ABOUT BIANCA

I am an aerospace engineer and academic at UNSW Canberra.
My research focuses on better understanding how hot vehicles get when travelling at more than 4,700 km/hr (or 4+ times the speed of sound), how the vehicle structure can withstand these high temperatures, which are typically over 1000° C, and how the hot surface of the vehicle changes the air flow in and around vehicles and this ultimately effects their performance. 

WHAT DO YOU RESEARCH?

As an aerothermal engineer specialising in researching highspeed flight I get to work on some pretty exciting problems.
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I’ve developed instrumentation to measure the heat energy on test models of interplanetary entry probes. I was also responsible for the aerothermal analysis of the vehicle in this picture to ensure that it did not melt or break during flight.
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I now apply my experimental, numerical and analytical skills to look at how flying at high speed in the atmosphere induces material stress and increased surface temperatures. Using this knowledge we can design vehicles to avoid structural failure, and better understand how the dynamics of flight are changed at high temperatures.. 

HOW DO YOU RESEARCH?

​Research engineering requires a number of different approaches. I will first do some high-level initial analysis with the old-fashioned pen and paper to get a feel for the problem and plan how I want to solve it.
 
I will then start to build numerical models ,starting with simple conceptual models through to complex models and analysis of how the high-speed fluid and structure interact.
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These results are then used to help design experimental models that I test in our high-temperature and high-speed flow facilities. The ultimate goal of the research of course, would be a flight test but the high-speed ground testing are just as fun and informative.

WHY DO YOU LOVE WHAT YOU DO?

I love what I do because I get to help figure out how we can make things go really fast and overcome the challenges that still remain.

I also get to heat stuff up to really high temperatures and then figure out how this has changed the flow – its pretty exciting stuff, especially when we get an unexpected result as now there is an additional puzzle to solve.  There is always something to learn, and this is what I really love the most.