Understanding wind-borne debris

Dr David Hargreaves

Since graduating as a physicist in 1989, David Hargreaves has worked as a modeler of air and water flow in the environment. His first role was with British Nuclear Fuels plc, where he created software to model groundwater flow. He held this position for five years and transferred to the University of Nottingham to earn his PhD in the spread of pollution behind moving road vehicles.

This was followed by a postdoctoral fellow in a program on ventilation of deep coal mines funded by the European Union which led to a teaching position. David later returned to the industry and worked for Fluent, a leading provider of computational fluid dynamics software. There he worked on consulting projects, customer support, sales, and gained true insights into many industries such as healthcare (drug delivery and blood flow), fuel cells, and even extrusion of dog biscuits!

Returning to the University of Nottingham, he took up his current position in the Department of Civil Engineering, focusing on modelling wind flow, whilst also working with colleagues in chemistry and mechanical engineering on many interesting projects. He teaches drainage design, water supply and flood prediction to third-year students and a fourth-year module in wind engineering. He is currently chairing the UK Wind Engineering Society, a specialised subject division of the Institution of Civil Engineers.