Associate Professor Justin Leontini

Biography

A/Prof. Justin Leontini is a researcher and teacher in the Department of Mechanical and Product Design Engineering at Swinburne. He gained his PhD from Monash University. He joined Swinburne after completing postdoctoral fellowships at: the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (the national research centre) in Marseille, France; CSIRO; and at Monash as an Australian Postdoctoral Fellow. His research background is in fluid flows, and the simulation of these flows using supercomputing. He has worked on a wide range of flow problems including fundamental fluid-structure interactions, flow stability and the transition to turbulence, bluff body wakes, rotating planetary cores, ship hydrodynamics, aerodynamics, ocean wave power and coastal processes, respiratory flows, and biofilm mitigation.

His and his team's current research is focused on flows that have a reciprocating, or oscillatory, component. They are researching the dynamics of ocean wave power machines, to understand how the details of the flow in these machines changes their dynamics, and to understand how groups of machines interact with the waves they form and each other. They are investigating potential gas transport mechanisms in the human airway that can be utilised for medical ventilation. They are analysing the vibration of airfoils that can occur for small and unpiloted air vehicles, that occurs due to the fluid-structure interaction. They are modelling the curing on carbon-fibre composites for the aerospace industry.

A/Prof. Leontini's research uses knowledge and expertise from fundamental fluid mechanics to solve industrially- or socially-important problems, and is widely collaborative. He currently works with partners at numerous Australian and overseas universities, as well as wider industry partners including: Moyne Shire Council and Mid West Ports Authority; the Murdoch Children's Research Institute; C4Net; 4DMedicalR&D; the Swinburne AIRHub and Boeing; and Cocky Irrigation.