Robert Mayon

PhD in Wave Impacts on Porous Structures for Coastal Defences

Hi, I'm Robert Mayon and I studied within Southampton Marine and Maritime Institute at the University of Southampton.

I graduated with a BEng degree in Civil and Structural engineering from the University of Aberdeen in 2006, with my dissertation focussing on Finite Element Methods for the design of structural steel connections. Following on from this I worked as a Structural Design Engineer with a consultancy firm based in the British West Indies. In 2014 I obtained an MSc degree in Engineering Simulation and Modelling (First class honours) from Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland, with my dissertation focused on investigating the phenomenology of soil liquefaction and subsequent slope failure using the smoothed particle hydrodynamics method.

Currently there is great scientific interest in further understanding the underlying wave impact dynamics on solid and/or permeable structures for coastal defences. This multidisciplinary research will combine engineering theory with computer science to develop a suitable numerical model which has the ability to capture the phenomenological spatio-temporal effects resulting from the impact of oceanic waves on porous media. The study will make use of CFD modelling software to conceptualise, construct and simulate the problem domain. Of particular interest is the behaviour of the porous media and dynamics of the fluid flow at microsecond temporal scale prior to, at and after impact. Furthermore I will also explore the effects of air entrapment at the free surface flow and the associated trends of pulse-like forces involved at impact with the porous media. The key areas of the research are the development of free surface flow simulations, flow visualisation, analyses of forces of impact, and analyses of the integrity of offshore structures in an information system environment.

My work is being performed under the supervision of Dr Mingyi Tan and Dr Kamal Djidjeli (Faculty of Engineering and the Environment) and Dr Zoheir Sabeur (Faculty of Physical Sciences and Engineering).