[Univ of Cambridge] [Dept of Engineering]

Prof. Epaminondas Mastorakos

Introduction

Epaminondas Mastorakos is Professor of Energy Technologies in Cambridge University Engineering Department. He is in the Acoustics, Fluid Mechanics, Turbomachinery and Thermodynamics Division (Division A). He is also a member of Fitzwilliam College.

  • Research

    Our research focuses on combustion and other reacting flows. We work on simulations and experiments of turbulent combustion, and in particular on "flames at the limit". We focus therefore on ignition and extinction phenomena that have applications, for example, in diesel engines and gas turbines. Our work on simulations and simulation tools includes reduced chemical mechanism construction, laminar flames, Direct Numerical Simulations of turbulent flames, and RANS and LES simulations of non-premixed reacting flows with the Conditional Moment Closure (CMC) method. Our CMC code is currently being used by various laboratories across the world. There is also experience with dispersion of reacting pollutants in the atmosphere and on aerosol modelling. On the experimental side, our work includes combustion in porous media for hydrogen production for fuel cells, auto-ignition and spark ignition of turbulent non-premixed flames, spray combustion, and blow-off of flames.

  • Ignition

    Spark ignition of non-premixed combustion has proven to be a very fruitful research topic. We have lately performed various new experiments with igniting jets, counterflows, bluff-body flames, and heptane sprays. Many fast camera movies are available that can assist modelling studies - please contact me (em257@eng.cam.ac.uk) for details. Some movies can be seen from the links below.

    Ignition movies in DSpace @ Cambridge

    Methane jet 12.5m/s (Combust. Flame 146:215-231, 2006)
    Methane jet at 25.5m/s (Combust. Flame 146:215-231, 2006)
    Methane bluff-body non-premixed flame, spark at shear layer, flow from below (Combust. Flame 151:366-385, 2007)
    Swirling heptane spray, 100 Hz repetitive spark close to wall, flow from above (Combust. Flame 156:166-180, 2009)
    LES/CMC of spark ignition of recirculating methane non-premixed flame (Combust. Flame 156:2328-2345, 2009)

  • Extinction

    Some recent work on extinction has also produced interesting insights into the structure of flames approaching the blow-off condition and during the blow-off event itself. The link below contains a folder with some movies from blow-off of premixed and spray flames. We also work on modelling such phenomena.
  • Blowoff Movies (Proc. Combust. Inst. 33:1559-1566, 2011 ; AIAA ASM 2012)

  • Teaching - undergraduate

    4A12: Turbulence

    Lecture Notes and Examples are available from :

    Notes for OLD Part IIA Combustion Course (used in 2002-2005)

    Lecture Notes and Examples: PLEASE ASK

  • Teaching - graduate

    Graduate Module 5R10: Turbulent Reacting Flows

    Lecture Notes: given in class. A textbook co-authored with R.S. Cant contains much of the material given in this graduate course. For focused reviews of various aspects of turbulent combustion and modern computational approaches, see also "Turbulent Combustion Modelling".

    Graduate Module 5R18: Environmental Fluid Mechanics and Air Pollution

    This is part of the old 4A8 undergraduate course that now contains many new topics on aerosols, buoyant flows, and global climate. See below for the lecture notes on the air pollution part.
    Air Pollution lecture notes

    MPhil in Energy Technologies

    The MPhil on Energy Technologies, started in October 2011 and is now running smoothly. Please see the MPhil's webpages for further information. For a summary flyer, click here. Registered students to this MPhil can access teaching material from the dedicated Camtools website.

  • Publications

  • Health and Safety in Hopkinson Laboratory

    The link below takes you to a page with some documents that workers in the Hopkinson Lab should read concerning safety and local rules of lab work. They are mostly aimed to post-docs and PhD students working in experimental projects, although others should take a look as well.

  • Contact Information

    [ Cambridge University | CUED ]

    Updated: 16 October 2011

    E. Mastorakos - em257@eng.cam.ac.uk