Prof. Wenxian Lin obtained PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Sydney in 2000, specializing in computational fluid dynamics. After that, he went to Texas Tech University, USA where he worked as a Postdoc at the Department of Chemical Engineering in the first year and was promoted to Research Professor in the second year. He returned to the University of Sydney in Sept 2002 to work as an ARC Research Associate, and got his ARC Australian Postdoctoral Fellowship in 2003 to work at the School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering until Jan 2006. He moved to James Cook University in Feb 2006 to take up a Senior Lecturer position at the School of Engineering and has been a Professor since Jan 2016. He served as the Head of Discipline of Mechanical Engineering at the College of Science & Engineering (former School of Engineering & Physical Sciences) since 2010.

Prof. Lin’s research interests encompass computational fluid dynamics, buoyancy-driven flows, turbulent flows, stratified flows, heat transfer, natural convection, boundary layers, scaling analysis, environmental fluid dynamics, solar thermal energy, mixing and entrainment, building heating and ventilation, solar collector technologies, solar water heaters, turbulence modelling, DNS and LES, hydrodynamics, etc. He has published more than 120 refereed journal publications and more than 40 refereed conference publications, has the h-index of 21, and has garnered close to $2.8m ARC research funding over his career.

Prof. Lin has received numerous awards and fellowships over his career, including the ARC Australian Postdoctoral Fellowship (ARC, 2003), Australian Awards for University Teaching: Citations for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning (Office for Learning and Teaching, Australian Government, 2015), and Citations for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning (JCU, 2015), and Dean’s Research Excellence Award – Research Group (JCU, 2006), .

The following are the ARC funding that Prof. Lin has attracted since 2003:

• ARC Discovery Project:  DP160102134 - Entrainment and mixing in turbulent negatively buoyant jets and fountains, A$300,000 (2016-2018, with Prof SW Armfield, Dr N Williamson and A/Prof MP Kirkpatrick)
• ARC Discovery Project:  DP150100912 - Thermal stratification, overturning and mixing in riverine environments, A$335,100 (2015-2017, with A/Prof MP Kirkpatrick, Dr N Williamson and Prof SW Armfield)
• ARC Discovery Project: DP130100900 - Conjugate natural convection boundary layers, A$425,000 (2013-2015, with Prof SW Armfield, A/Prof MP Kirkpatrick, A/Prof C Lei and Prof JC Patterson)
• ARC Discovery Project: DP110102343 - The dynamics of turbulent entrainment in sheared convective boundary layers, A$350,000 (2011-2014, with A/Prof MP Kirkpatrick and Prof SW Armfield)
• ARC Discovery Project: DP0988402 - Investigation and optimisation of displacement ventilation and cooling, A$300,000 (2009-2013, with Prof SW Armfield and A/Prof MP Kirkpatrick)
• ARC Discovery Project: DP0880756 - Transport by natural convection in reservoir sidearms, A$450,000 (2008-2010; with Prof JC Patterson, Prof SW Armfield, A/Prof C Lei and A/Prof MP Kirkpatrick) 
• ARC Discovery Project: DP0556529- Turbulent fountains in stratified fluids with opposing buoyancy flux, A$375,000 (2005-2008, with Prof SW Armfield and Dr GD McBain)
• ARC Australian Postdoctural Fellowship: DP0449876 - An investigation into fountains interacting with both free surface and solid boundaries, A$222,000 (2004-2006, sole CI)

Teaching

• CS3008: Fluid Mechanics (Level 3; TSV)
• CS4002: Hydraulic and Coastal Engineering (Level 4; TSV)
• ME2521: Dynamics of Machine Elements (Level 2; TSV)
• ME4513: Advanced Fluid Mechanics (Level 4; TSV)

Interests

Research

• Turbulent Flows
• Solar Thermal Engineering
• Computational Fluid Dynamics
• Natural Convection Heat Transfer
• Buoyant Jets
• Entrainment and Mixing
• Boundary Layers
• Building Heating and Ventilation
• Buoyancy-Driven Flows
• Turbulence Modelling

Teaching

• Fluid Mechanics
• Dynamics
• Energy Technologies

Experience

• 2016 to present - Professor, James Cook University (Townsville, Australia)
• 2010 to present - Head, Mechanical Engineering Discipline, James Cook University (Townsville, Australia)
• 2010 to 2015 - Associate Professor, James Cook University (Townsville, Australia)
• 2006 to 2009 - Senior Lecturer, James Cook University (Townsville, Australia)
• 2004 to 2006 - ARC Australian Postdoctoral Fellow, The University of Sydney (Sydney, Australia)
• 2002 to 2003 - ARC Research Associate, The University of Sydney (Sydney, Australia)
• 2001 to 2002 - Research Professor, Texas Tech University (Lubbock, USA)
• 2000 to 2001 - Post-doc Research Fellow, Texas Tech University (Lubbock, USA)

Research Disciplines

• Interdisciplinary Engineering (0915)

Socio-Economic Objectives

• Expanding Knowledge (9701)
• Renewable Energy (8505)

Awards

• 2015 - JCU Citations for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning
• 2015 - Australian Awards for University Teaching: Citations for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning, the Office for Learning and Teaching, Australian Government
• 2006 - Dean’s Research Excellence Award – Research Group, JCU

Fellowships

• 2004 to 2006 - ARC Australian Postdoctoral Fellowship

Memberships

• 2012 - Executive Committee Member, Australasian Fluid Mechanics Society (AFMS)
• 2008 - Secretary and Executive Committee Member, Australasian Fluid and Thermal Engineering Society (AFTES)
• 2000 - Member, American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)

Other

• 1992 to 1998 - Associate Editor, Energy - The International Journal

These are the most recent publications associated with this author. To see a detailed profile of all publications stored at JCU, visit ResearchOnline@JCU. Hover over Altmetrics badges to see social impact.

Journal Articles

• Gao W, Lin W, Liu T, Armfield S and Li M (2017) Penetration height of transitional round fountains in a linearly stratified fluid. International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer, 81. pp. 79-91
• Khatamifar M, Lin W, Armfield S, Holmes D and Kirkpatrick M (2017) Conjugate natural convection heat transfer in a partitioned differentially-heated square cavity. International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer, 81. pp. 92-103
• Inam M, Lin W, Armfield S and He Y (2016) Correlations for maximum penetration heights of transitional plane fountains in linearly stratified fluids. International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer, 77. pp. 64-77
• Lin W and Armfield S (2016) Scalings for unsteady natural convection boundary layers on a vertical plate at time-dependent temperature. International Journal of Thermal Sciences, 111. pp. 78-99
• Mahmud H, Lin W, Gao W, Armfield S and He Y (2016) Interaction behavior of triple transitional round fountains in a homogeneous fluid. International Journal of Heat and Fluid Flow, 62 (Part B). pp. 437-454
• Williamson N, Armfield S, Lin W and Kirkpatrick M (2016) Stability and Nusselt number scaling for inclined differentially heated cavity flow. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 97. pp. 787-793
• Hu X, Gao W, Liu T and Lin W (2015) Fluid flow situation in the nozzle of the theoretical analysis and numerical simulation. Journal of Yunnan Normal University, 35 (1). pp. 11-16
• Inam M, Lin W, Armfield S and He Y (2015) Asymmetry and penetration of transitional plane fountains in stratified fluid. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 90. pp. 1125-1142
• Liu B, Gao W, Liu T, Lin W, Xing X and Hu X (2015) Numerical simulation and analysis on stagnation performance of all—glass evacuated collector tubes. Journal of Yunnan Normal University, 35 (4). pp. 5-10
• Mahmud H, Lin W, Gao W, Armfield S and He Y (2015) Behavior of the interaction between twin transitional round fountains in a homogeneous fluid, Part 2: numerical study. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 86. pp. 973-991

Conference Papers

• Khatamifar M, Lin W, Holmes D, Armfield S and Kirkpatrick M (2016) Transient laminar conjugate natural convection in a cavity with a finite thickness and conductivity partition. Proceedings of the 20th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference. In: AFMC 2016: 20th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, 5-8 December 2016, Perth, WA, Australia
• Zhou L, Armfield S, Williamson N, Kirkpatrick M and Lin W (2016) Transient natural convection flow in a cavity subject to time-varying sidewall heating and cooling. Proceedings of the 20th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference. In: AFMC 2016: 20th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, 5-8 December 2016, Perth, WA, Australia

More

ResearchOnline@JCU stores 123+ research outputs authored by Prof Wenxian Lin from 2000 onwards.

Current and recent Research Funding to JCU is shown by funding source and project.

Advisory Accreditation: I can be on your Advisory Panel as a Primary or Secondary Advisor.

These Higher Degree Research projects are either current or by students who have completed their studies within the past 5 years at JCU. Linked titles show theses available within ResearchOnline@JCU.

Current

• Sph Modeling of the Physics of Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage in Heavy Oil Recovery. (PhD , Secondary Advisor)
• Optimisation of Underground Diesel Exhaust Wet Scrubber (PhD , Secondary Advisor)
• Development of a numerical flow measurement technique in natural streams using photography (PhD , Secondary Advisor)
• Effects of Surface Cooling and Wind Shear on Night-Time Thermally Statified Riverine Flows (PhD , Primary Advisor)
• Turbulence Mixing in the Sheared Convective Layer. (PhD , Primary Advisor)
• Conjugate Natural Convection Boundary Layers in Building Ventilation. (PhD , Primary Advisor)

Completed

• Behavior of transitional plane fountains in linearly-stratified environments (2016, PhD , Primary Advisor)
• Modelling and infrared thermal imagery of hot particle curtains (2015, PhD , Secondary Advisor)
• Behavior of multiple transitional round fountains interacting in homogeneous and stratified fluids (2014, PhD , Primary Advisor)

The map shows research collaborations by institution from the past 7 years.
Note: Map points are indicative of the countries or states that institutions are associated with.