Bassam Dally, Ph.D.

Faculty

Professor of Mechanical Engineering

Social Profile:

Biography

Professor Bassam Dally is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering and a member of the Clean Combustion Research Center at KAUST. Before joining he was the Deputy Director of the Centre for Energy Technology, CET, at the University of Adelaide, Australia. His research career and interests span a variety of energy related topics including, thermal science and engineering, renewable energy, renewable fuels and applied laser diagnostics. His interest in energy victors extends to hydrogen and ammonia, energy storage, hybrid energy systems and fuel adaptation to industrial processes. He is a co-inventor of two patents related to energy and has attracted in excess of $20m in research funding along with his colleagues. He has contributed to many public forums related to energy, co-authored three major review papers and more than 270 research papers in energy related topics. Prof Dally has received many awards over the years, and in 2016 he was named “Energy Professional of the Year” by the SA Branch of the Australian Energy Institute. And in 2019 he was named a Fellow of the Combustion Institute.

Research Interests

Dr Dally’s research interests include combustion science, aerodynamics, heat transfer, applied optics, computational fluid dynamics, and renewable energy including wind, solar and tidal wave. His interest spans fundamental to translational research, including turbulence chemistry interaction, soot evolution in flames, structure and stability of MILD combustion, hydrogen and ammonia energy victors, energy storage, hybrid energy systems and fuel adaptation to industrial processes. His current research is focussed on developing cost-effective and innovative technologies that deliver carbon mitigation under the circular carbon economy approach. In particular, he is working on technology solutions to decarbonise heavy industries through flexible integration of renewable sources such electrification, hydrogen and ammonia combustion and concentrated solar thermal.  

Selected Publications

  • Highly radiating hydrogen flames: Effect of toluene concentration and phase

M.J. Evans, D.B. Proud, P.R. Medwell, H. Pitsch, B.B. Dally

Proceedings of the Combustion Institute, 2020

  • The effect of oxygen concentration in the co-flow of laminar ethylene diffusion flames

Z. Sun, B. Dally, Z. Alwahabi, G. Nathan

Combustion and Flame, 211, 96-111, 2020

  • Simultaneously calibrated two-line atomic fluorescence for high-precision temperature imaging in sooting flames

Z. Sun, Z. Alwahabi, B. Dally, G. Nathan

Proceedings of the Combustion Institute, 37(2), 1417-1425, 2019

  • An experimental study of the stability and performance characteristics of a Hybrid Solar Receiver Combustor operated in the MILD combustion regime

A. Chinnici, G. Nathan, & B. Dally

Proceedings of the Combustion Institute, 37(4), 5687-5695, 2019

  • A new correlation between soot sheet width and soot volume fraction in turbulent non-premixed jet flames

S. Mahmoud, T. Lau, G. Nathan, P. Medwell, Z. Alwahabi & B. Dally

Proceedings of the Combustion Institute, 37(1), 927-934, 2019

  • Downstream evolution of n-heptane/toluene flames in hot and vitiated coflows

M. Evans, P. Medwell, Z. Sun, A. Chinnici, J. Ye, Q. Chan, & B. Dally

Combustion and Flame, 202, 78-89, 201

  • Structural differences of ethanol and DME jet flames in a hot diluted coflow

J. Ye, P.  Medwell, K. Kleinheinz, M. Evans, B. Dally & H. Kitsch

Combustion and Flame, 192, 473-494, 2018

  • Solar thermal hybrids for combustion power plant: A growing opportunity

G. Nathan, M. Jafarian, B. Dally, W. Saw, P. Ashman, E. Hu & A. Steinfeld

Progress in Energy and Combustion Science, 64, 4-28, 2018

Education

  • Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, University of Sydney, 1998
  • B.Sc., Mechanical Engineering, Technion, 1988

Professional Profile

  • 2013-2020: Professor, Mechanical Engineering, The University of Adelaide
  • 2009-2020: Deputy Director of the Centre for Energy Technology, The University of Adelaide
  • 2010-2014: Head of School of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Adelaide
  • 2008-2013:    Associate Professor, School of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Adelaide
  • 2002-2008: Senior Lecturer, School of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Adelaide
  • 2001-2010:    Deputy Head, School of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Adelaide
  • 1998-2002:    Lecturer, School of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Adelaide
  • 1998: Research Assistant, School of Chemical Engineering, The University of Sydney
  • 1991-1994: Research Assistant, School of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Sydney

Scientific and Professional Membership

  • 2011- 2021: Deputy Chairman - Combustion Institute, Australia and NZ Section
  • 2001-2011: Executive Member - Combustion Institute, Australia and NZ Section
  • 2011-2015: Member - American Chemical Society
  • 2002-2014: Executive Member - Australasian Fluid & Thermal Engineering Society
  • 2000-2004: Member - SIEA (Sustainable Energy Industry Association)
  • 1999-2009: Member - ASHRAE (American Society, of Heating Refrigeration, and Air Conditioning Engineers)
  • 1992-2001: Member - Combustion Institute, Australia and New Zealand Section

Awards

  • 2019 Fellow of the Combustion Institute
  • 2016 SA Energy Professional of the Year 2016, Australian Institute of Energy
  • 2011 Opportunity South Australia, Innovation Showcase, winner of Best Pitch award
  • 2010 Korean Institute of Machinery and Materials, sponsored speaking tour of South Korea 
  • 2009 Austrade - Visiting Research Fellowship (Speaking tour: Stuttgart, Darmstadt, Aachen & Delft)
  • 2006 Australian academy of Science travel grant to North America (Sandia National Labs and Stanford)
  • 2006 Visiting Fellow at CRF, Sandia National Laboratories, Livermore, CA
  • 2006 Visiting Fellow at ITM, RWTH, Aachen, Germany
  • 2005 Best Paper Award (co-author) 4th Australian Conf. on Laser Diag. in Fluid Mechanics and Comb. 
  • 2002 Visiting Fellow at ITM, RWTH, Aachen, Germany
  • 2001 Visiting Fellow at CRF, Sandia National Laboratories, Livermore, CA
  • 2001 National Engineering Innovation Competition, Re-Engineering Australia Forum (team award)
  • 1998 DR Warren Travelling Fellowship of the ANZ Section of the Combustion Institute
  • 1994  Australian Postgraduate Award

KAUST Affiliations

  • Clean Combustion Research Center (CCRC)
  • Division of Physical Sciences and Engineering (PSE)

Research Interests Keywords

Aerodynamics Heat Transfer Optimization Applied Optics computational fluid dynamics Renewable Energy