Dr Omar Sharaf
Dr Omar Sharaf
- Job title
- Assistant Professor
- o.sharaf@hw.ac.uk
- Role
- Assistant Professor
- Section
- School of Engineering & Physical Sciences
- o.sharaf@hw.ac.uk
About
Dr Omar is Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the School of Engineering and Physical Sciences (EPS), Heriot-Watt University, Dubai Campus, since January 2023. His main area of expertise is in solar polygeneration systems and multi-phase modeling. He teaches courses in renewable energy, energy systems, thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and heat transfer in the postgraduate and undergraduate levels.
Dr Omar takes great pride and joy from shaping the minds of students and researchers to unravel the untapped potentials of solar energy by exploring the links between fundamental processes and applied systems.
Biography
Dr Omar earned his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Khalifa University in 2020. Prior to that, he earned his BSc (2013) and MSc (2015) degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the American University of Sharjah. Prior to joining HWUD, he spent 2.5 years as a Post-Doctoral Fellow at Khalifa University. In addition to supervising and continuing to supervise a number of MSc and PhD students, he continues to be heavily involved in grant writing, course development, and research collaboration efforts.
Dr Omar’s research has been disseminated in top-tier international journals, harnessing large interest from the academic community. He is particularly interested in particle-laden flow, solar photothermal conversion, colloidal dispersions, and integrated energy systems. His research has covered concentrated photovoltaic-thermal (CPVT) collectors, solar nanofluids, Eulerian-Lagrangian modeling, direct-absorption solar collectors (DASCs), encapsulated phase-change materials (ePCMs), atmospheric radioactive aerosols, colloidal stability of nanoparticle dispersions, concentrated solar power (CSP), solar polygeneration systems, hydrogen systems and fuel-cells, and thermoelectric generators.
Research
The main motive behind Dr Omar’s research is to develop smart, multi-functional particle-laden fluids for unconventional solar and thermal solutions, and their subsequent integration in polygeneration energy systems. He realizes this by drawing on the fields of thermal sciences, energy engineering, CFD, colloid science, and multiphase flow. The ultimate goal from his research is to provide economical and sustainable energy solutions and vectors that build upon the abundant solar resources in the region.
Publications
ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-8621-2527
Scopus: scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=56035822100
Google Scholar: scholar.google.com/citations?user=fy3mUqgAAAAJ