Women Scientists

Ann Dowling

At a glance:

outstanding mechanical engineer working with planes

As far as the public are concerned, Ann Dowling, who is professor of mechanical engineering at Cambridge University, works on boys stuff - aeroplanes, submarines and oil exploration. As far as engineers are concerned she is a leading authority on developments that are enabling the control of unstable combustion systems in both aeronautics and power generation. She was the first to understand the mechanics of the jet engine instability known as reheat buzz. The two underlying themes of her work are the interaction of sound with unsteady flow and the control of aeroaccoustic instabilities. Her work on 'silent running' in submarines helped resolve problems faced by engineers interpreting the results of seismic tests used in oil exploration. She has held visiting posts at MIT and at Caltech and is the UK lead of the Silent Aircraft Initiative, a collaboration between researchers at Cambridge and MIT who have recently released the conceptual design of an ultra-low noise and fuel efficient aircraft, SAX40. She is currently working with Rolls Royce on the gas turbines used in power stations.
Ann Dowling

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