Professor Rob Miller

Biography

Rob Miller is professor of aerothermal technology and director of the Whittle Laboratory at the University of Cambridge. He is also director of the Rolls-Royce Whittle University Technology Centre in Cambridge. He is a member of the UK Department for Transport’s Science Advisory Council, the FlyZero Design Advisory Group, and a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. In 2014 he set up and led the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Gas Turbine Aerodynamics. He led the team that pioneered rapid technology development, the process of reducing research and development times in aerospace from years to months or weeks. In 2020 he set up the Aviation Impact Accelerator (AIA), an international expert group aiming to build an interactive whole-system simulator to accelerate the journey to climate-neutral aviation.

His honours include the Royal Academy of Engineering President's Special Awards for Pandemic Service, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Thomas Hawksley Gold Medal, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Air Breathing Propulsion Award, the American Society of Engineers IGTI Best Paper Award (2019, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2010, 2008, 2007, 2005) and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers highest honour in the field, The Gas Turbine Award, four times (2019. 2015, 2014, 2010).

Publications & updates

Design of Aerodynamically Balanced Transonic Compressor Rotors

This paper describes a simple and efficient physics-based method for designing optimal transonic multistage compressor rotors. The key to this novel method is that the spanwise variation of the parameter which controls the three-dimensional shock structure, the area ratio between the throat and the inlet, ‘Athroat /Ainlet’, is extracted directly from the 3D CFD. The spanwise distribution of the area ratio is then adjusted iteratively to balance the shock structure across the blade span. Because of this, the blade design will be called ‘aerodynamically balanced’. The new designmethod converges in a few iterations and is physically intuitive because it accounts for the real changes in the 3D area ratio that directly controls the shock structure. Specifically, changes in both the spanwise 3D flow and in the rotor’s operating condition; thus aiding designer understanding.

Authors:

Demetrios Lefas & Robert J. Miller

Publication:

ASME J. Turbomachinery

DOI:

10.1115/1.4063881

Download paper

Transonic Relief in Fans and Compressors

Every supersonic fan or compressor blade row has a streamtube, the “sonic streamtube,” which operates with a blade relative inlet Mach number of one. A key parameter in the design of the “sonic streamtube” is the area ratio between the blade throat area and the upstream passage area, Athroat/Ainlet. In this article, it is shown that one unique value exists for this area ratio. If the area ratio differs, even slightly, from this unique value, then the blade either chokes or has its suction surface boundary layer separated due to a strong shock. Therefore, it is surprising that in practice designers have relatively little problem designing blade sections with an inlet relative Mach number close to unity. This article shows that this occurs due to a physical mechanism known as “transonic relief.”

Authors:

Demetrios Lefas, Robert J. Miller

Publication:

ASME J. Turbomachinery

DOI:

10.1115/1.4052755

Download paper

Predicting the Operability of Damaged Compressors Using Machine Learning

Authors:

Taylor, J., Conduit, B., Dickens, A., Hall, C., Hillel, M., & Miller, R.

Publication:

ASME Turbo Expo 2019

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.38691

Download paper

Come and visit the Laboratory and our facilities on our open days.

View upcoming open days