Contact Dr Patrick Verdin
- Tel: +44 (0) 1234 754229
- Email: p.verdin@cranfield.ac.uk
Background
Dr Patrick Verdin is Reader in Energy Fluid Dynamics at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½. He has more than 20 years of expertise in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) applied to Aerospace (icing), Oil & Gas (multiphase flows, mixing, flow separation, droplet transport, sand erosion), and Renewable Energy (geothermal, wind, tidal). He is a Chartered Energy Engineer (CEng), a Fellow of the Energy Institute (FEI), and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA).
After an MSc gained from the University of Sciences and Technologies of Lille (France), Patrick joined ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ and completed a Ph.D. on Aircraft Icing, working on the development of the numerical ice prediction code ICECREMO2. His research work involved a collaboration with the main aircraft companies in the UK: Airbus UK, BAE Systems, Dunlop Aerospace (Meggitt), Rolls-Royce, QinetiQ, and Westland Helicopters (now AgustaWestland). He then carried out post-doctoral studies in multi-phase flows, working on the development of a CFD droplet transport model for ConocoPhillips (USA), in collaboration with Imperial College London, before becoming Research Fellow in 2008.
Patrick became successively Senior Research Fellow, Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, then Reader. Throughout his academic career, he has been involved in Research and commercial activities at National and International levels. Several of the recent and current projects he has been leading funded research in, include the European programmes SAFUEL (Safer Fuel System), and EMRP I & II (European Metrology Research Programme), UK-funded research on HOSE (Hydrodynamic Oil Sample Extraction), Forced Convection Heat Transfer in Unconventional Geothermal Systems, Oil-Water Slug Flow in Export Pipelines, and Wet Gas Flowmeter Performance by CFD modelling. He has also been involved in the development and the CFD verification of an innovative offshore wind turbine, has been working on the design of wind panels, on the design and CFD study of a particle reduction system, and on numerical studies of oxygen masks. He is currently actively involved in the design of an innovative small-scale (J-shaped) vertical axis wind turbine, on CFD and experimental testing of a novel bladeless tidal turbine, and is leading a £1.86m international project to develop a clean plasma-based technology to generate energy from waste.
Patrick has supervised 13 PhD researchers to completion, 3 MSc by Research students, and more than 90 MSc students. He has been the Deputy Director of the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ MSc course in Offshore and Ocean Technology (OOT) for 3 years and the Deputy Director of the Energy Systems and Thermal Processes (ESTP) for 6 months before being appointed Director of the Offshore Engineering MSc course in 2018. He is also the former Director of the Energy and Sustainability MSc Programme, where he looked after all courses of the Programme: Advanced Chemical Engineering (ACE); Advanced Digital Energy Systems (ADES); Advanced Mechanical Engineering (AME), and Renewable Energy (RE). He is currently Director of the Renewable Energy MSc course.
Patrick has been a visiting lecturer at ESTIA (Ecole Supérieure des Technologies Avancées - Biarritz, France) for nearly 10 years, has been a visiting lecturer at Muscat University (Oman) for 4 years, and a visiting Lecturer at Jiangsu University (China) for 3 years.
Research opportunities
Patrick is accepting self-funded Research students (PhD. and MSc by Research) for CFD-based projects in the following areas:
- Renewable Energy (wind/tidal/waves/geothermal)
- Oil & Gas
- Phase change
- Numerical code development and optimisation
- Multiphase flow
Patrick is keen to develop further collaborations with academics, research organizations, and industrial businesses. Anyone interested can contact him directly at: p.verdin@cranfield.ac.uk
Current activities
Dr. Patrick Verdin is leading CFD research and business projects related to:
- Renewable energy (wind, tidal, waves, solar and geothermal).
- Single/multiphase flows (slug flow, flow separation, mixing, etc.);
- Sand erosion;
- Droplet transport;
- Aircraft icing (external surfaces, and fuel systems);
Clients
- Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
- Innovate UK
- European Commission
- ConocoPhillips Company
- BP PLC
- Airbus SE
- BAE Systems PLC
- Meggit PLC
- Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC
- Seamach Ltd
- Pietro Fiorentini Spa
- Particle Reduction Technologies Ltd
- Katrick Technologies Ltd
- Caeli Nova
- Department for Transport
- Connected Places Catapult
