Home+618 81651608, website www.briankirke.com
After graduating in civil engineering from the University of Adelaide in 1967, I worked in a variety of positions, ranging from professional engineer to lecturer in Aboriginal languages at SACAE. From an early age I have been interested in sustainability issues, in particular renewable energy, energy efficiency, water supply and "living simply so all may simply live." From 1991-2003 I was a full time academic at Griffith University Gold Coast, teaching structural design, stress analysis, dynamics and hydraulics, completing a PhD on vertical axis wind turbines and working with local companies on a variety of small consulting jobs. A student project developing an energy-efficient surface pump for circulating reservoir water and... Read more
About me
After graduating in civil engineering from the University of Adelaide in 1967, I worked in a variety of positions, ranging from professional engineer to lecturer in Aboriginal languages at SACAE. From an early age I have been interested in sustainability issues, in particular renewable energy, energy efficiency, water supply and "living simply so all may simply live." From 1991-2003 I was a full time academic at Griffith University Gold Coast, teaching structural design, stress analysis, dynamics and hydraulics, completing a PhD on vertical axis wind turbines and working with local companies on a variety of small consulting jobs. A student project developing an energy-efficient surface pump for circulating reservoir water and preventing toxic algal blooms, a major problem in potable water storages in summer, led to the formation of a successful company, WEARS, which manufactures and installs these devices. With another local comany, Tidal Energy P/L, I developed a diffuser-augmented Darrieus type variable pitch hydrokinetic turbine which demonstrated a 3 fold increase in power output over the bare turbine. In 2004 I resigned from Griffith University to give more time to pursue interests relating to sustainability and took up a position as an adjunct senior research fellow in the Sustainable Energy Centre at UniSA. In this position I have developed and taught MENG4014 Developments in Vehicle Technology, supervised undergraduate projects on tidal energy, wave energy and pumped hydro energy storage. I did consulting work on hydrokinetic turbines in Canada and the UK and supervised a PhD project on river turbines for electrical power supply remote tropical villages, developing a non-clogging turbine which overcomes a major problem with hydrokinetic turbines which get clogged with floating debris and/or damaged by floating logs. This work has led to an ongoing collaboration with my former student, now a senior lecturer in Sarawak. From 2005-2016 I was technical Director of Seadov P/L, developing a design for a floating desalination plant powered by renewable energy. In 2017 I set up my own website, www.briankirke.com, to share information which I think may be of general interest.
About me
About me
Doctor of Philosophy Griffith University
Master of Engineering (Civil) The University of Adelaide
Bachelor of Engineering The University of Adelaide
Research
Research outputs for the last seven years are shown below. Some long-standing staff members may have older outputs included. To see earlier years visit ORCID
Open access indicates that an output is open access.
Year | Output |
---|---|
2023 |
2
1
9
|
2021 |
Open access
4
3
|
2020 |
Open access
24
19
|
2019 |
Open access
31
22
3
|
2017 |
Open access
21
18
|
2016 |
Open access
14
9
|
2015 |
Open access
17
12
|
2012 |
37
31
|
2011 |
41
33
|
2011 |
112
83
|
2011 |
101
83
|
2010 |
108
79
|
2010 |
52
41
|
2008 |
Kirke, BK & Lazauskas, L 2008, 'Variable Pitch Darrius Water Turbines'. |
2008 |
Kirke, BK & Robertson, S 2008, 'Kirke, B. 'Ocean Power Basics'', no. 46, pp. 20-21. |
2008 |
Kirke, BK & Robertson, S 2008, 'Ocean Power Basis'. |
Year | Output |
---|---|
2013 |
Open access
|
2009 |
|
2008 |
Anyi, M, Ali, SAM & Kirke, BK 2008, 'River Power in the Jungle', The Conference. |
Research
External engagement & recognition
Organisation | Country |
---|---|
Alternative Current Energy | FRANCE |
Amirkabir University of Technology (FNA Tehran Polytechnic) | IRAN |
Cyberiad | AUSTRALIA |
Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II | ITALY |
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak | MALAYSIA |
University of Adelaide | AUSTRALIA |
University of South Australia | AUSTRALIA |
External engagement & recognition
Teaching & student supervision
Supervisions from 2010 shown
Thesis title | Student status |
---|---|
Water current energy for remote community: design and testing of a clog-free horizontal axis hydrokinetic turbine system | Completed |