SheardLab.org

Rotating flows

We investigate the stability of shearing rotating flows to understand the polygonal deformations in atmospheric flows such as polar vortices and hurricane eyewalls.
Rotating flows

Rotating flows are found from bathtub drain whirlpools to mixing vessels in process industries to the rotating air masses in the polar atmosphere.
Magnetohydrodynamics

We are exploring novel combinations of physical and electrical turbulence generators to enhance heat transfer in MHD duct flows.
Magnetohydrodynamics

We are focused on heat transfer in electrically conducting fluid flows in high magnetic field environments.
Natural convection

We are focused on the scaling between convective heat transfer and thermal forcing, and its relationship to instability and turbulent transition in these flows.
Natural convection

Horizontal convection is the overturning circulation produced by non-uniform heating across a horizontal boundary.
The Sheard Lab

We specialise in the use of the high-order spectral element method for the direct numerical simulation of these flows.
The Sheard Lab

These include rotating flows, magnetohydrodynamics, convection and heat transfer.
The Sheard Lab

We investigate the fluid dynamics, heat transfer and stability of flows with geophysical and industrial applications.
The Sheard Lab

We are a research team located in the Engineering precinct of Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.

News & highlights

We have moved! The Sheard Lab, 18 Jun 2020
The Sheard Lab, 1 Feb 2020
This research explains how horizontal heat transport depends on the distribution of buoyancy across the horizontal boundary driving the horizontal convection flow.
New paper published in International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer The Sheard Lab, 1 Dec 2019
This study reveals the behaviour of horizontal convection in shallow enclosures, including the key result that height replaces length as the controlling length scale in these flows.
PhD success for Zhi Ng! The Sheard Lab, 29 Nov 2019
Congratulations to Dr Zhi Ng on the conferral of his PhD today. Zhi's PhD advanced our understanding of bluff body wakes and their stability.

Recent publications

Transition to turbulence in quasi-two-dimensional MHD flow driven by lateral walls.

Physical Review Fluids 6 (1), 013901, 2021.
Transitions and scaling in horizontal convection driven by different temperature profiles.

International Journal of Thermal Sciences 148, 106166, 2020.
A centrifugal buoyancy formulation for Boussinesq-type natural convection flows applied to the annulus cavity problem.

International Journal for Numerical Methods in Fluids (Published online), 2020.
Efficiency enhancement of photovoltaic panels using an optimised air cooled heat sink.

International Journal of Energy and Power Engineering 14 (7), 196-202, 2020.
Subcritical route to turbulence via the Orr mechanism in a quasi-two-dimensional boundary layer.

Physical Review Fluids 5 (11), 113902, 2020.
Surface boundary conditions strongly affect the dynamics of rotating horizontal convection.

Proceedings of the 22nd Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference AFMC2020, Paper 81, 2020.

Joining our team

We are expanding our team and welcome outstanding graduates with an interest in fluid mechanics, magnetohydrodynamics or convection and heat transfer to study towards a PhD. Applications must be made through Monash Graduate Research (how to apply?).