![Professor Vincent Wheatley](/sites/default/files/profiles/2183.png)
Overview
Background
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
Availability
- Professor Vincent Wheatley is:
- Available for supervision
Fields of research
Qualifications
- Bachelor (Honours) of Engineering, The University of Queensland
- Masters (Coursework) of Engineering, The University of Queensland
- Doctor of Philosophy, California Institute of Technology
Works
Search Professor Vincent Wheatley’s works on UQ eSpace
2021
Journal Article
Measurements and analysis of hypersonic tripped boundary layer turbulence
Hopkins, Keill J., Porat, Hadas, McIntyre, Timothy J., Wheatley, Vincent and Veeraragavan, Ananthanarayanan (2021). Measurements and analysis of hypersonic tripped boundary layer turbulence. Experiments in Fluids, 62 (8) 164. doi: 10.1007/s00348-021-03254-z
2021
Journal Article
Correction to: Characterization of supersonic turbulent combustion in a mach-10 scramjet combustor
Moura, Augusto F., Gibbons, Nicholas, Wheatley, Vincent, McIntyre, Timothy and Jahn, Ingo (2021). Correction to: Characterization of supersonic turbulent combustion in a mach-10 scramjet combustor. AIAA Journal, 59 (4), 1-1. doi: 10.2514/1.J058671.c1
2020
Conference Publication
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
2020
Journal Article
Richtmyer-Meshkov instability of an imploding flow with a two-fluid plasma model
Li, Y., Samtaney, R., Bond, D. and Wheatley, V. (2020). Richtmyer-Meshkov instability of an imploding flow with a two-fluid plasma model. Physical Review Fluids, 5 (11) 113701. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevFluids.5.113701
2020
Journal Article
The magnetised Richtmyer–Meshkov instability in two-fluid plasmas
Bond, D., Wheatley, V., Li, Y., Samtaney, R. and Pullin, D. I. (2020). The magnetised Richtmyer–Meshkov instability in two-fluid plasmas. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 903 A41. doi: 10.1017/jfm.2020.661
2020
Journal Article
Magnetohydrodynamic Richtmyer-Meshkov instability under an arbitrarily oriented magnetic field
Shen, Naijian, Wheatley, Vincent, Pullin, D. I. and Samtaney, Ravi (2020). Magnetohydrodynamic Richtmyer-Meshkov instability under an arbitrarily oriented magnetic field. Physics of Plasmas, 27 (6) 062101, 062101. doi: 10.1063/1.5142042
2020
Journal Article
Characterization of supersonic turbulent combustion in a Mach-10 scramjet combustor
Moura, Augusto F., Gibbons, Nicholas, Wheatley, Vincent, McIntyre, Timothy and Jahn, Ingo (2020). Characterization of supersonic turbulent combustion in a Mach-10 scramjet combustor. AIAA Journal, 58 (5), 2196. doi: 10.2514/1.j058671
2020
Journal Article
Correction: Fundamental scramjet combustion experiments using hydrocarbon fuel (Journal of Propulsion and Power, (2019) 5, 5, (953-963), 10.2514/1.B37472)
Vanyai, Tristan, Grieve, Sam, Street, Oliver, Denman, Zachary, McIntyre, Timothy, Veeraragavan, Ananthanarayanan, Wheatley, Vincent and Smart, Michael (2020). Correction: Fundamental scramjet combustion experiments using hydrocarbon fuel (Journal of Propulsion and Power, (2019) 5, 5, (953-963), 10.2514/1.B37472). Journal of Propulsion and Power, 36 (6), AU5-AU5. doi: 10.2514/1.B37472.c1
2020
Conference Publication
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
2020
Journal Article
Evolution of a shock generated by an impulsively accelerated, sinusoidal piston
Shen, N., Pullin, D. I., Samtaney, R. and Wheatley, V. (2020). Evolution of a shock generated by an impulsively accelerated, sinusoidal piston. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 907 A35. doi: 10.1017/jfm.2020.775
2019
Conference Publication
Performance analysis of FLDI technique using turbulent jets
Ananthapadmanaban, Ramprakash, McIntyre, Timothy J., Wheatley, Vincent and Mee, David J. (2019). Performance analysis of FLDI technique using turbulent jets. IX Australian Conference on Laser Diagnostics, Adelaide, SA, Australia, 2-4 December 2019.
2019
Journal Article
Impulse-driven Richtmyer-Meshkov instability in Hall-magnetohydrodynamics
Shen, Naijian, Pullin, D., Wheatley, Vincent and Samtaney, Ravi (2019). Impulse-driven Richtmyer-Meshkov instability in Hall-magnetohydrodynamics. Physical Review Fluids, 4 (10) 103902. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevFluids.4.103902
2019
Journal Article
Correction to: Thermofluidic compression effects to achieve combustion in a low-compression scramjet engine (Shock Waves, (2018), 28, 4, (863-875), 10.1007/s00193-017-0782-0)
Moura, A. F., Wheatley, V. and Jahn, I. (2019). Correction to: Thermofluidic compression effects to achieve combustion in a low-compression scramjet engine (Shock Waves, (2018), 28, 4, (863-875), 10.1007/s00193-017-0782-0). Shock Waves, 29 (6), 901-901. doi: 10.1007/s00193-019-00908-0
2019
Journal Article
Fundamental scramjet combustion experiments using hydrocarbon fuel
Vanyai, Tristan, Grieve, Sam, Street, Oliver, Denman, Zachary, McIntyre, Timothy, Veeraragavan, Ananthanarayanan, Wheatley, Vincent and Smart, Michael (2019). Fundamental scramjet combustion experiments using hydrocarbon fuel. Journal of Propulsion and Power, 35 (5), 953-963. doi: 10.2514/1.B37472
2019
Journal Article
Erratum: On the magnetohydrodynamic limits of the ideal two-fluid plasma equations
Shen, Naijian, Li, Yuan, Pullin, D. I., Samtaney, Ravi and Wheatley, Vincent (2019). Erratum: On the magnetohydrodynamic limits of the ideal two-fluid plasma equations. Physics of Plasmas, 26 (3) 039901, 039901. doi: 10.1063/1.5094930
2019
Conference Publication
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
2019
Conference Publication
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
2019
Conference Publication
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
2019
Conference Publication
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
2018
Journal Article
On the magnetohydrodynamic limits of the ideal two-fluid plasma equations
Shen, Naijian, Li, Yuan, Pullin, D. I., Samtaney, Ravi and Wheatley, Vincent (2018). On the magnetohydrodynamic limits of the ideal two-fluid plasma equations. Physics of Plasmas, 25 (12) 122113, 122113. doi: 10.1063/1.5067387
Funding
Current funding
Supervision
Availability
- Professor Vincent Wheatley is:
- Available for supervision
Before you email them, read our advice on how to contact a supervisor.
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:
- 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
- Experimentally explore oxygen scramjet enriched performance and map engine performance
- 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.
Supervision history
Current supervision
-
Doctor Philosophy
Two-fluid modeling of electron transpiration cooling for the leading edges of hypersonic vehicles
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Rowan Gollan
-
Doctor Philosophy
Characterization of Boundary Layer Combustion via Distributed Injection
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Tristan Vanyai, Professor Anand Veeraragavan
-
Doctor Philosophy
Experimental Investigation of Plasma Fuel Engine Performance
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Allan Paull, Dr Carolyn Jacobs
-
Doctor Philosophy
Examining the Growth of Hypersonic Boundary Layer Turbulence Over Heated Walls
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Tim McIntyre, Professor Anand Veeraragavan
-
Doctor Philosophy
Optimised use of Magnetohydrodynamic Aerobraking for Planetary Atmospheric Entry
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Rowan Gollan, Dr David Gildfind
-
Doctor Philosophy
Integration of Cooling into Ceramic Matrix Composite Structures
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Chris James, Dr Christian Kudisonga, Dr Michael Heitzmann
-
Doctor Philosophy
Investigation into electron transpiration cooling in hypersonic flows
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Richard Morgan
-
Doctor Philosophy
Artificial tornado enhancing cooling towers/chimneys: mechanisms and engineering implementation
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Yuanshen Lu
-
Doctor Philosophy
Shape Morphing Hypersonic Vehicles
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Rowan Gollan
Completed supervision
-
2023
Doctor Philosophy
Characterisation and suppression of the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability in the multi-fluid plasma regime
Principal Advisor
-
2021
Doctor Philosophy
Fluid dynamic solutions to enable scramjet accelerator thrust generation from Mach 5 to 10
Principal Advisor
-
2019
Doctor Philosophy
Simulation and Dynamics of Hypersonic Turbulent Combustion
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Alexander Klimenko
-
2015
Doctor Philosophy
The Flow Physics of Inlet-Fueled, Low-Compression Scramjets
Principal Advisor
-
2015
Doctor Philosophy
Dynamics and hydrodynamic instability of magnetohydrodynamic implosions
Principal Advisor
-
2015
Doctor Philosophy
Numerical investigation of gaseous heat and mass transfer: The effect of rarefaction
Principal Advisor
-
2015
Doctor Philosophy
Flow Physics of a Hypervelocity Mixing Wake with Oxygen Enrichment
Principal Advisor
-
2014
Doctor Philosophy
Mixing and Combustion Enhancement in a Mach 12 Shape-Transitioning Scramjet Engine
Principal Advisor
-
2023
Doctor Philosophy
Bulk and porous Ti alloys produced by selective laser melting for biomedical applications
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Matthew Dargusch
-
2023
Doctor Philosophy
Noise Generated in a Scramjet Engine
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Tim McIntyre, Emeritus Professor David Mee
-
2021
Doctor Philosophy
Magnetohydrodynamic drag force experiments in expansion tunnels
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Tim McIntyre, Dr David Gildfind
-
2021
Master Philosophy
Characteristics of Turbulent Spots and the Transition Zone Under the Influence of an Adverse Pressure Gradient Within a Free Piston Shock Tunnel
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Emeritus Professor David Mee
-
2019
Doctor Philosophy
Investigation of supersonic turbulent combustion in a Mach 10 scramjet engine
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Tim McIntyre
-
2018
Doctor Philosophy
Improving Performance of High Mach Number Scramjets: Fuelling Strategies and Combustor Design
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Anand Veeraragavan
-
2017
Doctor Philosophy
Supersonic combustion of hydrocarbon fuels in a three-dimensional Mach 8 scramjet
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Anand Veeraragavan
-
2014
Doctor Philosophy
Hypersonic Viscous Drag Reduction using Multiport Injection Arrays
Associate Advisor
-
2014
Doctor Philosophy
Supersonic Combustion in Inlet-Fuelled Busemann-like Axisymmetric Scramjet Flow Paths
Associate Advisor
Media
Enquiries
For media enquiries about Professor Vincent Wheatley's areas of expertise, story ideas and help finding experts, contact our Media team: