Dr Tom  Scanlon

BEng, PhD, MIMechE, FHEA, CEng

Senior Lecturer

Current Funded Projects

• EPSRC Grant - EP/F002467/1: Fluid Flows at the Nano Scale: from Molecular Dynamics to Hydrodynamics, 2007-2011, with Prof JM Reese
• EPSRC Grant - GR/R26023/01: The solution of convective heat transfer problems using adaptive moving meshes, 2001-2004, with Dr MT Stickland - Collaboration with Mathematics Department
• Knowledge Transfer Partnership Programme No 6871, Hoover Ltd, with Dr IA Craighead, 2008-2010
• EU FP7 NORSEWIND Project, 2008 - 2012, with Dr MT Stickland and Mr G King
• EC ITN Project - GASMEMS This will investigate gas flows in micro-scale devices, with Dr Y Zhang and Prof JM Reese, 2008-2012

• GR/R09176/01 High Speed Digital Video and High Power Light Source, with Dr MT Stickland & Dr MA Wheel

Research Interests

For a list of publications from 2001, please follow this link. Select 'Browse', 'Author or Creator', Scanlon, Thomas J. http://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/view/depts/11048.html


My main areas of research are Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and particle methods (DSMC) applied to problems in rarefied gas flows (microfluidics and hypersonics), natural convection heat transfer and two-phase flows involving melting and solidification. I have published several journal and conference papers in the field of melting and solidification and I am an experienced user of the commercial CFD code FLUENT and the open source CFD code OpenFOAM. One of the principal outcomes of my work has been the development of a new numerical technique to capture the physics of solid-liquid phase change combined with natural convection heat and mass transfer.

I am a founding member of the Multi Scale Flows Research Group in the Department of Mechanical Engineering (http://www.mecheng.strath.ac.uk/multiscaleflows/index.html). This team is a dynamic, active group of academics, post-doctoral and post-graduate researchers in the field of micro and nanoscale flows. In my research I make use of the new Faculty of Engineering High Performance Computing (HPC) facility at Strathclyde for which I was a lead member of the team that was successful in raising funds to purchase this equipment. The HPC system consists of 1088 cores, 100 TB disk storage and 13 TeraFlops performance. My experience in parallel-architecture computation with the HPC facility is used to enhance my CFD research.


Professional Activities

• IMechE:
  • Corporate Member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers 2000
  • Chartered Engineer (CEng)
• HEA: Member of the Higher Education Academy
• External Examiner, PhD:
  • University of Greenwich, London, Department of Computing and Mathematical Sciences
  • National University of Ireland, Maynooth, Department of Experimental Physics
• Active Consultant for industry in the field of fluid mechanics and heat transfer
• Referee: for several international engineering journal papers

• Expro North Sea Ltd 2001
• Watermiser Tower Works, with Dr Stickland 2001
• Star Refrigeration 2003-
• Star Refrigeration, with Dr Dempster 2005
• First Engineering, with Dr Stickland 2003
• Bosunstone Ltd 2004
• Waveplane Solutions 2004
• City Site Estates, with Dr Stickland 2005, 2007
• Wragge & Co Ltd 2006
• Halcrow Yolles, with Dr Taylor 2006, 2007
• Jacobs Engineering UK Ltd 2006
• Gladedale Capital Ltd, with Dr Taylor 2007
• Young & Gault, with Dr Stickland 2007

• University of Oviedo, Spain: Collaborative research into flows in pump impellers
• Ford Motor Company, Detroit, USA: Collaborative research on the designa nd developemnt of 3D workstations 1996-2003

Prizes and Awards

Institution of Mechanical Engineers Awards:

• The TA Stewart-Dyer Prize/Frederick Harvey Trevithick Prize 2004 with Dr IA Craighead and Dr MT Stickland, for 'An investigation into the mechanical damping characteristics of catenary contact wires and their effect on aerodynamic galloping instability'. Journal of Rail and Rapid Transit, Proceedings of the IMechE Part F, 217, (2), 63-71, June 2003.
• The Alfred Rosling Bennett Premium/Charles S Lake Award 2003 with Dr MT Stickland, for 'An investigation into the aerodynamic characteristics of catenary contact wires in a cross-wind'. Journal of Rail and Rapid Transit, Proceedings of the IMechE, Part F, 215, (4), pp. 311 319, April 2001.