Fluid-structure interaction (FSI) is a ubiquitous phenomenon in industry such as ocean engineering, biomedicine, aerospace and a driven idea for hydrokinetic energy conversion. Strong nonlinear interactions between flow and structures, as well as turbulent flow bring a huge challenge for understanding and dynamics prediction of the FSI systems. Facing with this challenge and the rising motivation of harnessing clean energy from natural fluids, SMARTFLUIDS aims to build a framework of developing Reduced Order Models (ROMs) with low complexity but retaining dominant physics for FSI, which will bring a deep understanding and efficient prediction of FSI. A low-dimensional subspace of the FSI will be extracted using modal analysis through Variational Autoencoders (VAE) based on deep learning (DL) of FSI data. The FSI data will be obtained by performing high-fidelity computational fluids dynamics (CFD) simulations of classic FSI problems. The ROMs are developed by both physics-informed mapping of governing equations onto the low-dimensional subspace and data-driven techniques to deal with nonlinear and unresolved parts of the FSI. Physical constrains are incorporated and sparse measurements of the FSI will be used in building the ROMs. Dynamics and future states of the FSI, hydro- or aerodynamic loads on the structures and structural responses can be predicted based on the ROMs. SMARTFLUIDS will provide an innovative and systematic view of FSI by focusing on a few dominant features and enrich the knowledge of FSI physics by adopting latest DL techniques. The project will bring a novel solution to reduce time and cost of CFD and experiments in predicting FSI dynamics and structural responses for engineering design of pipelines, cables, wind turbines blades, airplane wings and promote the renewable energy development.

Due to rapid global development of offshore wind, challenges of ensuring high efficiency in operations and maintenance (O&M) for offshore wind turbines become prominent in reducing the levelized cost of energy. Trimaran vessels, known for their high-performance characteristics including exceptional speed, seakeeping and spacious deck areas, give advantages in performing the O&M activities effectively. Current research on the hydrodynamic performance of the trimarans primarily focuses on conventional applications without considering their practical utility related to offshore wind O&M activities. When the trimarans approaching the wind turbine substructures, unique hydrodynamic characteristics of the vessels needs to be understood to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the maintenance operations. To date, for offshore wind O&M applications, there is no existing detailed hydrodynamic study concerning the optimization of the outrigger layout for the trimarans. Thus, a computationally efficient hydrodynamic optimization method based on Harmonic Polynomial Cell (HPC) method will be developed in this project. The developed method will then be validated against Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) simulations. By utilizing Nondominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II (NSGA-II) as a multi-objective optimization algorithm in conjunction with Back Propagation (BP) Neural Network, an outrigger layout optimization method will be tailored for the trimaran O&M vessels under different operational conditions. During the fellowship, I will employ interdisciplinary approaches for my studies, such as the applications of the HPC method in calculating multi-body hydrodynamic problems, CFD simulations in validating the developed solver and the BP neural network method in improving the multi-objective optimization efficiency. This will effectively improve my research capability and facilitate the developed optimization solver for the applications in offshore wind O&M activities.

Rahaf Mohammed, an 18-year-old Saudi woman who was subjected to domestic violence, utilized social media to make her voice heard by foreign authorities. Via this ‘digital’ call for help, she successfully escaped violence. The internationally recognized #metoo movement became active on social media enabling women victims of gender-based violence (GBV) to seek justice and healing. While these examples show how digital technologies can allow individuals to exercise their agency and communicate their voices against violence, the existing academic studies in the field of GBV have yet to discuss the empowering outcomes of digital technology use for and by victims/survivors. By addressing this gap, SaRe-DiGT aims to uncover the potentialities of digital technologies in enhancing victims'/survivors’ physical and emotional safety against violence. I particularly focus on the patterns and practices of digital technology use by immigrant women who have experiences of GBV. Considering the numerous barriers that immigrant women face while seeking safety from violence, SaRe-DiGT stresses on the instrumental use of digital technologies as a practical resource for information, communication, and mobilization to overcome violence. The project includes three phases: i) participatory focus groups, to identify and examine the opportunities enabled by digital technology use in women’s lives to navigate their ways towards safety and resilience from violence; ii) digital storytelling workshops, to co-develop resilience-promoting practices enabled by the creative use of digital technologies; and iii) website designing workshops, to co-design an online initiative as a practical digital resource to assist immigrant women in their efforts to reach safety and build resilience. In achieving these objectives, SaRe-DiGT will provide unique research-based knowledge and solutions to create transformative technology-facilitated strategies to combat violence among immigrant communities in Europe.

Wildsmoke examines the history of transient wildfire smoke in the northern hemisphere as part of past and continuing environmental change. The project traces smoke across political and disciplinary borders. It implicates national and regional climate change policy, especially issues of social equity and environmental justice in areas of Europe most affected by smoke seasons. The work offers increased understanding and control over a subject that has been difficult to grasp while positioning the researcher at the influential intersection between academic and government work. The unprecedented scale and frequency of wildfire in the northern hemisphere has made smoke a seasonal occurrence in skies around the world. In 2018, ash drifted from fires in northwestern Canada into northern Europe, altering forecasts on both continents, settling in Antarctic ice, and accelerating glacial melt rates. Although climate change has exacerbated smoke events in the twenty-first century, smoke seasons lie within a longer history of human-smoke interaction (wild and domestic) stretching back into deep time. Wildsmoke analyses this accumulated history to draw lessons for the present. My research frames smoke seasons as part of a long and dynamic relationship with smoke which has changed over time and is responsive to the nuances of social, political, and economic history. Understanding the way our relationships with smoke have been built over time is important because smoke is a form of slow environmental violence. Smoke policy must be proactive about managing smoke and its impacts on landscapes and bodies. Smoke is unevenly distributed by wind, vegetation, humidity, and individual vulnerability. A humanistic approach is necessary because the ways in which the bodily and ecological burdens of smoke fall are often determined by socio-political factors. Smoke is not neutral, and has historically impacted some groups more severely than others.

The planetary scale of environmental and climatic complexities, and the anxieties of global crises prompted by threats introduced by the spectre of the Anthropocene have brought scalar imagination at the forefront of historical writings. One of the well-known ironies of the climate crisis is the fact that, despite its planetary and temporal scale, its effects manifest themselves in everyday experiences of seasons and weather. Weathering Colonial Calcutta introduces nuances of material, cultural and political systems into historical examinations of how communities and social groups understood, coordinated and responded to climate and the weather. It presents an urban, material and cultural history of colonial Calcutta as a story of changing ideas about, and everyday experiences of the weather. It aims to reframe histories of Calcutta by examining the place of the weather, seasons and climate in cultural and political expressions, public and domestic spaces, and material culture. The research takes two distinct yet interrelated approaches to writing a history of the social construction of “weather”. The first theme examines the shifts in knowledge of Calcutta’s “weather” (noun) through the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In this sense, the research offers critical insights into the insistence with which Calcutta’s weather, seasons, and climate forced themselves on scientific and social viewpoints, and modes of cultural activity. Second, the project traces the concept of “weather” as a transitive verb — “to pass through and survive” — and explores the braiding of daily lives and “weathering” practices as embedded in the creation and maintenance of racial, class and social thinking and practices. Overall, the project takes the evocative history of the weather into politics, culture and society, revealing its importance to key themes from science, literature, art, architecture, urban planning, and technologies to race, religion, environment, gender and culture.