Professor Andy McIntosh
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BSc, PhD, DSc, FIMA, CMath, FInstE, CEng, FInstP, MIGEM, FRAeS Professor of Thermodynamics and Combustion Theory Room 407 Email: a.c.mcintosh@leeds.ac.uk |
Research Interests .
A - Flow Interactions with Flames
Fundamentals of pressure interactions with flames. This work laid the basis for understanding the different time and length scales associated with pressure wave interactions with existing flames. Ongoing work is investigating the effect of short length scale pressure disturbances with flames in a strained flow. This is being done for single and multi-step chemistry.
Interaction of acoustics and flames. A PhD programme has been established with BP to investigate flame acceleration due to the interaction of acoustic waves and premixed flames. This work is in association with BP Sunbury who are the industrial partner on a CASE studentship. The aim is to form a predictive tool for the acoustic enhancement of burning velocity which can be used in earnest by those working with the danger of possible gaseous explosions.
An exercise in bio-mimetics - Modelling a naturally occurring combustion chamber. A Marie-Curie funded PhD student has been looking at a naturally occurring novel shaped explosion device which may be applicable to the reignition of aircraft and land based gas turbines. A pressure focusing technique is involved.
B - Ignition of Hazardous materials
Ignition of combustible fluid and vapour within porous insulation material. Many incidents have occurred in the chemical engineering industry where combustible fluid has leaked into porous material and then (days later) ignited. Collaborative projects with the Schools of Chemistry and Mathematics have led to a practical understanding of this phenomenon, and a guide as to the type of conditions to be avoided.
Hot spot ignition - This EPSRC project addresses the ignition behaviour of hazardous materials (for example agro-chemical powders) where there is a hot spot nearby such as can happen in the process engineering industry due to a hot pipe, screw feeder malfunction or some such object.
Selected Publications
McIntosh, A.C., Gray, B.F. and Wake, G.C. Analysis of the bifurcational behaviour of a simple model of vapour ignition in a porous material, Proc. Roy. Soc. A453, pp.281-301 (1997).
McIntosh, A.C. Burning, Frizzling or Fizzling?, Inaugural Lecture, Nov. 1st 2001, Mathematics Today, 38(2), pp.40-45, Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (2002).
McIntosh, A.C. Deflagration fronts and compressibility, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A357, pp.3523-3538 (1999).
Ball, R., McIntosh, A.C. and Brindley, J. The role of char-forming processes in the thermal decomposition of cellulose, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. (PCCP – previously Faraday Transactions) 1, pp.5035-5043 (1999).
McIntosh, A.C., Brindley, J. and Yang, X.S. The effect of large step pressure drops on strained premixed flames”, Comb. & Flame 125, pp.1207-1216 (2001).