New Horizons of Applications of the 21st Century Aerodynamic Concepts from Aerospace to Power Generation and Utilization

The rapid technological development of the last century has underpinned the progress of modern civilization but is also giving rise to unnatural contingencies of energy production and utilization that are raising serious alarm bells because they have the potential to destroy the very environment which sustains life. The matter of energy production and usage, therefore, needs to be tackled on every possible front with a greater sense of urgency. This is the background against which research, at the University of New South Wales by the author and his team, are being conducted. Although the work originally started with applications to aerospace industry in mind, it has become evident that some of the novel techniques and concepts developed as a consequence, would have wider applications opening up new horizons of research of positive scientific, economic and environmental significance. The present talk is, therefore, organised essentially around the experiences and outcomes of such works that have the great promise of applications in a wide range of diverse fields, from performance enhancement of aircraft flight to power generation using renewable sources of energy, from propulsion of micro-aerial and underwater unmanned vehicles to ventilation within enclosed spaces of aircraft cabin or helicopter cockpits, from the design of thermal protection system for re-entry space vehicles to the energy efficient design of dwellings for human and domesticated animals, all with the overriding goal of contributing towards reducing carbon foot print and facilitating a sustainable environment of high quality living and comfort.