Dr Liyun Lao

Areas of expertise

• Fuels
• Instrumentation, Sensors and Measurement Science
• Oil and Gas
• Process Systems Engineering
• Sensor Technologies
• Structures and Materials

Background

Dr Liyun Lao joined Cranfield University in 2007 as a Research Fellow, progressing to Senior Research Fellow in 2012, and Principal Research Fellow in 2020. Prior to joining Cranfield University, he worked as research fellow at Imperial College for four years then the University of Cambridge for two years, where he studied the multiphase flows in closed channels. He is a Member of Institute of Physics.

He obtained PhD in Control Science and Engineering in 1998, MSc in Measurement Sciences in 1986, and BSc in Instrumentation Engineering in 1983, from Zhejiang University, China. After his PhD, Liyun worked as a postdoctoral researcher in Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences in the area of gas/liquid two-phase flows in horizontal pipe.

He is the manager of the Three-phase Flow pilot plant, the largest test facility for multiphase flows in the HE sector in UK.

Research opportunities

Dr Liyun Lao is currently accepting applications for PhD and/or MRes students in the areas of:

·      Icing, waxing and hydrating management in fuel delivery systems

·       Multiphase flow assurance in fuel production processes

·       Industrial process infrastructure integrity management

·       Process measurement and metrology technologies

·       Clean energy 

 

Current activities

Dr Liyun Lao’s research is on multiphase multi-physics multiscale processes, particularly focusing on the new generation of fuel production and delivery processes, and related industrial systems. This is particularly relevant to the future as we move to alternative and synthetic fuels, for which there are significant theoretical and practical challenges. His research topics are closely related industrial issues such as flow assurance, phase mixing and separation, and process measurement, monitoring and control. He leads a research team consisting of research fellows, PhD researchers, and technical specialists working on flow and energy process engineering. 

Currently he works on real-time flow process system integrity monitoring and risk management, e.g. icing management in the aviation fuel systems in commercial aircrafts, monitoring and prediction of material loss and degradation in industrial plants, and environment-friendly assurance in offshore infrastructures. 

Clients

Publications

• Articles in journals
• Conference papers