PhD Studentship - Experimental Investigations of Cyclist’s Posture and Sport Garment Designs on Cycling Aerodynamics

The drag experienced by a cyclist is significantly affected by the state of boundary layer developing along the rider’s body. The state of the boundary layer is affected not only by the posture of the cyclist but also the texture and fit of sport garment on the cyclist’s body. Accurate determination of the location of boundary layer laminar-turbulent transition using either computational or experimental means is often challenging.

In this project, a novel imaging technique will be developed to determine the location of onset of transition non-intrusively in real time. It will be used in conjunction with a six-component force balance to provide an insightful evaluation of the aerodynamic effectiveness of rider’s posture and sport garment design. Surface pressure and flow field measurements will also be undertaken to provide a better understanding of the underlying flow physics. The work will be carried out in coordination with other two PhD projects; one on development of new textile materials and the other on simulations of cycling aerodynamics using high fidelity computational methods. The results will be disseminated to British Cycling and feed directly to their current Olympic Programme, potentially impacting on the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris and beyond.

The minimum academic entry requirement for a PhD in the Faculty of Science and Engineering is an upper second-class honours degree (or international equivalent) in a discipline directly relevant to the PhD OR any upper-second class honours degree (or international equivalent) and a Master’s degree merit (or international equivalent) in a discipline directly relevant to the PhD.

The project is fully funded for UK applicants by the UK Institute of Sport and University of Manchester. This will cover tuition fees and a tax free stiped set at the UKRI (£18,622 for 2023/24). This project is also eligible for the Osborne Reynolds top-up Scholarship which provides an additional £1500 per year top-up to other funding sources for outstanding candidates. Successful applicants will be automatically considered for this top-up.

Please contact Dr Shan Zhong is [email protected] to apply.