technology
  • Masters (Coursework) of Engineering, The University of Queensland
  • Bachelor (Honours) of Engineering, The University of Queensland

Publications

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Grants

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Supervision

  • Experimental Investigation of Plasma Fuel Engine Performance

    Doctor Philosophy

  • Two-fluid modeling of electron transpiration cooling for the leading edges of hypersonic vehicles

    Doctor Philosophy

  • Experimental Investigation of Hypersonic Boundary Layer Combustion of Hydrocarbon Fuels

    Doctor Philosophy

View all Supervision

Available Projects

  • Multi-Fluid Computational Investigation of Plasma Fuel Engines

    This PhD project expects to generate new knowledge in air-breathing hypersonic propulsion utilising a plasma for thrust. This approach could eliminate the physical limitations of current engines such as scramjets and enable flight within the atmosphere at speeds greater than three kilometres per second, or 10,000 kilometres per hour. The Plasma Fuel Engine (PFE) is a new technology based on a Hall thruster concept applied to an air-breathing engine. UQ has been awarded an ARC Linkage Project to experimentally and computationally investigate the performance of these engines. The objective of this PhD project is to develop the capability accurately simulate the flow physics within a PFE and validate this against experimental data produced in the broader Linkage Project. The simulation results will then be used to gain new insights into the details of PFE operation.

    UQ Centre for Hypersonics has developed a continuum multi-fluid plasma simulation capability within the AMReX adaptive mesh refinement framework (Bond et al., (2017)). This solves for the momentum of ions, electrons and neutrals separately and thus models the fundamental transport processes governing all particle movements in the PFE. It is fundamentally different to the approaches previously utilized to simulate the physics of PFEs. The capability to simulate ionising air flows within this solver is being developed as part of a separate linkage project (LP180100107). In this PhD project, boundary conditions will be developed to enable the simulation of PFE operation utilizing AMReX’s embedded boundary routines. In addition, further development of our ionization modelling capability may be required to accurately simulate air ionization by electron beams. Once the new modelling capability has been experimentally validated, simulations of PFE operation at a range of conditions will be conducted. The results of these simulations will yield new understanding of the flow physics underpinning PFE performance, which could inform design improvements.

  • Expanding the scramjet operating envelope through oxygen enrichment

    UQ, USQ, Hypersonix Launch Systems and the European Space Agency have been awarded an ARC Discovery Project to investigate the benefits of expanding the operating envelope of scramjets to higher altitudes and speeds by enriching their fuel with oxygen. This is expected to enhance the performance and flexibility of hypersonic air-breathing engines designed to form the core of a more reliable and economical access to space system. Expected outcomes of this project are a validated understanding and mapping of how oxygen enrichment can augment scramjet thrust at high altitudes and speeds, and a performance evaluation of a launch system optimised for this approach. This could provide significant benefits to the performance of reusable, air-breathing launch technology, where Australia is leading the push towards commercialisation

    There are three PhD topics planned as part of this Discovery Project, one of which will be supported by a UQ Earmarked PhD scholarship. The topics include the following:

    1. Predict and understand how oxygen enrichment can expand the scramjet operating envelope to low dynamic pressures and augment thrust at high Mach numbers using numerical simulations
    2. Experimentally explore oxygen scramjet enriched performance and map engine performance
    3. Conduct vehicle design studies to evaluate the system-wide benefits of oxygen enrichment

  • Advanced Combustion Modelling for Scramjets and Rotating Detonation Engines

    UQ, together with USyd and RMIT, have been awarded an ARC Discovery Project to develop new fundamental knowledge and engineering models underpinning air-breathing high speed propulsion engines employing complex hydrocarbon fuels. Extensive data and new physical understanding will be garnered through analysis of direct numerical simulations (DNS) of supersonic reacting mixing layers including impinging shock waves. That data will be employed to isolate, test and develop computationally efficient engineering models that are accurate and efficient for high speed combustion in rotating detonation engines and scramjets. Expected outcomes are knowledge and tools needed to develop practical and effective supersonic propulsion engines for access to space, defence and high speed point-to-point flight.

    As part of this project, UQ is offering a PhD project on the following topic:

    • Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) of scramjet combustor experiments with Multiple Mapping Condition (MMC) and Conditional Moment Closure (CMC) models for highly compressible combustion. These simulations will be used to validate the newly developed models and gain new insight turbulent combustion within scramjets. The successful candidate will also contributed the development of the CMC model for supersonic flow and its verification against DNS data.

View all Available Projects

Publications

Journal Article

Conference Publication

  • Numerical Study of Magnetic Field Deformation for a Blunt Body with an Applied Magnetic Field During Atmospheric Entry

    van Oeveren, Sebastiaan B., Gildfind, David, Wheatley, Vincent, Gollan, Rowan and Jacobs, Peter (2024). Numerical Study of Magnetic Field Deformation for a Blunt Body with an Applied Magnetic Field During Atmospheric Entry. Reston, Virginia: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. doi: 10.2514/6.2024-1646

  • Measurements of Free stream Density Fluctuations in the T4 Stalker Tube

    Ananthapadmanaban, Ramprakash, Veeraragavan, Ananthanarayanan, McIntyre, Timothy, Wheatley, Vincent and Mee, David (2023). Measurements of Free stream Density Fluctuations in the T4 Stalker Tube. 25th AIAA International Space Planes and Hypersonic Systems and Technologies Conference, Karnataka, India, 28 May - 1 June 2023. Reston, VA United States: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. doi: 10.2514/6.2023-3031

  • Noise generated in a scramjet combustor

    Ananthapadmanaban, Ramprakash, McIntyre, Tim, Wheatley, Vincent and Mee, David (2023). Noise generated in a scramjet combustor. AIAA SCITECH 2023 Forum, National Harbor, MD, United States, 23 - 27 January 2023. Reston, VA, United States: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. doi: 10.2514/6.2023-0314

  • Supersonic ethylene boundary layer combustion with a mutli-porthole injector array

    Sandral, Jacob, Vanyai, Tristan, Veeraragavan, Anand and Wheatley, Vincent (2022). Supersonic ethylene boundary layer combustion with a mutli-porthole injector array. 23rd Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, Sydney, NSW, Australia, 4-8 December 2022. Perth, WA, Australia: Australasian Fluid Mechanics Society.

  • Large eddy simulation of multiport injector array transition

    Gibbons, Nicholas N., Vanyai, Tristan and Wheatley, Vincent (2022). Large eddy simulation of multiport injector array transition. 2nd International Conference on High-Speed Vehicle Science & Technology, Bruges, Belgium, 11-15 September 2022.

  • Hydrogen boundary layer combustion with multi-porthole injector arrays

    Sandral, J., Vanyai, T., Veeraragavan, A. and Wheatley, V. (2021). Hydrogen boundary layer combustion with multi-porthole injector arrays. Australian Combustion Symposium 2021, Toowoomba, QLD Australia, 21-24 November 2021. Sydney, NSW Australia: Australia and New Zealand Combustion Institute.

  • Measurements of density fluctuations in a scramjet combustor

    Ramprakash, A., McIntyre, T. J., Wheatley, V. and Mee, D. J. (2021). Measurements of density fluctuations in a scramjet combustor. Australian Combustion Symposium, Toowoomba, QLD Australia, 21-24 November 2021. Sydney, NSW Australia: Australia and New Zealand Combustion Institute.

  • The effect of wall and fuel temperature in a mach 6 scramjet engine

    Curran, Damian, Wheatley, Vincent and Smart, Michael (2020). The effect of wall and fuel temperature in a mach 6 scramjet engine. 22nd Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference AFMC2020, Brisbane, Australia, 7-10 December 2020. Brisbane, Australia: The University of Queensland. doi: 10.14264/7760714

  • LES Simulation of Sound Generated by a Cylinder Wake and its Interaction with Shock Waves

    Kaur, Ramandeep, Wheatley, Vincent, Veeraragavan, Anand and Doolan, Con (2020). LES Simulation of Sound Generated by a Cylinder Wake and its Interaction with Shock Waves. 22nd Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference AFMC2020, Brisbane, QLD Australia, 7-10 December 2020. Brisbane, QLD Australia: The University of Queensland. doi: 10.14264/9760dbe

  • Investigating the two-fluid plasma Richtmyer-Meshkov instability: a tale of two codes

    Bond, D., Wheatley, V., Samtaney, R. and Li, Y. (2019). Investigating the two-fluid plasma Richtmyer-Meshkov instability: a tale of two codes. ISSW32: 32nd International Symposium on Shock Waves, Singapore, 14-19 July 2019. Singapore: Research Publishing, Singapore. doi: 10.3850/978-981-11-2730-4_0169-cd

  • Investigation of combustion mode control in a Mach 8 shape-transitioning scramjet

    Curran, Damian, Wheatley, Vincent and Smart, Michael (2019). Investigation of combustion mode control in a Mach 8 shape-transitioning scramjet. 22nd AIAA International Space Planes and Hypersonics Systems and Technologies Conference, Orlando Fl, Sep 17-19, 2018. Reston, VA United States: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. doi: 10.2514/1.j057999

  • Tailored Fuel Injection for Performance Enhancement in a Mach 12 Scramjet Engine

    Barth, James E., Wise, Dylan J., Wheatley, Vincent and Smart, Michael K. (2019). Tailored Fuel Injection for Performance Enhancement in a Mach 12 Scramjet Engine. 20th AIAA International Space Planes and Hypersonic Systems and Technologies Conference, Glasgow, Scotland, Jul 06-09, 2015. Reston, VA, United States : American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. doi: 10.2514/1.B36794

  • The Richtmyer-Meshkov instability of an isotope interface in a two-fluid plasma

    Bond, Daryl, Wheatley, Vincent, Samtaney, Ravi, Li, Yuan and Pullin, Dale (2019). The Richtmyer-Meshkov instability of an isotope interface in a two-fluid plasma. 32nd International Symposium on Shock Waves, Singapore, 14-19 July 2019. Singapore: Research Publishing, Singapore. doi: 10.3850/978-981-11-2730-4_0170-cd

  • Simulation of laser-Induced plasma ignition in a hypersonic crossflow

    Gibbons, Nicholas, Gehre, Rolf, Brieschenk, Stefan and Wheatley, Vincent (2018). Simulation of laser-Induced plasma ignition in a hypersonic crossflow. Reston, VA United States: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). doi: 10.2514/1.j055821

  • Fundamental scramjet combustion experiments using hydrocarbon fuel

    Vanyai, Tristan, Grieve, Sam, Street, Oliver, Denman, Zachary, McIntyre, Timothy, Veeraragavan, Anand, Wheatley, Vincent and Smart, Michael (2018). Fundamental scramjet combustion experiments using hydrocarbon fuel. AIAA International Space Planes and Hypersonics Systems and Technologies Conference, AIAA SPACE Forum, Orlando, FL, United States, 17–19 September 2018. Reston, VA United States: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. doi: 10.2514/6.2018-5201

  • Investigation of combustion mode control in a mach 8 shape-transitioning scramjet

    Curran, Damian R., Wheatley, Vincent and Smart, Michael K. (2018). Investigation of combustion mode control in a mach 8 shape-transitioning scramjet. 2018 AIAA SPACE and Astronautics Forum and Exposition, Orlando, Florida, 17-19 September 2018. Reston, Virginia: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. doi: 10.2514/6.2018-5380

  • Magnetohydrodynamic drag force measurements in an expansion tube

    Smith, Daniel R., Gildfind, David E., James, Christopher M., McIntyre, Timothy J. and Wheatley, Vincent (2018). Magnetohydrodynamic drag force measurements in an expansion tube. 9th AIAA Flow Control Conference 2018, Atlanta, GA United States, 25 - 29 June 2018. Reston, VA United States: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. doi: 10.2514/6.2018-3755

  • Shock interactions in multi-fluid plasmas

    Bond, D., Wheatley, V., Imran, S., Samtaney, R., Pullin, D. and Li, Y. (2018). Shock interactions in multi-fluid plasmas. 21st Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, Adelaide, SA Australia, 10-13 December 2018. Perth, WA Australia: Australasian Fluid Mechanics Society.

  • Simulation of forced ignition in a Mach 6 scramjet combustor

    Curran, D. R., Wheatley, V. and Smart, M. K. (2018). Simulation of forced ignition in a Mach 6 scramjet combustor. Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, Adelaide, Australia, 10-13 December 2018. Perth, WA, United States: Australasian Fluid Mechanics Society.

  • Sound generation by a supersonic reacting mixing layer

    Cartmill, I., Gibbons, N., Wheatley, V. and Doolan, C. (2018). Sound generation by a supersonic reacting mixing layer. Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, Adelaide, Australia, 10-13 December 2018. Perth, WA, United States: Australasian Fluid Mechanics Society.

  • Flow field manipulation via fuel injectors in scramjets

    Landsberg, Will O., Gibbons, Nicholas N., Wheatley, Vincent, Smart, Michael K. and Veeraragavan, Ananthanarayanan (2017). Flow field manipulation via fuel injectors in scramjets. 21st AIAA International Space Planes and Hypersonics Technologies Conference, Hypersonics 2017, Xiamen, China, 6 - 9 March 2017. Reston, VA, United States: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. doi: 10.2514/6.2017-2389

  • Performance of high Mach number scramjets - Tunnel vs flight

    Landsberg, Will O., Wheatley, Vincent, Smart, Michael and Veeraragavan, Ananthanarayanan (2017). Performance of high Mach number scramjets - Tunnel vs flight. 68th International Astronautical Congress: Unlocking Imagination, Fostering Innovation and Strengthening Security, IAC 2017, Adelaide, SA, Australia, 25-29 September 2017. Paris, France: International Astronautical Federation.

  • Reducing combustor length within a mach 12 shape-transitioning scramjet

    Landsberg, Will O., Wheatley, Vincent, Smart, Michael K and Veeraragavan, Ananthanarayanan (2017). Reducing combustor length within a mach 12 shape-transitioning scramjet. 11th Asia-Pacific Conference on Combustion, ASPACC 2017, Sydney, Australia, 10-14 December 2017. Sydney, Australia: Combustion Institute.

  • Fuel injection and mixing in a Mach 8 hydrocarbon-fuelled scramjet

    Denman, Z. J., Wheatley, V., Smart, M. K. and Veeraragavan, A . (2016). Fuel injection and mixing in a Mach 8 hydrocarbon-fuelled scramjet. 20th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, Perth, Australia, 5 – 8 December 2016. Perth, Australia: Australasian Fluid Mechanics Society.

  • Local field effects on magnetic suppression of the converging Richtmyer-Meshkov instability

    Wheatley, V., Mostert, W., Bond, D. M. and Samtaney, R. (2016). Local field effects on magnetic suppression of the converging Richtmyer-Meshkov instability. 20th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, Perth, Western Australia, 5-8 December 2016. Victoria, Australia: Australasian Fluid Mechanics Society.

  • On the development of a Mach 10 scramjet engine for investigation of supersonic combustion regimes

    Moura, A. F., Wheatley, V., McIntyre, T. J. and Jahn, I. (2016). On the development of a Mach 10 scramjet engine for investigation of supersonic combustion regimes. 20th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, Perth, Western Australia, 5-8 December 2016. Victoria, Australia: Australasian Fluid Mechanics Society.

  • Performance Comparison of Distributed Injection Methods for Hypersonic Film-Cooling

    Basore, K. D., Selzer, M., Wheatley, V., Boyce, R. R., Mee, D. J., Capra, B. R., Kuhn, M. and Brieschenk, S. (2016). Performance Comparison of Distributed Injection Methods for Hypersonic Film-Cooling. 20th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, Perth, Western Australia, 5-8 December 2016. Victoria, Australia: Australasian Fluid Mechanics Society.

  • Plasma flow simulation using the two-fluid model

    Bond, D. M., Wheatley, V. and Samtaney, R. (2016). Plasma flow simulation using the two-fluid model. 20th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, Perth, Western Australia, 5-8 December 2016. Victoria, Australia: Australasian Fluid Mechanics Society.

  • Preliminary Investigation of Sound Generation in Scramjets

    Gibbons, N., Wheatley, V. and Doolan, C. (2016). Preliminary Investigation of Sound Generation in Scramjets. 20th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, Perth, Western Australia, 5-8 December 2016. Victoria, Australia: Australasian Fluid Mechanics Society.

  • Characterisation of the cylindrical Riemann problem in magnetohydrodynamics

    Mostert, W., Wheatley, V. and Samtaney, R. (2015). Characterisation of the cylindrical Riemann problem in magnetohydrodynamics. International Symposium on Shock Waves (ISSW29), Madison, WI, United States, 14-19 July 2013. Cham, Switzerland: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-16838-8_1

  • Combustion regimes in inlet-fueled, low compression scramjets

    Gehre, Rolf M., Wheatley, Vincent and Boyce, Russell R. (2015). Combustion regimes in inlet-fueled, low compression scramjets. AIAA International Space Planes and Hypersonic Systems and Technologies Conference, Glasgow, Scotland, 6-9 July 2015. Reston, VA, United States: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. doi: 10.2514/6.2015-3507

  • Fluorescence studies of jet mixing in a hypersonic flow

    Brieschenk, S., Gehre, R., Wheatley, V. and Boyce, R. (2015). Fluorescence studies of jet mixing in a hypersonic flow. International Symposium on Shock Waves (ISSW29), Madison, WI, United States, 14-19 July 2013. Cham, Switzerland: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-16835-7_98

  • Numerical investigation of the mixing process in inlet-fuelled scramjets

    Gehre, R. M., Peterson, D., Wheatley, V. and Boyce, R. R. (2015). Numerical investigation of the mixing process in inlet-fuelled scramjets. International Symposium on Shock Waves (ISSW29), Madison, WI, United States, 14-19 July 2013. Cham, Switzerland: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-16838-8_32

  • Simulation of laser-induced-plasma ignition in a hypersonic crossflow

    Gibbons, Nicholas, Gehre, Rolf, Brieschenk, Stefan and Wheatley, Vincent (2015). Simulation of laser-induced-plasma ignition in a hypersonic crossflow. AIAA International Space Planes and Hypersonic Systems and Technologies Conference, Glasgow, Scotland, 6-9 July 2015. Reston, VA, United States: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. doi: 10.2514/6.2015-3622

  • Tailored fuel injection for performance enhancement in a Mach 12 scramjet engine

    Barth, James E., Wise, Dylan J., Wheatley, Vincent and Smart, Michael K. (2015). Tailored fuel injection for performance enhancement in a Mach 12 scramjet engine. AIAA International Space Planes and Hypersonic Systems and Technologies Conference, Glasgow, Scotland, 6-9 July 2015. Reston, VA, United States: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. doi: 10.2514/6.2015-3614

  • The magnetohydrodynamic Richtmyer-Meshkov instability: the oblique field case

    Wheatley, V., Gehre, R. M., Samtaney, R. and Pullin, D. I. (2015). The magnetohydrodynamic Richtmyer-Meshkov instability: the oblique field case. International Symposium on Shock Waves, Madison, WI, United States, 14-19 July 2013. Cham, Switzerland: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-16838-8_50

  • Characterization of a spark ignition system for flameholding cavities

    Brieschenk, Stefan, Pontalier, Quentin, Duffaut, Alexandre, Denman, Zachary J., Veeraravagan, Anand, Wheatley, Vincent and Smart, Michael K. (2014). Characterization of a spark ignition system for flameholding cavities. 45th AIAA Plasmadynamics and Lasers Conference 2014, Atlanta, United States, 16-20 June 2014. Reston, VA, United States: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. doi: 10.2514/6.2014-2242

  • Equivalent direct connect free-stream shock tunnel conditions for injection locations in an axisymmetric scramjet

    Basore, K., Wheatley, V., Boyce, R. R. and Starkey, R. (2014). Equivalent direct connect free-stream shock tunnel conditions for injection locations in an axisymmetric scramjet. 19th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, Melbourne, VIC, Australia, 8-11 December 2014. Melbourne, VIC, Australia: RMIT University.

  • Experimental design of a cavity flameholder in a Mach 8 Shape-Transitioning Scramjet

    Denman, Zachary J., Brieschenk, Stefan, Veeraragavan, Anand, Wheatley, Vincent and Smart, Michael K. (2014). Experimental design of a cavity flameholder in a Mach 8 Shape-Transitioning Scramjet. 19th AIAA International Space Planes and Hypersonic Systems and Technologies Conference, Atlanta, GA, United States, 16-20 June 2014. Reston, VA, United States: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. doi: 10.2514/6.2014-2953

  • Influence of a seed magnetic field on the imploding cylindrical Richtmyer-Meshkov instability in magnetohydrodynamics

    Mostert, W., Wheatley, V., Samtaney, R. and Pullin, D. I. (2014). Influence of a seed magnetic field on the imploding cylindrical Richtmyer-Meshkov instability in magnetohydrodynamics. 19th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, Melbourne, VIC, Australia, 8-11 December 2014. Melbourne, VIC, Australia: RMIT University.

  • Inlet fuel injection in a mach 12 shape-transitioning scramjet

    Barth, James E., Wheatley, Vincent and Smart, Michael K. (2014). Inlet fuel injection in a mach 12 shape-transitioning scramjet. 52nd AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting, National Harbor, MD, United States, 13-17 January 2014. Reston, VA, United States: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. doi: 10.2514/6.2014-1159

  • Irregular shock refraction in magnetohydrodynamics

    Bilgi, P., Wheatley, V., Samtaney, R. and Barth, J. E. (2014). Irregular shock refraction in magnetohydrodynamics. 19th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, Melbourne, VIC, Australia, 8-11 December 2014. Melbourne, VIC, Australia: RMIT University.

  • Tailored fuel injection within a Mach 12 shape transitioning scramjet

    Landsberg, W. O., Barth, J. E., Veeraragavan, A., Wheatley, V. and Smart, M. K. (2014). Tailored fuel injection within a Mach 12 shape transitioning scramjet. 19th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, Melbourne, VIC, Australia, 8-11 December 2014. Melbourne, VIC, Australia: RMIT University.

  • A parametric study of oxygen enriched scramjet combustion

    Petty, David J., Wheatley, V. and Smart, M. K. (2012). A parametric study of oxygen enriched scramjet combustion. 11th Australian Space Science Conference, Canberra, Australia, 26 - 29 September 2011. Sydney, Australia: National Space Society of Australia.

  • Arbitrarily high-order BGK-Shakhov method for the simulation of micro-channel flows

    Bond, D. M., Wheatley, V., Macrossan, M. N. and Goldsworthy, M. (2012). Arbitrarily high-order BGK-Shakhov method for the simulation of micro-channel flows. 18th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, Launceston, Australia, 3 - 7 December 2012. Hawthorn, VIC, Australia: Australasian Fluid Mechanics Society.

  • Comparison of discrete BGK-Shakhov System with DSMC

    Bond, D. M., Macrossan, M. N. and Wheatley, V. (2012). Comparison of discrete BGK-Shakhov System with DSMC. 28th International Symposium on Rarefied Gas Dynamics (RGD), Zaragoza Spain, 09-13 July 2012. College Park, MD, United States: American Institute of Physics. doi: 10.1063/1.4769540

  • Effects of ethylene combustion in a hypersonic turbulent boundary layer

    Barth, James E., Wheatley, Vincent and Smart, Michael K. (2012). Effects of ethylene combustion in a hypersonic turbulent boundary layer. 11th Australian Space Science Conference, Canberra, Australia, 26 - 29 September 2011. Sydney, Australia: National Space Society of Australia.

  • Flow physics inside a shape-transitioning scramjet engine

    Barth, James E., Wheatley, Vincent, Smart, Michael K., Petty, David J. and Basore, Kevin D. (2012). Flow physics inside a shape-transitioning scramjet engine. 18th AIAA/3AF International Space Planes and Hypersonic Systems and Technologies Conference, Tours, France, 24-28 September 2012. Reston, VA, United States: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. doi: 10.2514/6.2012-5888

  • Hybrid reynolds-averaged and large-eddy simulation of mixing in an axisymmetric scramjet

    Peterson, David M., Boyce, Russell R. and Wheatley, Vincent (2012). Hybrid reynolds-averaged and large-eddy simulation of mixing in an axisymmetric scramjet. 18th AIAA/3AF International Space Planes and Hypersonic Systems and Technologies Conference, Tours, France, 24-28 September 2012. Reston, VA, United States: American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics. doi: 10.2514/6.2012-5902

  • Hypersonic viscous drag reduction via multi-porthole injector arrays

    Pudsey, Adrian S., Boyce, Russell R. and Wheatley, Vincent (2012). Hypersonic viscous drag reduction via multi-porthole injector arrays. 18th AIAA/3AF International Space Planes and Hypersonic Systems and Technologies Conference, Tours, France, 24-28 September 2012. Reston, VA, United States: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. doi: 10.2514/6.2012-5934

  • Jet interaction in a hypersonic flow: a comparison between PLIF thermometry and computational simulation

    Brieschenk, Stefan, Gehre, Rolf M., Wheatley, Vincent, Boyce, Russell R., Kleine, Harald and O'Byrne, Sean (2012). Jet interaction in a hypersonic flow: a comparison between PLIF thermometry and computational simulation. 28th Congress of the International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences 2012, ICAS 2012, Brisbane, QLD, Australia, 23-28 September 2012. Stockholm, Sweden: International Council of The Aeronautical Sciences.

  • Jet interaction in a hypersonic flow: a comparison between plif thermometry and computational simulation

    Brieschenk, Stefan, Gehre, Rolf M., Wheatley, Vincent, Boyce, Russell R., Kleine, Harald and O’Byrne, Sean (2012). Jet interaction in a hypersonic flow: a comparison between plif thermometry and computational simulation. 28th International Congress of the Aeronautical Sciences (ICAS 2012), Brisbane, Australia, 23 - 28 September 2012. United Kingdom: International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences (ICAS).

  • Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes and wall–modelled large–eddy simulations of sonic hydrogen injection into hypersonic crossflow

    Gehre, R. M., Wheatley, V., Boyce, R. R., Peterson, D. M. and Brieschenk, S. (2012). Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes and wall–modelled large–eddy simulations of sonic hydrogen injection into hypersonic crossflow. 18th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, Launceston, Australia, 3-7 December, 2012. Hawthorn, VIC, Australia: Australasian Fluid Mechanics Society.

  • Streamwise porthole fuel injection for boundary-layer combustion inside a scramjet engine

    Barth, James E., Wheatley, Vincent and Smart, Michael K. (2012). Streamwise porthole fuel injection for boundary-layer combustion inside a scramjet engine. 28th International Congress of the Aeronautical Sciences (ICAS 2012), Brisbane, Australia, 23 - 28 September 2012. United Kingdom: International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences (ICAS).

  • The Cylindrical Riemann Problem in magnetohydrodynamics: a case study

    Mostert, W., Wheatley, V., Hingee, M. and Samtaney, R. (2012). The Cylindrical Riemann Problem in magnetohydrodynamics: a case study. 18th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, Launceston, Australia, 3-7 December 2012. Hawthorn, VIC, Australia: Australasian Fluid Mechanics Society.

  • The magnetohydrodynamic Richtmyer-Meshkov instability: the transverse field case

    Wheatley, V., Samtaney, R. and Pullin, D. I. (2012). The magnetohydrodynamic Richtmyer-Meshkov instability: the transverse field case. 18th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, Launceston, Australia, 3 - 7 December 2012. Hawthorn, VIC, Australia: Australasian Fluid Mechanics Society.

  • Thermal non-equilibrium effects in radical farming scramjets

    Gehre, Rolf M., Wheatley, Vincent and Boyce, Russell R. (2012). Thermal non-equilibrium effects in radical farming scramjets. 28th International Congress of the Aeronautical Sciences (ICAS 2012), Brisbane, Australia, 23 - 28 September 2012. United Kingdom: International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences (ICAS).

  • Thermal non-equilibrium effects in radical farming scramjets

    Gehre, Rolf M., Wheatley, Vincent and Boyce, Russell R. (2012). Thermal non-equilibrium effects in radical farming scramjets. Congress of the International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences, Brisbane, QLD, Australia, 23 - 28 September 2012. ICAS Secretariat.

  • Aeolian tones generated by a square cylinder with a detached flat plate

    Ali, Mohamed Sukri Mat Ali, Doolan, Con J. and Wheatley, Vincent (2011). Aeolian tones generated by a square cylinder with a detached flat plate. 17th AIAA/CEAS Aeroacoustics Conference (32nd AIAA Aeroacoustics Conference), Portland, OR, United States, 5-8 June 2011. Reston, VA, United States: AIAA - American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

  • Hypersonic inlet for a laser powered propulsion system

    Harrland, Alan, Doolan, Con, Wheatley, Vincent and Froning, Dave (2011). Hypersonic inlet for a laser powered propulsion system. 7th International Symposium on Beamed Energy Propulsion, Ludwigsburg, Germany, 10 -14 April 2011. College Park, MD, United States: American Institute of Physics. doi: 10.1063/1.3657023

  • Spectral Performance of RKDG methods for Ideal MHD

    Wheatley, V., Kumar, H. and Jeltsch, R. (2011). Spectral Performance of RKDG methods for Ideal MHD. Mathematics in Industry 2010, Sofia, Bulgaria, 11-13 July 2010. Sofia, Bulgaria: Bulgarska Akademiya na Naukite * Institute of Mathematics and Informatics.

  • Aeolian tones generated by a square cylinder with a splitter plate

    Ali, Mohamed Sukri Mat, Doolan, Con J. and Wheatley, Vincent (2010). Aeolian tones generated by a square cylinder with a splitter plate.

  • Aeolian tones generated by a square cylinder with a splitter plate

    Ali, Mohamed Sukri Mat, Doolan, Con J. and Wheatley, Vincent (2010). Aeolian tones generated by a square cylinder with a splitter plate. 20th International Congress on Acoustics, Sydney, NSW, Australia, 23-27 August 2010. NSW, Australia: Australian Acoustical Society.

  • Flow around a square cylinder with a detached downstream flat plate at a low Reynolds number

    Ali, Mohamed Sukri Mat, Doolan, Con J. and Wheatley, Vincent (2010). Flow around a square cylinder with a detached downstream flat plate at a low Reynolds number. 17th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, Auckland, New Zealand, 5-9 December 2010. Aukland, New Zealand: University of Auckland, Deptartment of Mechanical Engineering.

  • Fuel injection via rectangular cross-section injectors for mixing enhancement in scramjets

    Wheatley, V. and Jacobs, P. A. (2010). Fuel injection via rectangular cross-section injectors for mixing enhancement in scramjets. 17th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, Auckland, New Zealand, 5-9 December 2010. Auckland, New Zealand: The University of Auckland.

  • Hypersonic inlet for a laser powered propulsion system and its interaction with an idealized laser induced detonation wave

    Harrland, Alan, Doolan, Con and Wheatley, Vincent (2010). Hypersonic inlet for a laser powered propulsion system and its interaction with an idealized laser induced detonation wave. 10th Australian Space Sciences Conference, Brisbane, Australia, 27-30 September 2010. Sydney, Australia: National Space Society of Australia.

  • Simulation of hypervelocity scramjet combustion with oxygen enrichment

    Petty, D., Smart, M. K., Wheatley, V. and Razzaqi, S. A. (2010). Simulation of hypervelocity scramjet combustion with oxygen enrichment. 10th Australian Space Sciences Conference, Brisbane, Australia, 27-30 September 2010. Sydney, Australia: National Space Society of Australia.

  • Grid convergence study for a two-dimensional simulation of flow around a square cylinder at low Reynolds number

    Ali, Mohamed Sukri Mat, Doolan, Con J. and Wheatley, Vincent (2009). Grid convergence study for a two-dimensional simulation of flow around a square cylinder at low Reynolds number. The 7th International Conference on CFD in the Minerals and Process Industries, Melbourne , Australia, 9-11 December, 2009. Melbourne, Vic., Australia: CSIRO.

  • Hypersonic Vehicle Control Using External Burning

    Doolan, C.J. and Vincent Wheatley (2009). Hypersonic Vehicle Control Using External Burning. Australian Combustion Symposium, University of Queensland Brisbane, Dec 2 -4, 2009. Brisbane: The University of Queensland.

  • Numerical simulation of compressible magnetohydrodynamic plasma flow in a circuit breaker

    Hiptmair, R., Hugueniot, P., Jeltsch, R., Kumar, H., Schwab, C., Torrilhon, M. and Wheatley, V. (2008). Numerical simulation of compressible magnetohydrodynamic plasma flow in a circuit breaker. International Conference on Numerical Analysis and Applied Mathematics, Psalidi, Greece, 16-20 September 2008. College Park, MD, United States: Springer New York LLC. doi: 10.1063/1.2990896

  • Numerical simulations of high current arc in circuit breakers

    Huguenot, P., Kumar, H., Wheatley, V., Jeltsch, R. and Schwab, C. (2008). Numerical simulations of high current arc in circuit breakers. 24th International Conference on Electrical Contacts, Saint-Malo, France, 9-12 June 2008.

  • Promotion of open and efficient communication in tutorials

    Mattner, Trent and Wheatley, Vincent (2008). Promotion of open and efficient communication in tutorials. Education Research Group of Adelaide 2008 Conference, Adelaide, SA, Australia, 24-25 September 2008. Adelaide, SA, Australia: The University of Adelaide.

Other Outputs

Grants (Administered at UQ)

PhD and MPhil Supervision

Current Supervision

Completed Supervision

Possible Research Projects

Note for students: The possible research projects listed on this page may not be comprehensive or up to date. Always feel free to contact the staff for more information, and also with your own research ideas.

  • Multi-Fluid Computational Investigation of Plasma Fuel Engines

    This PhD project expects to generate new knowledge in air-breathing hypersonic propulsion utilising a plasma for thrust. This approach could eliminate the physical limitations of current engines such as scramjets and enable flight within the atmosphere at speeds greater than three kilometres per second, or 10,000 kilometres per hour. The Plasma Fuel Engine (PFE) is a new technology based on a Hall thruster concept applied to an air-breathing engine. UQ has been awarded an ARC Linkage Project to experimentally and computationally investigate the performance of these engines. The objective of this PhD project is to develop the capability accurately simulate the flow physics within a PFE and validate this against experimental data produced in the broader Linkage Project. The simulation results will then be used to gain new insights into the details of PFE operation.

    UQ Centre for Hypersonics has developed a continuum multi-fluid plasma simulation capability within the AMReX adaptive mesh refinement framework (Bond et al., (2017)). This solves for the momentum of ions, electrons and neutrals separately and thus models the fundamental transport processes governing all particle movements in the PFE. It is fundamentally different to the approaches previously utilized to simulate the physics of PFEs. The capability to simulate ionising air flows within this solver is being developed as part of a separate linkage project (LP180100107). In this PhD project, boundary conditions will be developed to enable the simulation of PFE operation utilizing AMReX’s embedded boundary routines. In addition, further development of our ionization modelling capability may be required to accurately simulate air ionization by electron beams. Once the new modelling capability has been experimentally validated, simulations of PFE operation at a range of conditions will be conducted. The results of these simulations will yield new understanding of the flow physics underpinning PFE performance, which could inform design improvements.

  • Expanding the scramjet operating envelope through oxygen enrichment

    UQ, USQ, Hypersonix Launch Systems and the European Space Agency have been awarded an ARC Discovery Project to investigate the benefits of expanding the operating envelope of scramjets to higher altitudes and speeds by enriching their fuel with oxygen. This is expected to enhance the performance and flexibility of hypersonic air-breathing engines designed to form the core of a more reliable and economical access to space system. Expected outcomes of this project are a validated understanding and mapping of how oxygen enrichment can augment scramjet thrust at high altitudes and speeds, and a performance evaluation of a launch system optimised for this approach. This could provide significant benefits to the performance of reusable, air-breathing launch technology, where Australia is leading the push towards commercialisation

    There are three PhD topics planned as part of this Discovery Project, one of which will be supported by a UQ Earmarked PhD scholarship. The topics include the following:

    1. Predict and understand how oxygen enrichment can expand the scramjet operating envelope to low dynamic pressures and augment thrust at high Mach numbers using numerical simulations
    2. Experimentally explore oxygen scramjet enriched performance and map engine performance
    3. Conduct vehicle design studies to evaluate the system-wide benefits of oxygen enrichment

  • Advanced Combustion Modelling for Scramjets and Rotating Detonation Engines

    UQ, together with USyd and RMIT, have been awarded an ARC Discovery Project to develop new fundamental knowledge and engineering models underpinning air-breathing high speed propulsion engines employing complex hydrocarbon fuels. Extensive data and new physical understanding will be garnered through analysis of direct numerical simulations (DNS) of supersonic reacting mixing layers including impinging shock waves. That data will be employed to isolate, test and develop computationally efficient engineering models that are accurate and efficient for high speed combustion in rotating detonation engines and scramjets. Expected outcomes are knowledge and tools needed to develop practical and effective supersonic propulsion engines for access to space, defence and high speed point-to-point flight.

    As part of this project, UQ is offering a PhD project on the following topic:

    • Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) of scramjet combustor experiments with Multiple Mapping Condition (MMC) and Conditional Moment Closure (CMC) models for highly compressible combustion. These simulations will be used to validate the newly developed models and gain new insight turbulent combustion within scramjets. The successful candidate will also contributed the development of the CMC model for supersonic flow and its verification against DNS data.

  • Computational Investigation of Distributed Fuel Injection in Hypersonic Inlets and Combustors

    Preliminary experimental and computational investigations indicate that distributed fuel injection to maintain a fuel-rich film along hypersonic engine walls has multiple potential benefits:

    • Provide film/transpiration cooling to reduce hypersonic heat transfer loads, one of the main technical roadblocks currently associated with sustained hypersonic flight
    • Reduce skin friction drag, which can be a significant proportion of vehicle drag at high Mach numbers, through a combination of film effects and boundary layer combustion
    • Trip the laminar boundary layer on the vehicle forebody to turbulence, removing the requirement for trip devices and thereby eliminating the excessive heating and drag associated with them
    • Provide a low free-stream stagnation pressure loss mechanism to deliver fuel into the engine
    • The forebody injected fuel film resides in the relatively low speed, high temperature lower boundary layer where has enhanced opportunity to form radicals, providing a potential ignition aid

    Recent developments in the production of porous ceramic matrix composites as well as the optimization of dense small port-hole injector arrays has provided multiple options for distributed fuel injection that are suitable for scramjets. Fully understanding and maximizing the benefits of these approaches requires the capability to accurately model them using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). The first aim of the proposed project is to develop and validate the capability to model the injection of fuel through porous walls into a hypersonic cross-flow in both Reynolds-averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) and Large-Eddy Simulations (LES). The LES capability will then be used to understand and quantify the effects of porous injection and multi-port injector arrays on boundary layer transition, film cooling, skin friction reduction and ignition for both hydrogen and hydrocarbon fuels. These fundamental simulations can be used to evaluated the accuracy of the RANS capability, which can potentially be used to evaluate the impact of distributed fuel injection on the performance of full engines. This study will also investigate the effect hot walls has on the performance.

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ResearcherID: D-9627-2013

ORCID: 0000-0002-7287-7659

Scopus ID: 8984492900

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