Real-Time Urban Wind Simulation and Data Reduction for Environmental Hazard Assessment

About the Project

This PhD project will investigate fast computational approaches for modelling urban airflow and environmental hazard assessment in complex city environments. The research is motivated by emerging challenges in Urban Air Mobility (UAM), UAV operations, emergency response planning, and sustainable urban infrastructure.

Urban wind flow strongly influences pollutant dispersion, pedestrian safety, and UAV operation within cities. However, high-fidelity Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations are computationally expensive and generate very large datasets, limiting their use in real-time applications and decision-making.

This project will explore accelerated and reduced-order modelling approaches for urban airflow simulation, potentially including Lattice Boltzmann Methods (LBM), GPU-accelerated CFD, surrogate modelling, and real-time data reduction techniques. The research will focus on converting large volumes of time-dependent CFD outputs into actionable information, such as hazard maps, flow indicators, and environmental risk metrics, without requiring large-scale data storage.

The successful candidate will develop skills in computational fluid dynamics, scientific programming, high-performance computing (HPC), data processing, and urban environmental modelling. Depending on the student’s interests and project evolution, there may also be opportunities to collaborate with researchers in AI, uncertainty quantification, urban systems, and environmental acoustics.

Applicants should have a background in aerospace engineering, mechanical engineering, civil engineering, physics, applied mathematics, computer science, or a related discipline. Experience with programming and numerical methods would be beneficial.

Supervisor profiles:
Marta Camps Santasmasas: https://salford-repository.worktribe.com/person/2030635/marta-camps-santasmasas

Funding Notes:
To inquire about University of Salford funding schemes – including the Widening Participation Scholarship – visit this website: https://www.salford.ac.uk/postgraduate-research/fees

Applications:
Please use this Research Proposal, Personal statement, and CV guide when preparing an application: https://issuu.com/universityofsalford2/docs/see_research_proposal_personal_statement_cv_guid?fr=xKAE9_zU1NQ