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Staff profile image for Dr Zakaria Mansouri

Zak Mansouri

Senior Lecturer

School of Science & Technology

Staff Group(s)
Engineering

Role

Dr Zak Mansouri is a Senior Lecturer in Aerospace Engineering, Course Director for Aerospace Engineering, and leading the Development and Diagnostic of Alternative Fules (DDAF) Laboratory.

Zak is a member of the Imaging, Materials and Engineering Research Centre (IMEC).

Teaching duties include:

  • Solid Mechanics & Dynamics - Year 1 (Module Leader)
  • Advanced Dynamics & Vibration - Year 2 (Module Leader)
  • Individual Engineering Project - Year 3 (Module Co-Leader)
  • Individual Industrial/Research Engineering Project - Year 4 (Module Co-Leader)
  • Industrial Design & Product Case Studies - Year 2 (Contributor)

Career overview

Zak was a research and teaching fellow in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Nottingham. His teaching duties were lecturing "Advanced Propulsion" Year 3 MEng Aerospace Engineering and "Introduction to Aerospace Technology" Year 3 MEng Mechanical Engineering. He was a member of the Mechanical and Aerospace Systems Research Group - MAS (formerly known as Gas Turbine and Transmissions Research Centre - G2TRC) hosting Rolls-Royce University Technology Centre.

From 2019 to 2021, he was a senior consultant in Mechanical & Energy Engineering for industrial R&D projects at Abylsen Group, at the Science and Technology business unit in Lyon, France. During this role, he accomplished a one-year consulting mission at GE Renewable Energy as a CFD and turbomachinery expert working on €2.5 million research projects. His consultancy has contributed to the modernisation of Limmern pumped storage plant turbines in Switzerland and designing the turbines of Kundah hydropower plant in India.

Prior to his consultancy career, Zak was a post-doctoral researcher for one year at the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission and member of the Department of Thermal Science, Biomass and Hydrogen. He worked on the thermal management of processes. In 2017, Zak was awarded an independent research fellowship of €50,000 funded by the French National Agency for Research (ANR) to work on low-carbon combustion technology.

Zak received his PhD from the University of Laghouat in Algeria in 2016. He was awarded a doctoral scholarship to spend 3 years at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) working on the modelling of swirl-stabilised flames and hydrogen combustion.

Research areas

Current research projects:

  • Iron Fuel as a Clean Energy Carrier and Net Zero Enabler. Funder: The Royal Society

Current areas of research interest:

  • Combustion of Net Zero fuels such as metal powders and hydrogen
  • Combustor-Turbine interaction in modern aero engines
  • Aerothermal performance and cooling of gas turbines

Research expertise:

  • Experimental diagnostic of combustion
  • Computational reacting flows
  • Turbulent flows in turbomachinery

Zak has published more than 20 journal papers in these areas.

Zak welcomes all opportunities to collaborate on industrial or academic projects. Please contact him directly by email to discuss possible opportunities or for further information.

Information on PhD projects may also be obtained from the NTU Doctoral School.

External activity

Learned Society:

iopCI

Reviewing Service:

Reviewer for different renowned journals such as (the list is not exhaustive):

Journal CoverJournal CoverJournal CoverJournal Cover

  • International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer
  • Combustion Science and Technology
  • Combustion and Flame
  • International Journal of Heat and Fluid Flow

Reviewer for different researcher funders:

UKRIInnovate UK

Sponsors and collaborators

Funders

Royal Society

Industrial and non-profit collaborators:

  • Lanemark Combustion Engineering Ltd (UK)
  • Materials Processing Institute (UK)
  • TSI Incorporated (USA)
  • ArcelorMittal (France)
  • Fenix Energy (France)

Academic partners :

  • University of Strasbourg (France)
  • University of Orleans (France)
  • National Institutes of Science and Technology (France)
  • National Higher School of Technology and Engineering (Algeria)

Publications

Zak has published more than 20 journal papers. Publications from the last five years are shown.

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Arrif K, Mansouri Z, Azzouz S, Settar A, 2025, Numerical investigations of the aerothermal performance of modern turbine blade tip geometries at design and off-design conditions and under stationary and moving shroud, Heat Transfer (Wiley),  Acceped in March 2025, DOI:

journal

Mansouri Z, Chouichi L, Azzouz S, Settar A, 2025, A Novel Micro-Thermophotovoltaic Combustor of Hydrogen–Air to Enable Ultra-Lean Combustion, High Thermal Output and NO Low Emissions, International Journal of Energy Research,  Vol. 2025, 4352411, DOI: 10.1155/er/4352411

coverLee  DS, Love  A, Mansouri  Z, Clarke  THW et al., 2022, High-Productivity Single-Pass Electrochemical Birch Reduction of Naphthalenes in a Continuous Flow Electrochemical Taylor Vortex Reactor, Organic process research & development, Vol.26, 2674-2684, DOI: 10.1021/acs.oprd.2c00108

Journal Cover

Mansouri  Z, Jefferson-Loveday  R, 2022, Heat transfer characteristics of a high-pressure turbine under combined distorted hot-streak and residual swirl: an unsteady computational study, Int journal of heat and mass transfer, Vol.195, 123143, DOI: 10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2022.123143
cover Mansouri  Z, 2021, Aerodynamic and heat transfer performances of a highly loaded transonic turbine rotor with upstream generic rim seal cavity, Propulsion and power research, Vol.10, 317-331, DOI: 10.1016/j.jppr.2021.11.003
coverMansouri  Z, 2021, Unsteady simulation of flow and heat transfer in a transonic turbine stage under non-uniform inlet conditions, Int communications in heat and mass transfer, Vol.129, 105660, DOI: 10.1016/j.icheatmasstransfer.2021.105660

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Mansouri  Z, 2021, Numerical prediction of heat transfer characteristics on a turbine nozzle guide vane under various combustor exit hot-streaks, Heat transfer, Vol.51, 976, DOI: 10.1002/htj.22338

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Mansouri  Z, Belamadi  R, 2021, The influence of inlet swirl intensity and hot-streak on aerodynamics and thermal characteristics of a high pressure turbine vane, Chinese journal of aeronautics, Vol.34, 66-78, DOI: 10.1016/j.cja.2020.12.036

See all of Zak's publications...