Luke Doherty PhD, BEng/BSc, AIAA Member

Dr Luke Doherty is a Departmental Lecturer in High Speed Flows, continuing to lend his extensive experience in experimental hypersonic aerodynamics to the department. He graduated in 2008 from The University of Queensland, Australia with Bachelor of Engineering (Hons I) and Bachelor of Science degrees. He then completed his doctorate at the same university within the Centre for Hypersonics, measuring aerodynamic forces on an airframe integrated scramjet engine in the T4 Shock Tunnel Facility.

Joining the Oxford Thermofluids Institute in 2014 as a post-doctoral researcher, and then as a Senior Researcher in 2018, he has spent the last 8 years developing, commissioning and managing the Oxford High Speed Facilities – the T6 Stalker Tunnel, the High Density Tunnel and, more recently, the Low Density Tunnel; unique facilities which have placed Oxford at the forefront of high-speed experimental research.

• Short duration facility development (operation and diagnostics)
• Aerodynamic force measurement techniques and applications
• Magnetic suspension and balance systems
• Rarefied flows and satellite demise re-entry aerothermodynamics
• High-speed inlet performance

EPSRC, NWTF Infrastructure Grant (MSBS Facility), Co‑Investigator

The Royal Society, Flow Visualisation and Heat Transfer in Low Density Gas Flows to Improve Space Debris Demise Knowledge, Principle Investigator

Reaction Engines Ltd, On the Influence of a Boundary Layer Bleed System on the Performance of a High-Speed Inlet (Fourth Year Project), Principle Investigator

DARPA, Materials Architectures and Characterization for Hypersonics (MACH), Co‑investigator

Hillyer, J., Doherty, L.J., Hambidge, C. and McGilvray, M. (Jan. 8 – 12, 2024). “Enhancing the test time performance of Ludwieg Tunnels,” In: AIAA SciTech Forum (submitted). Orlando, Florida.

Ivison, W., Hambidge, C.J., Doherty, L.J. and McGilvray, M. (Jan. 8 – 12, 2024). “Commissioning Ludwieg Mode with Isentropic Compression Heating for the Oxford High Density Tunnel,” In: AIAA SciTech Forum (submitted). Orlando, Florida.

Hyslop, A., Doherty, L.J. and McGilvray, M. (2023). “Comparison of Hypersonic Force Measurement Techniques in a Short Duration Hypersonic Facility,” Experiments in Fluids (under review).

Wheeler, C., Hyslop, A., Vieira, J., Le Page, L., Quinn, M. K., Chowdhury, N. H. K., and Doherty, L. J. (June 19–23, 2022). “Surface Pressure Measurements on a Free‑Flying Cone at Mach 7 using Pressure Sensitive Paint”. In: HiSST: 2^nd International Conference on High‑Speed Vehicle Science Technology. Bruges, Belgium: ESA.

Doherty, L. J., Donaldson, N., and Owen, A. K. (Jan. 11–21, 2021). “The Oxford Magnetic Suspension and Balance System: A Brief History and Development Status”. In: AIAA SciTech Forum. Virtual Event. AIAA‑2021‑1870. DOI: 10.2514/6.2021-1870.

Luke takes part in the following teaching:

• B19 Fluid Mechanics – Supersonic Nozzle Flow Laboratory (Experiment and CFD)
• 3^rd year group project – Design of a Cubesat Re-Entry Experiment for Satellite Demise

Previous 4^th year research projects –

• Development and Application of Background Orientated Schlieren in a Hypersonic Short Duration Wind Tunnel, Jake Watson, 2023
• Internal Heat Transfer Measurements on Hollow Geometries in Hypersonic Rarefied Flow, Alec Berry, 2023
• Investigating the effects of large-scale roughness on multi-sphere separation dynamics in hypersonic flow, Toby Price, 2023
• Surface Pressure Measurement of a Free-flying Model in a Hypersonic Wind Tunnel using Pressure Sensitive Paint, Chris Wheeler, 2022
• Virtual Control of a Wing-Elevator Assembly at Hypersonic Flow Conditions, Michael Nestor, 2021
• Design of a Contoured Nozzle for a Hypersonic Rarefied Wind Tunnel, Oliver Shepherd, 2021
• Enhancing diagnostic and testing capability at Oxford Thermofluids Institute, Syed Zaid Nizami, University of Queensland visiting engineering placement student, 2020
• Investigation of Plume Impingement on Skylon, Jack Hillyer, 2020
• Development of a Model-Alignment Probe for the Oxford High Density Tunnel, Andrew Bustard, University of Toronto Final Year Thesis, 2019