Professor Dubravka Pokrajac

Biography

1982 MEng Civil Engineering with major in Hydraulics, Faculty of Civil Engineering, University of Belgrade, Yugoslavia. 

1987  MSc Civil Engineering and Hydraulics, Faculty of Civil Engineering, University of Belgrade, Yugoslavia. Thesis: A model of transient two-dimensional saturated-unsaturated soil water flow.

1997 PhD, Faculty of Civil Engineering,University of Belgrade, Yugoslavia. Thesis: Transport of Pollutants in Groundwater.

1982 Research Assistant, Lecturer (1989), Senior Lecturer (1998), Faculty of Civil Engineering,University of Belgrade, Yugoslavia.

1998 Lecturer, Senior Lecturer (2005), Reader (2011), Professor (2014) School of Engineering, University of Aberdeen.

External Memberships

• Associate Editor, Water Resources Research (AGU) and Journal of Hydrological Processes
• Reviewer for: Journal of Fluid Mechanics; Physics of Fluids; Water Resources Research; ASCE Journal of Hydraulic Engineering; IAHR Journal of Hydraulic Research; Boundary Layer Meteorology; Experiments in Fluids; AGU Journal of Geophysical Research; Journal of Hydrology; Transport in Porous Media; ICE Water Management; Journal of Hydrological Processes; Acta Geophysica; Urban Water; International Journal of Heat and Fluid Flow; International Journal of Computational Mathematics

• Member of International Association of Hydraulic Research

Research Overview

• Porous media flows - application to geological storage of CO2,
• Surface-subsurface exchange on permeable beaches,
• Momentum and mass transfer at fluid-porous interfaces,
• Unsteady turbulent flows over rough walls,
• Application of double-averaged Navier-Stokes equations for studying fluid flows,
• Interaction of urban water systems with groundwater.

Funding and Grants

• Stream-aquifer interactions and their influence on flow regimes and fluvial processes in ephemeral streams, United Utilities Water PLC, £140k, 2017-2022, Co-I with J.C. Comte (PI).
• Modelling hyporheic exchange flows of natural streams in Palestine, Israel and the UK, British Council, £100k, 2016 – 2018, PI, collaboration with Prof. Uri Shavit from Technion-IIT/Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Haifa, Israel, and Dr Amer Marei from Al Quds University (AQU), East Jerusalem/Faculty of Science and Technology.
• Flood MEMORY: Multi-Event Modelling Of Risk & recovery, EPSRC Sandpit, £213.8k, 2012 – 2015 (EP/K013513/1), D. Pokrajac in collaboration with Professor Christopher Kilsby and Dr Qiuhua Liang from Newcastle University, Dr Riccardo Briganti from University of Nottingham, Dr Harshinie Karunarathna from Swansea University, Prof. Christian Beck, Queen Mary University, Dr Heather Haynes from Heriot-Watt University, Prof.  Sue White from Cranfield University, Dr Jessica Lamond, University of the West of England, Dr Jennifer Brown from National Oceanography Centre.
• Fundamental study of migration of supercritical CO2 in porous media under conditions of saline aquifers, EPSRC, £485.5k, D. Pokrajac, in collaboration with Prof. S. He, University of Sheffield, Prof. B.W.D. Yardley, University of  Leeds, Prof. Peixue Jiang & Ruina Xu, Tsinghua University, China.
• Turbulence and wall shear stress in unsteady internal flows with rough surfaces, EPSRC, £340.4k, Prof. T. O'Donoghue, D. Pokrajac, in collaboration with Prof. S. He, University of Sheffield and Prof. A. Vardy, University of Dundee.
• Telepath^TM – a new non-invasive approach to locating leaks in subsea umbilicals, £112k, D. Pokrajac, S. He, Knowledge Transfer Partnership project with Brinker Technology. 
• Experimental and numerical modelling study of swash zone hydrodynamics and sediment transport, EPSRC, £305k, T. O'Donoghue, D. Pokrajac, G. Kikkert, in collaboration with N. Dodd, R. Briggante from Nottingham University
• Open channel flows over permeable bed, EPSRC DTA, D. Pokrajac, N. Horton,
• Increasing flow capacity of urban ducts, culverts and small streams, Scottish Enterprise, £187k, D. Pokrajac, I. McEwan, K. Rudman, C. Soulsby,C.  Gibbins
• Spatially-Averaged Flow Over Rough Boundaries, EPSRC, £236k, I. McEwan, D. Pokrajac, V. Nikora, L. Campbell, C. Manes
• Towards sustainable urban groundwater management, UNESCO, £48k, D. Pokrajac
• Swash hydrodynamics, EPSRC DTA, T. O'Donoghue, D. Pokrajac, L. Hondebrink