Faculty/School

Faculty of Science

School of Mathematical Sciences

Topic status

We're looking for students to study this topic.

Research centre

Centre for Data Science

Supervisors

Professor Scott McCue
Position
Professor
Division / Faculty
Faculty of Science
Professor Timothy Moroney
Position
Professor in Mathematics
Division / Faculty
Faculty of Science

Overview

The classic v-shaped wake pattern behind a ship (or duck) that is moving through the water is familiar to everyone. But did you know that information about the source of the disturbance is encoded in this wake? By sampling the wake at a single (or multiple) points over time, we can learn a lot about the vessel that created it. This project is concerned with deducing properties of vessels from their wakes by analysing the signal generated by sampling the wake at isolated points over time.

Research engagement

Literature review

Mathematical analysis

Computation and simulation

Analysing experimental data

Research activities

Investigate different mathematical models of vessels that can be used to simulate realistic wakes
Generate simulated wakes and study their constituents, the transverse and divergent waves
Investigate simplified models of vessels that can reproduce the key features of real wakes with less computation
Incorporate more sophisticated physics including nonlinear effects, shallow water effects
Investigate dispersion curves, amplitude functions and other mathematical components
Undertake time-frequency analysis using spectrograms and related techniques
Solve the inverse problem of deducing vessel properties from its wake

Outcomes

New insights into ship wakes and their properties

New techniques to extract information from ship wakes

Skills and experience

Coding experience in MATLAB, Julia, Python, or similar is required

Mathematical training covering at least basic signal processing (such as from MXB161) and first year calculus.

With higher mathematical background, especially partial differential equations, the project can be tailored to use this.

Start date

1 November, 2024

End date

1 February, 2025

Location

QUT Gardens Point

Additional information

Comprehensive resources are available for this established project, and assistance including with coding will be available.

Keywords

Contact

Tim Moroney  t.moroney@qut.edu.au