OUR FLUID NATION 
      THE IMPACT OF FLUID DYNAMICS IN THE UK
                                                      Published September 2021
                                                       Professor Paul S. Monks                    Professor Stephen Belcher,  
                                                       FRSC FRMetS,                               Chief Scientist, Met Office
                                                       Chief Scientific Adviser,
                                                       Department of Business,                    Fluid dynamics is at the heart of a 
                                                       Energy and Industrial Strategy             huge range of applications, ranging 
                                                                                                  from the transmission of disease 
                                                       The UK has a stated aim to be a            via liquid droplets, to fuel mixtures 
                                                       science superpower. Innovative             in engines and weather systems 
                                                       scientific research and development        in the atmosphere. Fluid dynamics 
                                                       lies at the core of that. Our Fluid        therefore underpins many scientific 
                                                       Nation highlights a major UK research      and technological breakthroughs, for 
                                                       and innovation strength in the broad       example in health and engineering, 
                                                       area of fluid dynamics. It shows           and weather and climate forecasting. 
                                                       that fluid dynamics is an enabling         This huge range of real-world 
                                                       technology that underpins many             applications is what first attracted me 
                                                       industrial sectors, as well as a wide      to study fluid dynamics when I was 
                                                       range of societal applications built on    looking for a PhD project.
                                                       a world-leading research core. One of 
                                                       the features of fluid dynamics is that     The UK has huge expertise in fluid 
                                                       it is not considered as a sector in its    dynamics. We have been at the 
                                                       own right, therefore its importance        forefront of the fundamental work 
                                                       and impact can be hidden.                  at the roots of the subject, but also 
                                                                                                  at the cutting edge of applying fluid 
                                                       Our Fluid Nation really brings to the      dynamics to understanding and 
                                                       fore the size and influence of fluid       solving real problems. 
                                                       dynamics on UK industry. There 
                                                       is impressive economic value as            There is so much more potential 
                                                       well as key sectoral underpinning          for fluid dynamics, from novel 
                                                       and an evidenced ability to support        drug delivery routes to simulating 
                                                       innovative UK industry and academic        pathways through climate change. 
                                                       work. Our Fluid Nation challenges          This report comes at a time 
                                                       that in order to grow towards being        when supercomputers and new 
                                                       a science superpower, there is a           technologies are revolutionising our 
                                                       need to recognise where we have            ability to simulate and measure fluid 
                                                       strengths and think about how to           dynamics in unprecedented levels of 
                                                       sustain and grow them.                     detail. I warmly welcome this report 
                                                                                                  and look forward to a new generation 
                                                                                                  of discovery in fluid dynamics.
                                                                            OUR FLUID NATION - THE IMPACT OF FLUID DYNAMICS IN THE UK
             EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
                 Fluid dynamics is a £13.9              Fluid dynamics is a major UK              Fluid dynamics is a prime example of 
                                                        industrial and research strength, and     a deep, transformative technology. 
                        billion UK industry,            is critical to many applications. Fluid   UK-led research has enabled the 
                                                        dynamics is an enabling technology        development of Computational Fluid 
                     employing more than                for industry sectors as diverse as        Dynamics software, which is now a 
                     45,000 people in 2,200             transport, healthcare technologies,       mainstay across all industry sectors. 
                                                        marine and energy. It plays a key role    Advances in computational methods 
                                    companies.          in the most important challenges          and investment in UK infrastructure 
                                                        facing today’s society, including the     underpin the pre-eminence of 
                                                        drive to net zero, understanding          the UK in climate science and 
                                                        disease and predicting weather            weather forecasting. Among many 
                                                        and climate.                              applications, these techniques are 
                                                                                                  also now being used to increase 
                                                        For the first time, the UK fluid          the efficiency of renewable energy 
                                                        dynamics industry has been                solutions and develop personalised 
                                                        analysed. Fluid dynamics generates        medicine, including treating heart 
                                                        £13.9 billion worth of output from        disease and infertility.
                                                        over 2,200 firms and employs 45,000 
                                                        people. The total UK turnover of          The UK’s global leadership in fluid 
                                                        firms engaged in fluid dynamics           dynamics is under threat. There is 
                                                        exceeds £200 billion and together         an immediate need for:
                                                        they employ over 500,000 people, 
                                                        illustrating how fluid dynamics           A National Centre in fluid dynamics, 
                                                        activity is often embedded in larger      building on practitioner networks and 
                                                        organisations. The gross value added      UK research strengths
                                                        (GVA) to the economy from fluid 
                                                        dynamics is estimated to be £3.4 
                                                        billion. The industry is distributed      Increased support for fluid dynamics 
                                                        across the UK with significant            training in industry and academia 
                                                        activity in Scotland, Wales and 
                                                        Northern Ireland and across  
                                                        England, supporting a levelling up        The application of next-generation data-
                                                        of the economy.                           driven fluid dynamics methods across 
                                                                                                  sectors and into industry 
                                                        The UK is a world leader in fluid 
                                                        dynamics research, including              Generation and retention of fluid 
                                                        fundamental, computational, data-         dynamics intellectual property and 
                    Fluid dynamics is the science       driven and experimental methods.          expertise in the UK
                     and engineering of flows of        The breadth and significance of the 
                      any sort - whether liquids,       knowledge base is underpinned by 
                   gases or plasmas - it includes       consistent support from UK Research       Fluid dynamics is at the cusp of a 
                                                        and Innovation (UKRI), including          new breakthrough, coupling exascale 
               measuring, modelling, predicting         the STEM-facing research councils         computing and big data to support 
                    and controlling fluid flows.        EPSRC, BBSRC, MRC, NERC and               the optimisation of processes and 
                 This includes flows in industry,       STFC. UKRI have invested in relevant      deep understanding of complex 
                     the atmosphere and oceans,         research totalling over £2.3 billion      problems. It is vital that these 
                                                        over the last 10 years, and provided      advances propagate into a wide 
                  glaciers, flows in the body and       support for skills development via        range of application sectors and 
                 even astrophysical flows. Fluid        Centres for Doctoral Training and         companies of all sizes. A National 
                    dynamics can be at any speed,       similar structures. The research          Centre to foster collaboration 
                                                        strength in universities is spread both   and further growth is essential to 
               temperature range, spatial scale         geographically and among many             retaining the UK’s position as a world 
                                     or time scale.     disciplines, including mathematics,       leader in fluid dynamics, thereby 
                                                        physics, engineering, biophysics, and     underpinning the growth of multiple 
                                                        geo- and environmental sciences.          sectors across the UK.
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                                                                                            INTRODUCTION
                   Creating a sustainable               Fluid dynamics influences all of our      Although it is a vital component, 
                                                        lives. We rely on fluid dynamics to       the importance of fluid dynamics to 
                 environment, advancing                 design safe water supply systems,         the economy and society is often 
                                                        to prevent flooding, to enable            overlooked. As an enabling discipline, 
                      medicine, developing              comfortable buildings and to              it is not a sector in its own right, 
                       efficient industrial             provide state-of-the-art treatment        yet understanding fluid dynamics is 
                                                        for cardiovascular and respiratory        crucial to the safety, reliability and 
              processes and explaining                  diseases. Harnessing fluid dynamics       efficiency of a vast range of sectors. 
                                                        principles drives the transport and       For example, investing in fluid 
               the beauty of the natural                energy sectors, enabling international    dynamics enables new innovations 
                                                        flight and worldwide shipping,            and disruptive technologies to 
                   world are all enabled                delivering lower emission vehicles,       facilitate the transition to a green 
                                                        and underpinning the development          economy. Delivering this requires 
                through fluid dynamics.                 of battery technology, wind energy,       support for fundamental science 
                                                        biofuels and heat pumps that will         and industry, the training and 
                                                        power the next century. Across            development of skilled people, and 
                                                        multiple sectors, fluid dynamics sits at  investment in experimental and 
                                                        the heart of manufacturing, enabling      computational facilities and software. 
                                                        the production of a diverse range 
                                                        of products including filters, paints,    For the first time, this report 
                                                        glass, coated papers, personal care       evaluates the direct contribution 
                                                        products and even chocolate.              that fluid dynamics makes to the UK 
                                                                                                  economy, highlighting the breadth 
                                                        The ability to measure, model             of industry sectors where fluid 
                                                        and predict fluid flows is critically     dynamics is a critical part of business. 
                                                        important to the innovation of            The analysis provides key metrics, 
                                                        processes and products across             including the revenue associated 
                                                        almost all industries, and to the         with fluid dynamics activities, the 
                                                        monitoring, prediction and response       size and distribution of the workforce 
                                                        to environmental processes, from          providing these essential skills, the 
                                                        managing urban air quality through        gross value added (GVA) to the UK 
                                                        to understanding changes to large         economy, and the scale of research 
                                                        scale atmospheric and geophysical         investment.
                                                        flows. Applications of fluid dynamics 
                                                        range from simplified models              The analysis is based on a proven 
                                                        through to complex computational          methodology for quantifying the 
                                                        simulations that utilise some of the      impact of transformative industries, 
                                                        world’s largest supercomputers.           which accommodates the diverse 
                                                        New advances in real-time flow            nature of the sector and accounts 
                                                        simulation, data-driven processes         for the fact that fluid dynamics is 
                                                        and machine learning are on the           frequently embedded within large, 
                                                        cusp of bringing a new revolution         diversified companies. 
                                                        in fluid dynamics, enabling the next 
                                                        generation of optimised and efficient 
                                                        processes, as well as the ability 
                                                        to understand our world through 
                                                        immersive virtual reality models of 
                                                        the environment. 
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