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John Patterson

John Patterson photo

BSc (QLD) PhD (QLD)
Professor



School of Civil Engineering, Room 316
Phone: +61 2 9351 2796
Fax: +61 2 9351 3343
Email: J.Patterson@usyd.edu.au

About John

John has recently joined the academic staff in the School as Professor of Fluid Mechanics and Director of the Wind, Waves and Water Centre. His undergraduate and PhD studies were at the University of Queensland, followed by post doctoral appointments at the University of WA. John’s subsequent academic appointments were at the University of WA, where he was head of the Department of Environmental Engineering, and James Cook University, where he was the foundation Head of the School of Engineering, a position which he held for 9 years. He has also held research positions in Canada, USA, UK and Germany. He is currently an Adjunct Professor at James Cook University.

Research interests & current/recent research projects

John’s research interests span a wide range of activities in fluid mechanics. He has worked extensively in environmental modelling, mostly focussing on mixing and transport processes in reservoirs, lakes and estuaries. As part of that, he has also investigated the coupling between biological systems and the fluid mechanics of these water bodies, leading to the development of water quality models. His more recent work has been in buoyancy driven flows, with particular emphasis on natural convection flows, boundary layers, stability, and transport mechanisms in natural water bodies. He works in theoretical, experimental and numerical investigations, and with his co-workers has developed a unique laboratory facility for the study of transient natural convection. He has also worked briefly in magnetic and thermomagnetic convection, which has implications for a range of biochemical applications.

Recent Publications (2009)

  • Bednarz, T, Lei, C., Patterson, J.C. and Ozoe, H. (2009) Effects of a transverse, horizontal magnetic field on natural convection of a paramagnetic fluid in a cube. Int. J. Thermal Sciences 48:26-33
  • Bednarz, T., Lei, C. and Patterson, J.C. (2009) A numerical study of unsteady natural convection induced by iso-flux surface cooling in a reservoir model. Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer 52:56-66
  • Xu, F., Patterson, J.C. and Lei, C. (2009) Transition to a periodic flow induced by a thin fin on the sidewall of a differentially heated cavity Int J. Heat Mass Transfer 52:620-628
  • Mao, Y., Lei, C. and Patterson, JC. (2009) Unsteady natural convection in a triangular enclosure induced by absorption of radiation. J. Fluid Mech. 622:75-102
  • Bednarz, T, Lei, C., Patterson, J.C. and Ozoe, H. (2009) Suppressing Rayleigh Benard convection in a cube using a strong magnetic field – Experimental heat transfer rate measurement and flow visualisation. Int. Commun. Heat Mass Transfer 36:97-102
  • Bednarz, T, Lei, C., and Patterson, J.C. (2009) An experimental study of unsteady natural convection in a reservoir model subject to periodic thermal forcing using combined PIV and PIT techniques. Experiments in Fluids 47:107-117
  • Bednarz, T, Lei, C., and Patterson, J.C. (in press) Unsteady natural convection induced by diurnal temperature changes in a reservoir with slowly varying bottom topography. Int. J. Thermal Sciences (accepted Feb 12, 2009)
  • Patterson, J.C., Lei, C., Armfield, S.W. and Lin, W. (2009) Scaling of Unsteady Natural Convection Boundary Layers with a Non-instantaneous Initiation. Int. J. Thermal Sciences 48:1843-1852.
    Xu, F., Patterson, J.C. and Lei, C. (n press) Heat transfer through coupled thermal boundary layers induced by a suddenly generated temperature difference. Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer (accepted March 22, 2009)
  • Bednarz, T, Patterson, J.C. Lei, C. And Ozoe, H. (2009) Enhancing Natural Convection in a Cube using a strong magnetic field – Experimental heat transfer rate measurements and flow visualization Int. Commun. Heat Mass Transfer 36:781-786
  • Lin, W, Armfield, S.W., Patterson, J.C. and Lei, C. (2009) Prandtl number scaling of unsteady natural convection boundary layers for Pr > 1 fluids under isothermal heating. Physical Review E 79: 066313
  • Xu, F, Patterson, J.C. and Lei, C. (in press) Transient natural convection flows around a thin fin on the sidewall of a differentially heated cavity. J. Fluid Mech. (accepted June 28, 2009)
  • Mao Y., Lei, C. and Patterson, JC. (in press) Characteristics of instability of radiation-induced natural convection in shallow littoral waters. Int. J. Thermal Sciences (accepted July 7, 2009)
  • Mao Y., Lei, C. and Patterson, JC. (in press) Unsteady near shore natural convection induced by surface cooling. J. Fluid Mech (accepted August 24, 2009)
  • Bednarz, T, Lin, W., Patterson, J.C., Lei, C.and Armfield, S.W. (in press) Scaling for unsteady thermo-magnetic convection boundary layer of paramagnetic fluids of Pr > 1 in microgravity conditions. Int. J. Heat Fluid Flow (accepted August 30, 2009)
  • Bednarz, T.P., Lei, C and Patterson, J.C. (in press) Various aspects of camera settings and image processing in the calibration of thermo-chromic liquid crystals for accurate Particle Image Themometry measurements. J. Visualization (accepted 14 September, 2009)

Teaching and Learning

  • CIVL 2611 Fluid Mechanics
  • CIVL 5666 Open channel flow and hydraulic structures

School & University Service

Director, Wind, Wave and Water Centre

Membership of Professional Societies

  • Fellow, Engineers Australia
  • Member, Australian Fluid Mechanics Society

Professional Service

  • Member, Assembly of World Conferences on Experimental heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics
  • Oz Reader for the Australian Research Council
  • Reviewer for the Ministero dell'Istruzione, dell'Università e della Ricerca, Italy
  • Reviewer for many fluid mechanics, heat transfer and environmental engineering journals