Funded Projects
I am involved, or have been involved, in a range of intersting funded projects, a selection of which is listed below.
2024-: VistaMilk
I am a funded researcher in VistaMilk, phase 2 of which was launched in May 2024. VistaMilk is an Irish agri-tech research centre, hosted by Teagasc and funded jointly by Science Foundation Ireland (now Research Ireland) and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. The centre brings together leading Irish institutions and industry partners to develop precision technologies such as advanced sensors, data analytics, and decision-support tools for sustainable pasture-based dairy production.
My role in VistaMilk is to head up a soil modelling group within the System of Systems theme. I supervise supervise one PhD student and one co-supervise one postdoctoral researcher, where we are investigating:
- Image-based modelling of fluid flow through soil, using high-end simulation
- Richards-Equation-based modelling of the soil moisture deficit.
- Mathematical modelling of powder drying
- Mathematical epidemiology
2017-2023: ThermaSMART
I was the UCD PI in the ThermaSMART project. This was an international and intersectoral network of organisations working on a joint research programme in the area of phase-change cooling of microprocessors and high-power electronic devices. I provided numerical and analytical modelling inputs to the network. The network was been funded by the Horizon 2020 Marie Curie RISE funding programme.
Update: A follow-on project, ThermaEnTrans, has just been funded by the Marie Curie RISE programme, and will be starting in January 2026, with numerical and analytical modelling inputs from UCD.
2010-2016: High-performance computing through Hector - Class 1b and DCSE
Prashant Valluri (Edinburgh) and I enjoyed Class 1a access to Hector, the UK national supercomputer facility, to run our TPLS code. We used this supercomputer access to investigate three-dimensional interfacial instability and droplet formation. We used complementary funding from the DCSE to optimize our code with the help of proper computer scientists. This enabled us to implement more efficient pressure solvers into our MPI-TPLS code.
2012-2016: TRANSPACC (Modelling and Direct Numerical Simulations): Modelling TRANSient operation of flexible PAckings for Carbon Capture
This was a industry-academic collaboration focused on modelling and simulation of transient absorption phenomena in towers with structured packings using 3D direct numerical simulations (DNS). The project was tasked with developing of new column internals to meet the requirements for fast, flexible and highly dynamic operation of fossil-fuel power plants fitted with CO2 capture.
- Supervisors: Dr. Prashant Valluri (University of Edinburgh), Dr. Mathieu Lucquiaud (University of Edinburgh), Dr. Lennon O Naraigh (UC Dublin, Ireland), Prof. Graeme White (Heriot-Watt University), and Prof. Jon Gibbins (University of Edinburgh)
- Sponsoring company: Sulzer Innotec, Switzerland
- PhD Student: Patrick Schmidt, thesis: "Interfacial Dynamics in counter-current gas-liquid flows"
2012-2013: Towards a Complete Numerical Description of two-phase turbulence
This was a travel grant which we used highly successfully as seedfunding to develop the two-phase levelset code (TPLS),
- Funded By: Irish Research Council for Science Engineering and Technology (IRCSET)
- Programme: Ulysses - Ireland/France Research Visits Scheme
- Investigators: Lennon O'Naraigh, Peter Spelt, Aurore Naso
2011-2012: HPC Europa visiting scientist programme
In 2011 and 2012 I spent six weeks each year visiting the University of Edinburgh and working with Prashant Valluri and the Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre, developing our two-phase levelset code (TPLS). These visits were funded by the HPC Europa visitor programme.