|
|
Computational Engineering and Science Research Centre (CESRC) |
|
|
|
|
Computational Engineering and Science Research Centre (CESRC) |
|
Information on past scholarships:
|
Two PhD Scholarships funded by the Australian Research Council |
|
The mission is to provide world class research in computational engineering, to act as an intellectual powerhouse and a catalyst for the development of a smart, globally competitive engineering sector in South-east Queensland and Australia.
The overarching performance target is to provide the R&D capability that will allow companies to become involved in the use of the most advanced computational engineering tools to create smart design, products and technology to compete effectively in all markets.
The Computational Engineering and Science Research Centre (CESRC) is built on internationally recognised expertise within the Faculty of Engineering & Surveying and the Faculty of Science at the University of Southern Queensland.
The Faculty currently boasts a fine record of achievement in the field of Computational Engineering, although staff members may work in different areas of application.
By drawing staff together through the common theme of fundamental computational mechanics research, with a common aim of providing value added engineering solutions, the Centre aims to promote research activity and enhance international reputation through collaborative links, shared expertise and joint funding potential.
CESRC hosts basic and applied research activities. Basic research in Computational Mechanics encompasses the development of new numerical methods of analysis as well as the application of existing computing techniques to study new engineering problems.
At the same time, Multi-physics Computational Engineering (also known as Computer Aided Engineering - CAE) embraces the routine use of the most advanced computational methods and software available to synthesise high-tech solutions to practical industrial problems.
CESRC plays the traditional academic role of fostering original leading-edge research as well as the role of transferring technology to industry users. For example, a number of local manufacturing enterprises have benefited significantly from the "teaching company" role played by the Centre. Furthermore, the Centre's basic research endeavour has seen the development of new generic computer methods of analysis with applications beyond Mechanics.
The Centre fosters multidisciplinary expertise to enhance the capability for Multi-physics Computational Engineering which underpins Smart Design and Manufacturing (SMARTMAN).
The Centre also acts as the computational hub in the Faculty of Engineering & Surveying, underpinning a wide range of applications. As such, it will work closely with other research groups needing computational tools for their work. The Centre actively encourages collaboration and linkages with other research and industrial organisations.
Through fundamental research in theoretical and computational mechanics, Centre staff currently hold membership of national organisations, such as:
Centre staff also enjoy collaborative links with research centres and institutes, including:
Given the importance of application to the Centre’s mission, it will also foster closer links with centres and industrial organisations dedicated to specific fields in the solution of engineering problems using highend computational engineering. These linkages currently include:
Fundamental and applied research in numerical methods are pursued in a range of engineering endeavours, including solid and fluid mechanics, aerodynamics, heat and mass transfer, fracture mechanics, structural mechanics, thermoplasticity of high performance concrete, machine dynamics, geo-mechanics, rheology of visco-elastic materials, and electromagnetics.
The Centre has an excellent record of training PhD students and currently supports a cohort of PhD candidates. The Centre invites applications from potential graduate students with a desire to further the mechanics of computation, and achieve cutting edge solutions to engineering problems.
The collaborative links listed previously not only further the fundamental and applied research goals of the Centre, they provide graduate students working through the Centre with invaluable experience as part of their programs.
It is the explicit intention of the Centre to expose students to these connections to aid their research topic and apprise them of the wider applications and current issues in engineering practice.
The day-to-day operations of the Centre are managed by the Director, Professor Thanh Tran-Cong, who will report directly to the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering & Surveying, USQ.
The Director is supported by a Management Committee charged with the overall responsibility for strategic direction and industrial liaison. That committee consists of the Director, a second staff member from the Centre, and two nominated engineers external to the Centre:
The Committee meets twice per year at a time that is mutually convenient. The Committee reports through the Director to the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering & Surveying, who retains management and resource control over all Centre activities that relate to Faculty
Professor Thanh Tran-Cong is the Director and holds the industry funded RME Chair in Computational Engineering.
His group has focused on new advanced and generic numerical methods for engineering science problems. In parallel with research in generic numerical methods, the group applies these methods to investigate a range of problems, including complex flows of Newtonian, non-Newtonian and visco-elastic fluids; industrial polymer processing flows; behaviour of composite materials both in liquid (suspension) and solid states.
The group also engages in applied Computational Engineering and provides expertise in Computational Fluid Dynamics analysis as well as dynamics of mechanical systems.
Professor Tony Roberts is the Deputy Director.
The Faculty of Engineering & Surveying has committed significant funds to establish the initial infrastructure of the Centre. This includes refurbishment of 144 square metres of Z-block to a suite of six offices, computer workstations, and meeting areas all dedicated to CESRC staff. Russell Mineral Equipment Pty Ltd (RME) has generously sponsored the partial funding of staff salaries and computing facilities.
The Centre is continuously seeking further industrial sponsorship in all forms. Particularly, the Centre is keen to participate in collaborative R&D projects with industry as a form of mutually beneficial sponsorship.
Contract research is a means by which CESRC can provide computational engineering services based on advanced computer analysis of design concepts to ensure the best possible engineering solutions. The areas of expertise can be identified from the list of staff in the previous section.
CESRC’s human resources are supported by appropriate physical resources. The physical resources of the Centre consist of staff offices, computing infrastructure and office equipment. The Centre can also access other faculty laboratory facilities to obtain physical data in support of its main computational engineering thrust.
Staff accommodation includes a cluster of six CESRC-dedicated offices and a number of distributed offices within the Faculty of Engineering and Surveying. The special purpose cluster of six offices and high–end computer workstations are housed in a contiguous 144 square metre area to create a multidisciplinary physical concentration and collegial working environment.
In addition to the front-end workstations, the Centre currently has a 4-processor high performance SUN server (SunFire 480R) to support its activity. This main server is supplemented by two other USQ 2-processor SUN machines (SunFire 280R) to form the core of the USQ HPC (High Performance Computing) infrastructure.
CESRC is the University of Southern Queensland’s focal point for HPC applications and has access to the state-wide QPSF (Queensland Parallel Supercomputing Foundation) facility. QPSF is in turn a partner of the national organisation APAC (Australian Partnership for Advanced Computing).
The Centre uses a range of commercial software as well as those developed in house to support its research activities. The list of software changes according to need and currently includes; ABAQUS, ANSYS, PRO/ENGINEER, FLUENT, FEMLAB, and MATLAB.