Career Summary
Professor Davis was educated at St Paul’s School, London and trained as an engineering apprentice at the de Havilland Aeronautical Technical School and with the de Havilland Aircraft Company at Hatfield in England. He obtained his bachelors degree in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics and his doctorate in the Institute of Sound and Vibration at the University of Southampton. He worked on flight control at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough and as a research fellow in turbulence measurement at the University of Southampton. He was subsequently a member of academic staff in the Department of Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics in the School of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at the University of New South Wales from 1968 until 1984. He has held visiting positions at the Cambridge University Engineering Department and the Department of Ocean Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was appointed Professor of Engineering at the University of Tasmania in 1985. Professor Davis has acted as professional consultant and lectures in the areas of fluid mechanics, vibration, noise, control, aerodynamics, hydraulics, thermodynamics and heat transfer. He carries out research into high speed ship dynamics, wave response and turbulent mixing.
Professor Davis was a Committee member of the Sydney Division, Royal Aeronautical Society (1970-1975) and of the Standards Association of Australia, Heating & Ventilation Committee (1980-1985). Professor Davis has also served as President of the Tasmania Division, the Institution of Engineers, Australia (1993-4) and as Chairman of the College of Mechanical Engineers (2000-2002). In these capacities he has worked to encourage greater cooperation between the Institution of Engineers, Australia and the Royal Aeronautical Society and the Royal Institution of Naval Architects in Australia. He has served for a number of years as a Member of the Joint Board of RINA and the Institution of Engineers, Australia. He was Chairman.of the Tasmania Branch of the Australian Council of Professions and a national Council member (1995-1998). In this capacity he has worked on issues relating to professional standards legislation and the defined liability environment. Professor Davis has also worked to establish the Australian Journal of Mechanical Engineering (AJME, now publishing a two issue volume each year) as Chairman of the AJME steering Committee. He has acted as Guest Editor for 2006 and 2007 AJME issues devoted to high speed ships. He is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society and a Member of the Australian Acoustical Society.
Research Interests
Measurement of aerodynamic turbulence by hot wire anemometer
Investigation of the effect of Reynolds number, Grashof number and Knudsen number on the steady calibration of hot wire turbulence measurement probes: the inter-related effects of wire temperature and molecular mean free path were identified as having a strong effect on calibrations. Using shock tube dynamic testing, the transient response of constant resistance anemometer feedback systems was identified in terms of the effect probe inductance on natural frequency and bridge balance on system damping. Turbulent vorticity measurement using parallel wire probes has also been developed.
Heat and mass transfer
Investigations include the performance of thin film sensors for surface aerodynamic shear stress measurement and the development of a prediction method for the aerodynamic mechanisms of the paper drying process in paper making machines.
Optical measurement of turbulent aerodynamic turbulence
In high Mach number mixing and turbulent combustion flows density fluctuations are significant. The dynamic crossed beam schlieren method and the dynamic shadowgraph method were developed to form the basis of time domain measurement of turbulent structure in these flows using Abel transform, cross beam correlation and similar techniques. The method eliminates the insertion of probes into the flow for turbulence measurement.
Gas dynamics and aerodynamics
Investigations include the generation of noise by low Reynolds number jet quadrupoles, the dipole noise due to jet/surface interaction, measurement of acoustic impedance by laser doppler method, diffusion of jets over the ground, turbulent jet mixing structure, shock tube techniques and gas dynamics, turbulent combustion and design of leading edges to maximise boundary layer stability.
Multi-phase flows
The compressible characteristics of gas – liquid mixture flows has been generalised and the analysis applied to a variety of flows such as frictional pipe flow, flow through nozzles, enlargements and flow meters. Unsteady mixing structure in multiphase flow has been resolved by a new fast response needle probe system. A basis has been established for modelling of airborne particulates in power station boilers.
High speed ship propulsion and dynamics
The performance of large water jets as installed on catamaran high-speed car ferries has been investigated with particular reference to inlet flow non uniformity and its effect on asymmetric loading of the rotor and shaft. A new transient Green function technique for the prediction of high speed ship motions in waves has been developed and is being used to investigate the effect of motion controls, sea conditions, and ship design on wave induced motions, passenger discomfort and structural loads. The method has proved substantially more accurate than other established methods. The mechanism of wave slamming and the associated large impulsive loads on ship structures have also been investigated. An investigation has also been carried out into the use of aerodynamic lift from a catamaran superstructure as a means of reducing vessel wave drag through ground effect drag reduction.
UnitsSelected Publications:- Holloway. D. S. and Davis, M. R. , 2006, 'Ship motion computations using a high Froude number time domain strip theory', Journal of Ship Research, 50(1), pgs. 15-30
- Davis, MR and Holloway, DS and Watson, NL, 2006, 'Dynamic wave loads on a high speed catamaran ferry fitted with T-foils and stern tabs', Transactions of the Royal Institute of Naval Architects (Part A), International Journal of Maritime Engineering, 148 (A1), pgs. 1-16
- 12. Davis, MR and Whelan, JR, 2006, 'Modelling wet deck bow slamming of wave piercing catamarans', Transactions of the Royal Institute of Naval Architects (Part A), International Journal of Maritime Engineering, 148 (A3), pgs. 42-57
- Davis, MR and Whelan, JR, 2007, 'Computation of wet deck bow slam loads for catamaran arched cross sections', Ocean Engineering, 34, pgs. 2265-2276
- Thomas, GA and Davis, MR and Holloway, DS and Roberts, T, 2008, 'The Vibratory Damping of Large High Speed Catamarans', Marine Structures, 21(1), pgs. 1-21
Full Publication List Current and Supervised Project/s:
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