Oxford Thermofluids Institute | Research - Research Groups: Hypersonics Group
Hypersonics
Focusing on the research theme of Hypersonics, the group has a proud history dating back to the 1960s, when Professor Donald Schultz founded the Osney Laboratory at Oxford University. Our team is internationally renowned for its pioneering research into short duration wind tunnels and associated instrumentation. Our work is primarily concerned with experimental research relevant to planetary entry, atmospheric cruise and access to space.
Current areas of research within the group are:
- Cooling technology for hypersonic vehicles
- Hypersonic boundary layer transition
- Aerodynamics and Aerothermodynamics for hypersonic vehicles
- Hypersonic intake performance
- Development of novel heat transfer gauges
- Shock layer radiation
- Satellite end-of-life & demise
- Ground testing infrastructure
Group People
Academic staff
Wind Tunnel Team
Researchers
- Dr Laurent Le Page – Senior post-doctoral research assistant working with Prof Matthew McGilvray
- Dr Eric Chang – Post-doctoral research assistant working with Dr Tobias Hermann
- Dr Andrew Ceruzzi – Post-doctoral research assistant working with Prof Matthew McGilvray
- Orin Varley – Graduate engineer working with Prof Matthew McGilvray
- Chris Wheeler – Graduate engineer working with Dr Luke Doherty and Mr Chris Hambidge
DPhil Students
| Name | Thesis Title | Cohort | Supervisor | Supervisor2 | Supervisor3 | Funding Source |
| Alex Glenn | Fundamental Non-equilibrium Experiments for Low Earth Orbit Return Missions | 2019 | Matthew McGilvray | Peter Collen | EPSRC DTP / EOARD | |
| Raghul Ravichandran | Transpiration Cooling of Hypersonic Leading Edges | 2019 | Matthew McGilvray | Luke Doherty | DSTL | |
| William Ivison | Quantifying the Effect of Protuberances and Interfaces from an Aero-Thermal-Structural Design Perspective | 2019 | Matthew McGilvray | Chris Hambidge | EPSRC DTP | |
| William van Noordt | 2019 | Luca di Mare | Matthew McGilvray | HVSI | ||
| Jack Hillyer | Hypersonic Control Effectors | 2020 | Luke Doherty | Matthew McGilvray | Marko Bacic | DSTL |
| Joseph Steer | Aerothermal Testing for Earth and Giant Planet Entry | 2020 | Matthew McGilvray | Peter Collen | Luca di Mare | ESA |
| Joshua Ashby | 2020 | Matthew McGilvray | Andrew Ceruzzi | DSTL | ||
| Mailys Buquet | Emissison and absorption spectroscopy for shock tube and plasma flows | 2021 | Tobias Hermann | Benjamin Williams | EPSRC DTP | |
| Aaron Kennedy | 2021 | Matthew McGilvray | DSTL | |||
| Justin Clarke | 2021 | Luca di Mare | Matthew McGilvray | Rhodes | ||
| Wesley Condren | The Combined Effects of Roughness and Blowing in Ablatives | 2021 | Matthew McGilvray | Chris Hambidge | EPSRC DTP | |
| Anthony Finnerty | Hypersonic Three-dimensional Shock-wave Boundary-layer Interactions and Interference with Transpiration-cooled Surfaces | 2022 | Matthew McGilvray | David Mee | Oxford | |
| Nnaemeka Anyamele | Rarefied Aerodynamic Force Measurements | 2022 | Luke Doherty | Peter Ireland | Magdalen College | |
| Samuel Brody | Numerical simulation of transpiration cooling for hypersonic leading edges in thermochemical nonequilibrium | 2022 | Luca di Mare | Matthew McGilvray | Marshall | |
| Omar Valeinis | Replication of thermochemistry-surface interactions for re-entry vehicles in ground testing | 2023 | Tobias Hermann | Matthew McGilvray | EPSRC DTP / ESA | |
| Claudio Rapisarda | Numerical modelling of non-equilibrium expanding flows | 2023 | Luca di Mare | Matthew McGilvray | EPSRC DTP | |
| Tom Tyler | Aero-Thermal-Structural performance of a supersonic intake | 2023 | Luke Doherty | Matthew McGilvray | EPSRC DTP | |
| Kyrolos Georgey | Investigation of supersonic boundary layer combustion from porous injection | 2023 | Matthew McGilvray | Luke Doherty | Marshall | |
| Nathalie Nick | Non-intrusive measurements of non-equilibrium flows | 2023 | Matthew McGilvray | Laurent Le Page | Lincoln College | |
| Kanishk Ganga | Experiments of Non-Equilibrium Hypersonic Expanding Flows | 2023 | Matthew McGilvray | MDC | ||
| Liam McQuellin | Multi-component of freedom aerodynamic measurements of hypersonic vehicles | 2023 | Luke Doherty | Matthew McGilvray |
Alumni - Research Staff
Dr Andrew Pilkington (Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Oxford)
Dr Peter Forsyth (National Research Council Canada)
Dr Joseph Camm (Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering, University of Liverpool)
Dr Dante McGrath (Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Cambridge)
Dr Tamara Sopek (Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Southern Queensland)
Dr Alexander Bucknell (Team Lead, Aerothermal Analysis, Defense Contractor)
Dr Sebastien Wylie (Fluid Gravity Engineering)
Dr Hassan Saad Ifti (Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Maryland)
Dr Peter Collen
Dr Marc Ewenz-Rocher (Consultant, Bain & Company)
Dr Kharthik Chakravarthy (Digital Consultant, Newton Europe)
Dr Luke Doherty (Departmental Lecturer, University of Oxford)
Dr Tobias Hermann (Departmental Lecturer, University of Oxford)
Chris Hambidge (Hypersonics Operations Manager, University of Oxford)
Alumni DPhil Students
| Name | Thesis title | Year | Thesis link | Supervisor | Supervisor 2 | Next destination |
| Peter Collen | Development of a high-enthalpy ground test facility for shock-layer radiation | 2021 | https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:59c91435-c2d2-463e-a622-54fa23f7462d | Matthew McGilvray | Senior Design Engineer, Remix Robotics | |
| Hassan Saad Ifti | Transpiration cooling of a hypersonic vehicle | 2021 | https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:e04ab19f-7605-445e-be68-5927ec5703a5 | Matthew McGilvray | Tobias Hermann | University of Maryland, Post-Doc |
| Marc Ewenz-Rocher | Application of transpiration cooling on hypersonic vehicles to mitigate material oxidation | 2021 | https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:5b81b573-2a47-498c-b5c3-a2c37544f3f5 | Matthew McGilvray | Tobias Hermann | Consultant, Bain & Company |
| Imran Naved | The application of transpiration cooling as a thermal protection system for hypersonic vehicles | 2022 | https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:f96e5356-a4d4-449d-a102-9249dbefde3c | Matthew McGilvray | Tobias Hermann | Aerothermal Engineer, Reaction Engines Ltd. |
| Suria Subiah | Boundary layer instabilities in high and low enthalpy hypersonic facilities using high speed schlieren | 2022 | https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:a85555a1-c112-4bb8-a09f-42df08d40a41 | Matthew McGilvray | Technical Adviser, Department for Business and Trade | |
| Sebastien Wylie | Hypersonic boundary layer instability measurements at low and high angles of attack | 2020 | https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:c6ab2886-c2a8-4d8b-b3e4-cfeecf397947 | Matthew McGilvray | Fluid Gravity Engineering | |
| Rowland Penty-Geraets | Development and testing of a diamond calorimeter heat transfer gauge | 2019 | https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:070e27be-ed05-4e25-8ea1-ee76ad8eb24c | Matthew McGilvray | Fluid Gravity Engineering | |
| Andrew Hyslop | Force measurement techniques in short duration hypersonic facilities | 2023 | https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:98a92b62-6e4d-4576-ab34-85376ad54181 | Matthew McGilvray | Luke Doherty | Fluid Gravity Engineering |
| Eric Hembling | Not yet published | 2023 | Matthew McGilvray | Sebastien Wylie | USAF Pilot Training | |
| Matthew Satchell | Numerical simulation and modeling of shock tube experiments | 2021 | https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:3c8bd88b-6216-4e18-bde0-5e07f682b5ac | Luca Di Mare | Matthew McGilvray | Assistant Professor of Aeronautics, United States Air Force Academy |
| Philipp Kerth | Effect of transpiration cooling on boundary layer transition for hypersonic flight | 2022 | https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:67b546ab-3780-4645-b636-f270855dec66 | Matthew McGilvray | Sebastien Wylie | Stealth Startup, Co-Founder |
| Kharthik Chakravarthy | Multiparameter optical diagnostics for high-speed flow applications | 2021 | https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:9f90d70a-b233-49cd-a2ef-6f5864bf04cb | Benjamin Williams | Newton Europe, Digital Consultant |