Dr Robert Woolley
BEng (Hons), PhD

Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering
Director of Postgraduate Studies (PGT)
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Sir Frederick Mappin Building
Mappin Street
Sheffield
S1 3JD
UK
Telephone: +44(0)114 2227711
Fax: +44(0)114 2227890
email : rob.woolley@sheffield.ac.uk
Profile
Robert Woolley graduated with a PhD from the Department of Fuel and Energy at the University of Leeds in 1992. He then joined the School of Mechanical Engineering again at the University of Leeds and was a Research Fellow there from 1992 to 2006. He became a lecturer at the University of Sheffield in 2006. He currently lectures on thermodynamics, heat transfer and internal combustion engines.
Areas of Research
Laminar and turbulent premixed combustion – ignition, flame stability, high pressure combustion
Laser ignition
Engine combustion
Laser diagnostics
Regenerative heat transfer in Stirling engines
Teaching:
ME203 Thermodynamic cycles and heat transfer
ME403 Reciprocating engines
Selected Publications:
- Turbulent burning rates of methane and methane-hydrogen mixtures,
Fairweather, M., Ormsby, M. P., Sheppard, C. G. W., and Woolley, R. (2009),
Combustion and Flame, 156(4), pp. 780-790.
Online (journal subscription required)
Online (open access)
- Laser ignition of iso-octane air aerosols,
Lawes, M., Lee, Y., Mokhtar, A. S., and Woolley, R. (2008),
Combustion Science and Technology, 180(2), pp. 296-313.
Online (journal subscription required)
Online (open access)
- Laminar burning behaviour of biomass gasification-derived producer gas,
Serrano, C., Hernández, J. J., Mandilas, C., Sheppard, C. G. W., and Woolley, R. (2008),
International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 33(2), pp. 851-862.
Online (journal subscription required)
Online (open access)
- The quenching of premixed turbulent flames of iso-octane, methane and hydrogen at high pressures,
Bradley, D., Lawes, M., Kexin, L., and Woolley, R. (2007), 31pp. 1393-1400.
Online (journal subscription required)
- Laminar burning velocities of lean hydrogen-air mixtures at pressures up to 1.0 MPa,
Bradley, D., Lawes, M., Liu, K., Verhelst, S., and Woolley, R. (2007),
Combustion and Flame, 149(1-2), pp. 162-172.
Online (journal subscription required)
Online (open access)
- Instabilities and soot formation in high-pressure, rich, iso-octane-air explosion flames: 1. Dynamical structure,
Lockett, R. D. and Woolley, R. (2007),
Combustion and Flame, 151(4), pp. 601-622.
Online (journal subscription required)
Online (open access)
- Effects of hydrogen addition on laminar and turbulent premixed methane and iso-octane-air flames,
Mandilas, C., Ormsby, M. P., Sheppard, C. G. W., and Woolley, R. (2007), 31pp. 1443-1450.
Online (journal subscription required)
- Darrieus-landau and thermo-acoustic instabilities in closed vessel explosions,
Al-Shahrany, A. S., Bradley, D., Lawes, M., Liu, K., and Woolley, R. (2006),
Combustion Science and Technology, 178(10 & 11), pp. 1771-1802.
Online (journal subscription required)
Online (open access)
- Measurement of unstable burning velocities of iso-octane-are misxtures at high pressure and the derivation of laminar burning velocities,
Al-Shahrany, A. S., Bradley, D., Lawes, M., Woolley, R., and Ju, Y. (2005), 30pp. 225-232.
Online (journal subscription required)
- Variation of turbulent burning rate of methane, methanol, and iso-octane air mixtures with equivalence ratio at elevated pressure,
Lawes, M., Ormsby, M. P., Sheppard, C. G. W., and Woolley, R. (2005),
Combustion Science and Technology, 177(7), pp. 1273-1289.
Online (journal subscription required)
Online (open access)
- Laminar and unstable burning velocities and Markstein lengths of hydrogen-air mixtures at engine-like conditions,
Verhelst, S., Woolley, R., Lawes, M., Sierens, R., and Law, C. K. (2005), 30pp. 209-216.
Online (journal subscription required)
- Fundamentals of high-energy spark ignition with lasers,
Bradley, D., Sheppard, C. G. W., Suardjaja, I. M., and Woolley, R. (2004),
Combustion and Flame, 138(1-2), pp. 55-77.
Online (journal subscription required)
Online (open access)
- The Influence of Simulated Residual and NO Concentrations on Knock Onset for PRFs and Gasolines,
Burluka, A. A. L., K. Sheppard, C. G. W. Smallbone, A. J. Woolley, R (2004),
SAE Transactions Fuels and Lubricants, 113pp. 1873-1889. (journal subscription required)
