Contact Dr Patrick Verdin

Areas of expertise

  • Computational Fluid Dynamics
  • Computing, Simulation & Modelling
  • Fuels
  • Oil and Gas
  • Process Systems Engineering
  • Renewable Energy

Background

Dr. Patrick Verdin is a Senior Lecturer in Energy Fluid Dynamics at Cranfield University. He has more than 20 years of expertise in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) applied to Aerospace (icing), Oil & Gas (multiphase flows, mixing, flow separation, droplet transport, sand erosion), and Renewable Energy (geothermal, wind, tidal).

After his MSc gained from the University of Sciences and Technologies of Lille (France), Patrick joined Cranfield University and completed a Ph.D. on Aircraft Icing, working on the development of the numerical ice prediction code ICECREMO2. His research work involved a collaboration with the main aircraft companies in the UK: Airbus UK, BAE Systems, Dunlop Aerospace (Meggitt), Rolls-Royce, QinetiQ, and Westland Helicopters (now AgustaWestland). He then carried out post-doctoral studies in multi-phase flows, working on the development of a CFD droplet transport model for ConocoPhillips (USA), in collaboration with Imperial College London before becoming Research Fellow in 2008.

Patrick became successively Senior Research Fellow, Lecturer, then Senior Lecturer. Throughout his academic carer, he has been involved in Research and commercial activities at National and International levels. Several of the recent and current projects he has been leading funded research in, include the European programmes SAFUEL (Safer Fuel System), and EMRP I & II (European Metrology Research Programme), UK-funded research on HOSE (Hydrodynamic Oil Sample Extraction), Forced Convection Heat Transfer in Unconventional Geothermal Systems, Oil-Water Slug Flow in Export Pipelines, and Wet Gas Flowmeter Performance by CFD modelling. He has also been recently involved in the development and the CFD verification of an innovative offshore wind turbine, has been working on the design of wind panels, on the design and CFD study of particle reduction, on numerical studies of oxygen masks, and on the design of an innovative small-scale vertical axis wind turbine.

Patrick is currently the Director of the Energy & Sustainability Programme, looking after the following 4 MSc courses:

- Advanced Chemical Engineering (ACE)

- Advanced Digital Energy Systems (ADES)

- Advanced Mechanical Engineering (AME)

- Renewable Energy (RE)

Patrick has supervised 10 Ph.D. researchers to completion, 3 MSc by Research students, and more than 80 MSc students. He has been the Deputy Director of the Cranfield MSc course in Offshore and Ocean Technology (OOT) for 3 years and the Deputy Director of the Energy Systems and Thermal Processes (ESTP) for 6 months before being appointed Director of the Offshore Engineering MSc course in 2018. He has also been a visiting lecturer at ESTIA (Ecole Supérieure des Technologies Avancées - Biarritz, France) for nearly 10 years, and has been a visiting lecturer at Muscat University (Oman) for 4 years. He is currently a visiting Lecturer at Jiangsu University (China).

Research opportunities

Dr. Verdin is currently accepting self-funded Research students (PhD. and MSc by Research) for CFD-based projects in the following areas:

- Renewable Energy (wind/tidal/waves/geothermal)

- Oil & Gas

- Phase change

- Numerical code development and optimisation

- Multiphase flow

Patrick is also keen to develop further collaborations with academics, research organizations, and industrial businesses. Anyone interested can contact him directly at: p.verdin@cranfield.ac.uk

Current activities

Dr. Patrick Verdin is leading CFD research and business projects related to:

- Renewable energy (wind, tidal, waves and geothermal).

- Single/multiphase flows (slug flow, flow separation, mixing, etc.);

- Sand erosion;

- Droplet transport;

- Aircraft icing (external surfaces, and fuel systems);

Clients

  • Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
  • Innovate UK
  • European Commission
  • ConocoPhillips Company
  • BP PLC
  • Airbus SE
  • BAE Systems PLC
  • Leonardo S.p.A
  • Meggit PLC
  • Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC
  • Seamach Ltd
  • Pietro Fiorentini Spa
  • Particle Reduction Technologies Ltd
  • Katrick Technologies Ltd
  • Caeli Nova

Publications

Articles In Journals

Conference Papers

Books