With all the fantastically fascinating research going on in Engineering, Design and Mathematics, PhD student successes are a regular occurrence. We want to celebrate with our students as they pass their vivas, so please get in contact with engineeringourfuture@uwe.ac.uk to celebrate the PhDs in your group.
And here’s one from the Aerospace cluster – congratulations Doctor Jana-Sabrina Stucke!
Jana passed her PhD viva in July. Her doctoral research was focused on understanding the behaviour and control of vortices on a delta wing aircraft as a function of shape. She describes her project:
“For my PhD I investigated the effect of thickness and maximum thickness location on the vortex development of a 65° swept back delta wing configuration with sharp leading-edges. Here, I focused on the stability and performance at low speeds, encountered during take-off, landing and loitering, as they are most critical for future military Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles.
“I could show numerically and experimentally that upper surface shape of a wing with sharp leading-edges has a significant impact on the recovered leading-edge suction and thus performance and stability, a feature normally associated with round leading edged delta wings.”
Jana-Sabrina Stucke
The work will help aircraft and drone designers to produce more efficient vehicles with higher aerodynamic performance.
But it wasn’t easy – Jana explains that there were countless tough stages during the PhD where she wanted give up!
And now she’s looking to the future…
“Ideally, I would like to return to mainland Europe and work in robotics and AI as this is where my real passion lies. For now, I will stay in the UK though and maybe if the stars align you will see me on campus again as MSc student in Data Science.”
Jana-Sabrina Stucke
Best wishes with whatever the future holds Jana!