The mechanics of how particles, such as spilled oil droplets over the ocean surface, become trapped and transported through the wind and the atmosphere are not well understood. Dr. Giacomo Iungo, associate professor of mechanical engineering in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science at The University of Texas at Dallas and principal investigator of the Wind, Fluids,…
Author: Office of Research
The Griffith Lab has the Power to Change
The power of wind has been used for centuries to make human lives better and easier. In the past, it was used to produce food, grind grain, pump water, and cut wood at sawmills1. Today’s modern wind machines output electricity using massive—lengths greater than a football field—rotating blades. A turbine with blades over 350 feet…
Wind Energy with Dr. Rotea
Dr. Mario Rotea is the Erik Jonsson Chair and Professor and Department Head of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Texas at Dallas. Dr. Rotea also serves as Director of UT Dallas’ WindSTAR Center. His research involves optimization and control of wind energy systems. Dr. Rotea took a beat to discuss why his research matters and the impact he hopes…
Team Develops Floating Turbine To Harvest Deep-Ocean Wind Energy
The wind over deep-sea waters offers the potential to become one of the country’s largest renewable energy sources. University of Texas at Dallas researcher Dr. Todd Griffith has spent years working on an offshore turbine design that can convert those deep-ocean winds into electricity. Recently, Griffith received a $3.3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy…
New Wind Tunnel Generates Energetic Possibilities for the University
The University of Texas at Dallas recently unveiled a new, on-campus wind tunnel — the Boundary Layer and Subsonic Tunnel (BLAST) — that could potentially impact a wide range of areas, from science and industry to student research. “With the experimental capabilities made possible by the BLAST wind tunnel, coupled with UT Dallas’ extensive capabilities in high-performance…
Remote LiDAR Station Featured on Cover of Atmosphere Magazine
Recent research from Dr. Giacomo Valerio Iungo, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, was featured on the cover of the journal Atmosphere in August and included a related article. The cover features an image of Iungo’s mobile LiDAR station, which was deployed at Galveston Island State Park from November 2018 to April 2019. Read the full article at the…
From Bench to Blast: UT Dallas Wind Energy Working at Gale Force
ll the currents necessary to reach the promises of renewable wind energy have now converged at UT Dallas. Internationally elite researchers from academia, government labs and industry have joined corporate partners in the form of a National Science Foundation (NSF) Industry/University Cooperative Research Center (IUCRC). A new wind tunnel unlike any other and a four…
Mechanical Engineer Helps Propel Progress of Giant Wind Turbine
When Dr. Todd Griffith sees palm trees swaying in the wind, he doesn’t think it’s time to kick back with a piña colada. The associate professor of mechanical engineering at The University of Texas at Dallas instead thinks about efficiency. “I’m thinking how efficient it is when powerful winds blow. The fronds are flexible; they fold up in hurricane-force…
Winds of Change
IT’S CLEAN; it’s sustainable; and it’s abundant from the Gulf of Mexico to the West Texas plains. UT Dallas engineers are riding a tailwind as their work propels innovations that will help increase wind’s role as a power player in the Lone Star State. Take a spring drive along Interstate 20 near Sweetwater in West Texas, and…
New Control Strategy Helps Reap Maximum Power From Wind Farms
Every two and a half hours, a new wind turbine rises in the U.S. In 2016, wind provided 5.6 percent of all electricity produced, more than double the amount generated by wind in 2010, but still a far cry from its potential. A team of researchers from The University of Texas at Dallas (UT Dallas) has developed…