Simon Blakey

Senior Lecturer of Mechanical Engineering, University of Sheffield

Dr Simon Blakey is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Sheffield. His first degree was Mechanical Engineering with a Modern Language (German) during which he spent a year at the Technische Universitaet Dresden, Germany.

After a spell in industry, he returned to study for a PhD. His research was on the energy optimisation of the Hot Dip Galvanizing Industry, focusing on furnace design and process integration.

Since 2004, Simon has worked at the Low Carbon Combustion Centre at the University of Sheffield focusing on the technical suitability of alternative and conventional fuels and fuel system hardware for the aviation sector. Simon is Director of the Low Carbon Combustion Centre, Working Group Leader on Alternative Fuels for ECATS, a European Network of Excelence for the development of sustainable fuels for the Aviation Sector and part of the University's Energy 2050 initiative.

Simon manages a number of aerospace industry facing research programmes focusing on the technical suitability of alternative and conventional fuels as well as methods for the assessment of the performance of fuel system engine hardware. Simon teaches the Second Year Heat Transfer course to the Aerospace Engineering cohort.

Research Interests

Fuel thermal stability

Experimental methods at range of scales
Autoxidation of hydrocarbons
Depsition modelling, CFD and analytical techniques
Surface effects on deposit formation
Research projects include the Innovate UK funded ATI SILOET II, Project 18
Alternative fuels

Materials compatability
Fuel suitability
Combustion process modelling
Research projects include JetA-1 fuels development with QER Pty and the EU ITAKA programme.
Combustion system efficiency

Control and process integration for improved efficiency
Appropriate scale modelling
Burner / combustion system design and modelling
Research projects include KTP programmes with the Wedge Group Ltd.
Experimental design

Development of representative scaled down experiments
Design of Experiments
Research projects include the Innovate UK funded ATI SILOET II, Project 5