Leading-edge engineering research awarded $2.19m

Engineering research at the University of Auckland has attracted more than $2 million in funding from this year’s Marsden Fund, a significant increase over 2017.

Professor Nic Smith, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, says the increase recognises the quality of engineering research being done at the University.

“I congratulate those who have been successful this year for research that has enormous potential and that shows the depth and breadth of the work being done within the Faculty,” he says.

Magnesium rechargeable batteries have the potential to solve a wide range of problems as demand for power continues to increase.

But the technology is hindered by poor electrochemical performance. With new funding of almost a million dollars from this year’s Marsden Fund, Dr Shanghai Wei from Chemical & Materials Engineering will investigate new and innovative solutions to the problem.

In titanium composites, Associate Professor Peng Cao’s work, which receives $949,000 from the Marsden Fund, takes a new approach to the problem of oxygen in titanium and whether locking up oxygen as nano-sized oxides within titanium provides a potential solution.

Vortices of air or water, such as dust devils or water spouts, are driven by surface heating and concentrate this heat to produce highly localised wind speeds. Developing models within a laboratory and using fluid dynamic modelling, Professor Richard Flay and his team will investigate how to predict the height and strength of artificial vortices and to better understand whether carbon-neutral power could be harvested from the waste heat that results.

The annual Marsden grants are administered by the Royal Society Te Apārangi to support innovation in science research.