Dr Paul Cleary and his team work on the maths of moving materials.

Dr Paul Cleary: leading CSIRO research in fluid flow mathematics

Dr Paul Cleary heads a team of world-leading mathematicians and engineers highly regarded for innovative computational fluid dynamics algorithms.

• 23 June 2010 | Updated 14 October 2011

• Current activities
• Background
• Academic qualifications
• Achievements

Current activities

Dr Paul Cleary leads a team of mathematicians and engineers doing research in computational fluid dynamics (CFD).

His research team are regarded as world-leaders in discrete element modelling (DEM) and smooth particle hydronyamics (SPH) – branches of maths that are used to simulate and predict the movement of fluids.

His team has developed mathematical solutions for a diverse range of application areas, from mining to movies. These include:

• digital content generation for fluid special effects in movies and games
• simulation of industrial and mineral processing unit operations
• simulation of complex fluid flows such as material forming processes (casting and moulding, smelting and fragmentation)
• geophysical flows (dam collapses, tsunamis and volcanic lava flow).

Background

Dr Cleary joined CSIRO in 1991 working in the area of industrial CFD.

Past projects include developing simulations of equipment such as draglines, mills and hoppers to improve their design and operation.

Academic qualifications

Dr Cleary has been awarded a:

• Bachelor of Science with First Class Honours from Monash University in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
• Doctor of Philosophy in Applied Mathematics, also from Monash University in 1988.

Achievements

Dr Cleary recently delivered a tutorial on Discrete Element Modelling (DEM) and its applications with Prof Ugur Tuzun at the 5th World Congress of Particle Technology in Florida, USA.

Dr Cleary has published over 120 technical or client papers and over 170 papers.

Find out how CSIRO is Making movies flow.