My main research focus is on the development of future energy systems for power generation from low- and medium-temperature heat sources, which includes solar, biomass, geothermal and waste heat. Primarily this includes research into organic Rankine cycle and supercritical carbon dioxide power systems, with a specific focus on the four areas outlined below.

Two-phase expansion

Investigating the use of two-phase expansion as a means of enhancing the performance of organic Rankine cycle systems for waste-heat recovery applications

Development of new technologies to achieve two-phase expansion

Modelling and optimisation of thermal-power systems

Developing advanced thermodynamic cycle models of future thermal power systems, including organic Rankine cycle and supercritical carbon dioxide power systems alongside other cycle variants
Component modelling and multi-objective optimisation to investigate the trade-offs that exist between improved thermodynamic performance and increased component cost and complexity
Integrating working-fluid selection with thermodynamic cycles and characterising optimal working fluids for different heat-source conditions

Turbomachinery design and optimisation

Mean-line one-dimensional and three-dimensional design of turbo-machinery components for thermal power systems
Investigating performance prediction methods, such as existing loss models and similitude theory, for turbo-machinery components operating with unconventional working fluids
Using computational-fluid dynamics to study the performance of turbo-machinery components operating with unconventional working fluids

Characterising the behaviour of non-ideal fluids

Numerical investigations into the fluid dynamic behaviour of non-ideal fluids under high-pressure and high-speed conditions

Development of experimental facilities to study non-ideal fluid behaviour at a fundamental level