VORTEX 

 

Dr Sofia Greaves, Lead Researcher

 

Air pollution, mostly fine particulate matter, is the largest environmental health risk in Europe. Such pollution is distributed by vortices: broadly defined as rotating regions of fluid like whirlpools or tornadoes. It is known that vortices impact pollutant dispersal in cities where street surfaces concentrate heat and sky-scrapers create wind tunnels. Understanding and visualising this pollution dispersal is one means to address the EU Cities Mission for cleaner air and a range of related SDGs.* Further, the study of vortices is 1:1 transferable to how medicine occurs in the body as per particle dispersion within blood flows. Consequently research into vortices has applications across numerous scientific fields including mechanical engineering, urban planning and cardiovascular studies.

 

The key objective of this project is to advance research into vortices by bringing together artists, engineers from the OsloMet, the Astronautics Department at the University of Southampton and visualisation specialists from the Leeds Institute for Data Analytics. We aim to develop innovative methodologies for representing, studying and understanding vortical structures within turbulent flows. By bringing art and science together our objective is to gather and convey knowledge about toxicity and turbulence in impactful ways - both with, and for, affected communities.

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We will do this in 4 ways: 

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1) Through interdisciplinary and international research we will ​produce a sound and image library of vortices by doing experiments using water & wind tunnels, particle image velocimetry, music & fluid paint 

2) This data will be used to create data sculptures of vortices which enable scientists to study and understand vortices from novel perspectives. The artwork will be exhibited for citizens and industry. Arts-based, scientifically informed visualisation techniques developed by Vortex have the potential to promote positive societal engagement with the air as a common good. Here we aim to foster transformations in perspectives and policies concerning mobility regimes.

3) I will use the data to give live sound/visual performances of vortices in a windtunnel under a mountain near Bologna - CICLoPE, experimental facility. The Centre for International Cooperation in Long Pipe Experiments (CICLoPE) is a research laboratory situated near Bologna which allows the worldwide best space and time resolved measurements in turbulent pipe flows. Here we focus on providing new ways to visualise, engage with and understand vortices for broad audiences. 

 

4) An album of fluid motion from an eco-feminist perspective. Fluid dynamics is an overwhelmingly male area of scientific study, and researchers generally focus upon representing and understanding turbulent flows through equations. This visual album, inspired by Van Dyke's first album of fluid motion (1982), also seeks to present vortices in ways typically overlooked by science. Vortices are more than numbers; they figure everywhere in history as turbulent bodies, whirlpools, mythological figures, supersonic flows, emotions, experiences, tornadoes and dust devils. This album of fluid motion will create new narratives for vortices by inviting female and other marginalised genders to share how they understand, represent and relate to the vortex. This album aims to engage broader audiences in discussions concerning the air, and communities known to be most impacted by air pollution. 

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5) A reflexive ethnography of art-science collaboration which advances understandings of transdisciplinary innovation. Vortex is the first known transdisciplinary enquiry into vortices. Transdisciplinary collaborations are at the cutting edge of European Research & Innovation strategies which increasingly emphasize art-science as a means to develop novel research methodologies, avenues and solutions for societal challenges. We will document the process of collaboration ethnographically through interview, diary entries and visual responses seeking to develop broader methodologies for monitoring impact within transdisciplinary research structures.

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The project will be supervised by Ramis Örlü, Associate Professor in fluid mechanics at the Department of Mechanical, Electrical and Chemical Engineering at OsloMet. Professor Örlü is a leading expert in turbulent flows and state-of-the-art measurement methodologies, and large-scale wind tunnel experiments. I will receive secondary supervision from Professor Kristin Bergaust, artist and Vice Dean of research at the Faculty of Technology, Art and Design at OsloMet, and Prof Christina Vanderwel, the Head of the Aerodynamics and Flight Mechanics Research Group at the University of Southampton. The Advisory Board spans artists, historians, and fluid dynamics specialists in the UK, Italy, and Germany.

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The Project is kindly being funded by OsloMet, having been awarded 94% and a Seal of Excellence by the MSCA Fellowship Scheme.

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*

• SDG target 3.9.1, which calls for a substantial reduction in deaths and illnesses from air pollution. 

• SDG target 7.1.2, which aims to ensure access to clean energy in homes 

• SDG target 11.6.2, which aims to reduce the environmental impact of cities by improving air quality  

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Photograph by Walker Bleakney. Image Van Dyke, Milton. 1982. An Album of Fluid Motion. Stanford CA: The Parabolic Press. p. 49.