What is the Research Focus of Tony Nelson in Water Dynamics and Engineering?

[ablesculler]

Water, is my interest ,in it swimming ,surfing in Sydneys' Pacific rollers to feel the turbulence ,SCUBA , boats, pumps ,pipes, Hydrodynamics, treatment, mini-hydroelectric generation.
Currently working on improvements to sculling with unique "scullocks" foils on the blades of oars.
Human powered propeller to lift a kayak onto foils by optimising the mechanics of energy transfer from body to prop, also to a small axial-flow pump for manual bilge pumping.
I have worked in Engineering Hydraulics Lab on improvements to stator-diffuser energy recovery in pumps.

 

[ablesculler]

Sculling is the way to give a small vessel headway, by wagging an oar to and fro at the transom, while twisting the blade to provide lift and movingit towards and away in an 'infinity curve' or like a "Mobius surface", [not a figure of 8] .This is the fundamental skill of the 'Ableseaman' requiring only one oar,to move vessels to 10m or 10 ton [depending on the wind & current]. I learned the skill as a child in the Bahamas ,where it is ordinary practice and have been teaching it for all my long life, recently in Hobart at the Australian Wooden Boat Festival, using a device of two oars linked to work like a parrelogram, with gimballed pulleys to rotate them in sync, so I operate one the learner gets a 'hands-on' experience, which is more effective than all the talk or looking at a demo.
Significantly I have evolved a "Scullock" ,a horizontal yoke [usually ply] screwed to the stb. gunwhale at the transom ,a semicircle with returns on the outer. This enables the oar to be worked up to the vertical ,like a reciprocating quarter turn prop with the blade changing it's angle at the end of each stroke, if the motion is changed to an "X-BOX" ,so it describes an X in the middle and is pulled in at each extremity to force the blade away from the boat ["The Wallaby Hop"], This creates a lot more thrust / power ,plunging in and across, pull it out move it aft , then sweep in and across again

 

[anorlunda]

Welcome to PF

 

[phinds]

Welcome to PF. I think your comma key is stuck or somehow tied to the space key.