PhD Thesis Projects

Queensland Geothermal Energy Centre of Excellence (QGECE) is one of the largest geothermal and renewable power conversion research centres of the world. The Centre research programs are conducted in its research laboratories on St Lucia campus and the Renewable Power generation Laboratory in Pinjarra Hills (in construction). Our activities fall into two broad categories: (1) analytical and computational modelling to enable the evaluation of technical concepts; and (2) experimental studies to prove the concepts via demonstration. The experimental work also anchors the analytic and computational work, allowing us to calibrate those modelling tools with reality

The following are the PhD topics currently on offer at the QGECE. Due to the renewed interest in renewable power conversion worldwide, we have received many applications for PhD scholarships with our Centre in the last couple of years. As a result of this, we now have close to 30 PhD and post-doc cohort working on very interesting problems associated with renewable power generation. Therefore QGECE scholarships will be available for only a few students on a competitive basis.

PhD entrance requirements to The University of Queensland may be found at http://www.uq.edu.au/study/index.html?page=1087 . Information from other scholarships can be found on that page.

To enable the Research Team to make an assessment of your qualifications and suitability to undertake a research higher degree, please download an Expression of Interest in Research Higher Degree Candidature form from http://www.uq.edu.au/grad-school/candidature-forms and forward to the Centre's Project Officer at g.heyde@uq.edu.au.

Available Topics

The following are the PhD Topics available from the Queensland Geothermal Energy Centre to eligible graduates in the disciplines as noted for each topic:

Investigation on the Lower Size Limit of Radial-In-Flow Turbines Distributed power generation and Micro CHP will become more popular in the future. The minimum turbine size is an important technical consideration. One constraint is placed by the manufacturing tolerances and the leakage losses. This Thesis project will investigate these issues and explore the feasibility of turbines small enough to be used for domestic purposes fed by roof-mounted solar hot water systems.	Dr Peter Jacobs, Dr Emilie Sauret	Mechanical Engineering
Load-Tracking Ability of a Small ORC Plant When an Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) plant is utilised generating power for an isolated off-grid network, it will have to track the load. It will have to decrease its output when there is no demand for electricity and increase again when the demand resumes. This Thesis project is expected to investigate how quickly an ORC plant can track load and what efficiency penalties are. The findings will be of relevance to designers of off-grid power networks, e.g. optimum sizing of battery and thermal storage, etc.	Dr Andrew Rowlands, Dr Peter Jacobs	Mechanical Engineering
Design and testing of a Mixed-Fluid Turbine Use of mixed-fluid subcritical or supercritical Rankine cycles offer potential for better geothermal plant productivity. A current QGECE PhD Thesis project is searching for optimum fluid mixes and cycle properties. This new Thesis project is expected to follow up from the findings of that project; build a small mixed-fluid turbine and test it at the HPHT testing loop at the QGECE Renewable Power Generation Laboratory.	Dr Peter Jacobs, Dr Andrew Rowlands, Dr Emilie Sauret	Mechanical Engineering
Reliable and robust design and analysis of radial-inflow turbines using high-density fluids The objectives of this proposal are twofold: (1) to improve the prediction capabilities of CFD simulations for radial-inflow turbines working with high-density fluids; and (2) through experiments and the Uncertainty Quantification (UQ) of the main influential parameters, increase turbine design reliability and robustness (ability to perform in off-design conditions). This will be achieved by coupling a stochastic method (where parameters can vary according to a specified distribution) with a deterministic CFD solver (where all the parameters are fixed for a specific calculation).	Dr Emilie Sauret, Dr Peter Jacobs	Mechanical Engineering
Optimum design and analysis of radial-inflow turbines over a range of operating conditions In contrast to fossil-fired power generators, renewable power plants may have to operate over a range of operating conditions. The hot source temperature may vary for example by thermal decline in the geothermal reservoir if it is a geothermal plant or by reduction in solar intensity due to increased cloud cover in a solar thermal power plant. At the same time, a manufacturer of turbines may want to ofer a turbine design that offers optimum performance over a wider range of operating remperatures to widen the application base. This requires optimisation procedures to enable the turbine designer to design a turbine that will maintain its isentropic efficiency over a relatively wide range of conditions. The objective of this Thesis project is to develop such procedures.	Dr Emilie Sauret, Dr Peter Jacobs	Mechanical Engineering
Numerical modelling of two-phase expansions with application to turbine design A two-phase expander is one where the fluid condenses inthe final stages of expansion. Two-phase expanders have been the holy grail for over 30 years for various reasons. So far no one has been able to build a two-phase expander with isentropic efficiencies comparable to dry turbines. Part oif the problem is the deficiency in the present modelling software to model the expansion and condensation process while the fluid is passing through the turbine. This thesis will start with the CFD code that has been in development in our School over the last 20 years and has been applied to turbine design in recent years and will explore modifying it to handle two-phase flow expansion.	Dr Peter Jacobs,Dr Paul Petrie-Repar	Mechanical Engineering