Bruce Dunwoody
Associate Professor
B.A.Sc. (British Columbia, 1974), Ph.D. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1980)
ph: (604) 822-3701
fx: (604) 822-2403
email: dunwoody@mech.ubc.ca
Research Interests
- Mechanical Design
- Vibrations
- Multi-Body Dynamics
Current Research Work
Research is being pursued in two areas; modeling the behaviour of a tractor/semi-trailer combination leading to the onset of roll-over and development of a viable sonochemistry reactor using electrostatic transducers.
- Rollovers
- Rollovers are one of the major causes of fatalities and the largest cause of bulk spillage of materials amongst road accidents involving heavy trucks. A better understanding of the behaviour of a tractor/semi-trailer combination leading up to rollover should assist in the development of improved methods for reducing the incidence of rollover accidents. Numerical simulation of a tractor/semi-trailer combination as a flexible, multi-body system is being pursued. The first issue being addressed is the automatic generation of the equations of motion of a flexible, multi-body system in joint and elastic degrees-of-freedom. Development of a sensor package to estimate the load-transfer ratio is also being pursued to provide a driver with a better indication of an imminent rollover. A patent application has been filed.
- Sonochemistry
- Sonochemistry involves the stimulation of certain chemical reactions through the application of high intensity sound waves, to the point where cavitation occurs within the fluid. Important sonochemistry-stimulated reactions have been demonstrated in the laboratory, but the migration of the technology to commercial use has been slow. One of the inhibitors to the application of this technology seems to be the availability of appropriate sonochemistry reactors. Development of a commercial-scale sonochemistry reactor is being pursued using electrostatic transducer technology because the acoustic impedance of an electrostatic transducer is similar to that of water. One patent has been granted to date based on this work.
Selected Publications
- Bolleman, B., and Dunwoody, B.A., “Acoustic Liquid Processing Device”, United States Patent Number 5,395,592, March 7, 1995.
- Dunwoody, B.A., “Active Roll Control of a Semi-Trailer”, Transactions of the SAE, 1993.
