Dr Aldo Rona

Aldo Rona leads research in unsteady flows, compressible flows, and aeroacoustics of industrial and scientific importance to the aerospace, transport, and energy sectors, using Computational Fluid Dynamics. Tailored analytical methods and experimentation complement and validate the numerical predictions.

Rona has led European Commission Framework Programmes 6 and 7 consortia on the development of methods for the assessment and mitigation of airframe/automotive cavity flow and noise and of jet noise.

Rona's interests in turbomachinery aerodynamics led to novel endwall contouring to improve the performance of gas turbines for propulsion and power, in collaboration with USA, Japan, and Iraq.

Rona has developed a portfolio of complementary research and he actively support trans-disciplinary research, with interests in the modelling the central airways, hemodynamics of main vessels, and in advanced liquid cooling by nanofluids.

Rona has led the University of Leicester participation in the Tier 2 national e-infrastructure supercomputing services HPC Midlands Plus Athena (2012-2016) and Sulis (2019-2024), with the Universities of Aston, Birmingham, Loughborough, Nottingham, QMUL, funded by the UKRI World Class Laboratories Fund, in collaboration with The Alan Turing Institute.

Academic qualifications

1st class B.Eng.(Hons), Department of Aeronautics, City University, UK.

Ph.D., Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, University of Southampton, UK.

Career

EPSRC Research Fellow at the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics University of Southampton (1996-1997)

EU Marie Curie Fellow at the Department of Aeronautics and Aerospace von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics Belgium (1998).

Royal Academy of Engineering Industrial Secondee at Alstom Power (General Electrics), Whetstone, Leicester (2004-2005)

Lecturer (1998-2010) Senior Lecturer (2010-2016) and then Associate Professor, Department of Engineering University of Leicester.

Computational Fluid Dynamics

• Finite-volume shock-capturing mesh-adaptive schemes
• Aeroacoustics
• Large Eddy Simulations of unsteady acoustically active flows
• Finite-difference pre-factored compact schemes for computational aero-acoustics

Turbomachiey

• CFD methods for turbomachinery aerodynamics

Renewable Energy and Sustainability

• CFD methods for the design of wind and water turbines
• Heat transfer enhancement of microchannel heat sinks with nanofluids

Medical application of fluid dynamics

• Subject-specific CFD evaluation of the haemodynamics through CT scan/4D MRI
• Segmented major arteries pre and post surgical re-vascularisation

Dr Rona coordinated the ""Aeronautical Trainning Network in aerodynamic noise from widebody civil aircraft"" AeroTraNet 2 project (2012-2016). Funded by a €2.8M FP7-PEOPLE-2012-ITN grant from the European Commission this Marie Curie Integrated Training Network of the 7th Framework Programme (FP7) trained 11 Early Stage Researchers and 1 Experienced Researcher in modelling shock-associated noise and in the knowledge capturing and knowledge management of the research output.

Dr Rona and Prof. S.V. Hainsworth (PI) set up and opened in 2014 the Advanced Structural Dynamics Evaluation Centre (ASDEC) at the MIRA Technology Park Nuneaton. Funded by £1.07M Regional Growth Fund and £0.25M European Regional Development Fund grants ASDEC is the first UK centre providing access to robot 3D Laser Doppler Velocimetry to industry SME and research institutes.

Obaida, H.M.B., Rona, A., Mitigation of turbine secondary flow losses by a novel rotor groove, Thermal Engineering, Accepted, 25 January 2023.

Zavalan, F.-L., Rona, A. A workflow for designing contoured axisymmetric nozzles for enhancing additively manufactured cold spray deposits, Additive Manufacturing, Vol. 62, Article 103379, January 2023, doi: 10.1016/j.addma.2022.103379

Ali, A.M, Angelino, M., Rona, A. Numerical investigation of various twisted tapes enhancing a circular microchannel heat sink performance, International Journal of Heat and Fluid Flow, Vol. 98, Article 109065, December 2022, doi: 10.1016/j.ijheatfluidflow.2022.109065

Ja'fari, M., Jaworski, A.J., Rona, A. Numerical study of flow separation control over a circular hump using synthetic jet actuators, AIP Advances, Vol. 12, Article 094205, September 2022, doi: 10.1063/5.0099926

Ali, A.M., Angelino, M., Rona, A., Physically consistent implementation of the mixture model for modelling nanofluid conjugate heat transfer in minichannel heat sinks, Applied Sciences, Vol. 12, No. 14, Article 7011, July 2022, doi: 10.3390/app12147011

Ali, A.M., Angelino, M., Rona, A., Numerical analysis on the thermal performance of microchannel heat sinks with Al2O3 nanofluid and various fins, Applied Thermal Engineering, Vol. 198, Article 117458, November 2021, ISSN 139-4311, doi: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2021.117458.

Ali, A.M., Rona, A., Kadhim, H.K., Angelino, M., Gao, S., Thermo-hydraulic performance of a circular microchannel heat sink using swirl flow and nanofluid, Applied Thermal Engineering, Vol. 191, June 2021, Article 116817, ISSN: 1359-4311, doi: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2021.116817.

Kadhim, H.K., Jabbar, F.A., Rona, A., Cu-Al2O3 hybrid nanofluid natural convection in an inclined enclosure with wavy walls partially layered by porous medium, International Journal of Mechanical Sciences, Vol. 186, November 2020, Article 105889, ISSN: 0020-7403, doi: 10.1016/j.ijmecsci.2020.105889.

Rona, A., El-Dosoky, M.F.F., Adebayo, D.S., A hybrid RANS model of wing-body junction flow, European Journal of Mechanics / B Fluids, Vol. 79, January-February 2020, pp. 283-296, ISSN: 0997-7546, doi: 10.1016/j.euromechflu.2019.09.014.

Obaida, H.M., Rona, A., Gostelow, J.P., Loss reduction in a 1.5 stage axial turbine by computer driven stator hub contouring, J. Turbomach., Vol. 141, June 2019, pp. 061009-1 061009-11, ISSN 0889-504X (Print) eISSN 1528-8900 (Online), doi: 10.1115/1.4042305.

Corno, A.F., Owen, M.J., Cangiani, A., Hall, E.J.C., Rona, A., Physiological Fontan procedure, Frontiers in Pediatrics, Section: Pediatric Cardiology, Vol. 7, Article 196, May 2019, pp. 1-9, ISSN (Electronic) 2296-2360, doi: 10.3389/fped.2019.00196.

Kawase, M., Rona, A., Numerical optimization of a stall margin enhancing recirculation channel for an axial compressor, Fluids, Special Issue: Turbomachinery Flow Analysis, Vol. 4, No. 2, Article 88, May 2019, pp. 1-19, ISSN (Electronic) 2311-5521, doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/fluids4020088.

Kawase, M., Rona, A., Effect of a recirculating type casing treatment on a highly loaded axial compressor rotor, International Journal of Turbomachinery, Propulsion and Power, Vol. 4, Issue 1, Article no. 5, March 2019, pp. 1-23, ISSN 2504-186X, doi: 10.3390/ijtpp4010005.

Adebayo, D.S., Al-Ameri, J., Tyukin, I., Rona, A., Linear stability analysis of the flow between rotating cylinders of wide gap, European Journal of Mechanics / B Fluids, Vol. 72, November-December 2018, pp. 567-575, ISSN 0997-7546, doi: 10.1016/j.euromechflu.2018.07.002.

Kadhim, H.T., Rona, A., Off-design performance of a liquefied natural gas plant with an axial turbine of novel endwall design, Applied Energy, Vol. 222, July 2018, pp. 830-839, ISSN 0306-2619, doi: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2018.03.077.

Kadhim, H.T., Rona, A., Design optimization workflow and performance analysis for contoured end-walls of axial turbines, Energy, Vol. 149, April 2018, pp. 875-889, ISSN 0360-5442, doi: 10.1016/j.energy.2018.02.001.

Adebayo, D.S., Rona, A.: Numerical investigation of the three-dimensional pressure distribution in Taylor Couette flow, ASME Journal of Fluids Engineering, Vol. 139, No. 11, November 2017, pp. 111201-1 - 111201-10, ISSN 0021-9223, doi: 10.1115/1.4037083.

Rona, A., Spisso, I., Hall, E., Bernardini, M., Pirozzoli, S.: Optimised prefactored compact schemes for linear wave propagation phenomena, Journal of Computational Physics, Vol. 328, January 2017, pp. 66-85, ISSN 0021-9991, doi: 10.1016/j.jcp.2016.10.014.

Supervised PhD students

Main supervisor

1. William Paul Bennett, A time-accurate analysis of two-dimensional wakes, [awarded]
2. Mohammed F.F. El-Dosoky, Analytical and CFD methods investigating shroud blade tip leakage, [awarded]
3. Marco Grottadaurea, Aerodynamics and near-field acoustics of a subsonic cylindrical cavity flow by parallel CFD, [awarded]
4. Neetin Lad, Benchmarking a single-stem PIV endoscope in a spray, [awarded]
5. David Adebayo, Annular flows and their interaction with a cylindrical probe, [awarded]
6. Pietro Ghillani, Aeroacoustic simulation of a linear cascade by a prefactored compact scheme, [awarded]
7. Manuele Monti, Large Eddy Simulation of a cavity with a synthetic stochastic thick turbulent inflow, [awarded]
8. Davide Di Pasquale, CFD models of transitional flows, [MPhil awarded]
9. Fatimah Al Zahrar Mohd Saat, Numerical investigations of fluid flow and heat transfer processes in the internal structures of thermoacoustic devices, [awarded]
10. Ivan Spisso, Development of a prefactored high-order compact scheme for low-speed aeroacoustics, [awarded]
11. Patcharin Saechan, Application of thermoacoustic technologies for meeting the refrigeration needs of remote and rural communities in developing countries, [awarded]
12. Wasan Kamsanam, Development of experimental techniques to investigate the heat transfer processes in oscillatory flows, [awarded]
13. Hayder Mahdi Baqer Obaida, Cryogenic cycle power turbines optimised by hub contouring, [awarded]
14. Alessandro Mancini, Detached eddy simulations of single and coaxial supersonic jets, [awarded]
15. Hakim Kadhim, Effect of non-axisymmetric casing design on flow and performance of an axial turbine, [awarded]
16. Danilo Di Stefano, Numerical study of a recirculation casing treatment for highly loaded axial compressors, [awarded]
17. Abdullah Masoud Ali, Analysis of the heat transfer and flow in minichannel and microchannel heat sinks by single an two-phase mixture models, [awarded]
18. Luiza Florentina Zavalan, Parametric CFD design of cold spray nozzles for method deposition by the method of characteristics, [awarded]
19. John Middlemiss, Predicting cold dwell fatigue in Ti alloys for aerospace, [in progress]
20. Will Wang, modelling the jet-airframe interaction contribution to ground noise from commercial aircraft, [in progress]
21. Taha Al-Ghrairi, Advanced numerical modelling techniques for the generation of renewable energy from geophysical flows, [in progress]

Co-supervisor

Co-supervised 23 other PhD students.

Postgraduate

• 2020-2023: EG7422 Advanced Gas Turbines

Undergraduate

• 2014-2023: EG2112 Dynamics and Thermofluids
• 2020-2023: EG4422 Advanced Gas Turbines
• 2021-2023: EG2004 Engineering Experimentation and Analysis
• 2021-2023: EG1004 Engineering Experimentation

Specialties

• Noise
• Unsteady aerodynamics
• Turbineturbomachinery
• Computational fluid dynamics
• CFD aeroacoustics aero-acoustics

Member of the Royal Aeronautical Society

Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Grants and Awards (2014-

• 2020-2024: Sulis: An EPSRC platform for ensemble computing delivered by HPC Midlands+ UKRI EPSRC EP/T022108/1 D. Quigley (PI) M. Weigel A.J. Morris S. D. Kenny A. Rona J. Hirst A.E. Phillips £3000000.
• 2019-2021: LOng-Term anatomical fluid dynamics for new Univentricular heartS palliation (LOTUS) UK-Malaysia Health Research Partnership 2019 Medical Research Council (MRC) A. Cangiani (PI) A. Rona P. Houston S. Ali H.L. van Aster K.A. Sayuti A. H. Shamsuddin A. Alias M. R. Mohd Zain I. Tyukin E. Hall £322383.
• 2018-2021: Leicester students design and race Formula 1 aerodynamics cars [awarded] A. Rona (PI) I. Annetts Leicester Endowment and Annual Funds Awards Committee £19500.
• 2016-2021: Proposal for a Tier 2 Centre - HPC Midlands Plus [awarded] A. Rona S. Kenny (PI) R.L. Johnston D. Quigley J.D. Hirst M.T. Dove M. Eberhard EPSRC £3200000.
• 2015-2018: Visiting Professorship in Motorsport Aerodynamics A. Rona (PI) H.V. Atkinson Royal Academy of Engineering £30000.
• 2014-2018: Industrial mathematics KTN industrial CASE studentship award A. Rona E.H. Georgoulis (PI) E.H. Hall EPSRC £92667.

Zavalan L.F. Rona A. A workflow for designing contoured axisymmetric nozzles for effective cold spray coatings ECS2021 14th European Coatings Symposium Brussels 7-9 Sept. 2021. Extended abstract.

Zavalan L.F. Rona A. A contoured nozzle design method for effective cold spray metal coating ICLASS 2021 15th Triennial International Conference on Liquid Atomization and Spray Systems Edinburgh UK 29 Aug. - 2 Sept. 2021.

Zavalan L.F. Rona A. Parametric redesign of a convergent-divergent cold spray nozzle Thermal Spray 2021: Proceedings from the International Thermal Spray Conference edited by: F. Azarmi X. Chen J. Cizek C. Cojocaru B. Jodoin H. Koivuluoto Y. Lau R. Fernandez O. Ozdemir H. Salami Jazi and F. Toma American Society for Metals (ASM) online event 24-28 May 2021 doi: 10.31399/asm.cp.itsc2021p0221.

Zavalan L.F. Rona A. Improving Cold Spray Additive Manufacturing with a Nozzle Designed by the Method of Characteristics 4th Postgraduate Research Symposium on Ferrous Metallurgy Institute of Materials Minerals and Mining (IOM3) online event 23 February 2021. Oral presentation and abstract.

Methods

Computational Fluid Dynamics

In-house CFD code Cosmic

Computational Aeroacoustics (CAA)

In-house Ffowcs Williams Hawkings code LeicesterCAA

Measurement techniques

Aeroacoustics

Compressible flows

Low speed flows

Applications

Transonic aerodynamics

Cylinder wakes

Aircraft store bay flows

Cavity flows

Single and dual-stream jets

Turbomachinery

Turbine cascade aerodynamics

turbine stage design tools

Axial compressor design tools

Taylor Couette instability

Subsonic aerodynamics

Automobile cavity flow

Bluff bodies

Civil aircraft cavity flow

transition

Technology development

Internal combustion engines

Turbochargers

Member of the Royal Aeronautical Society

Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Chartered Engineer