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Mr Johannes Pottas

Senior Research Officer
M Eng (with distinction), B Eng
Craig Building (35A)
+61 45 965 6961

Johannes has a decade of professional engineering experience in various technical and management roles. He is a registered Chartered Professional Engineer with the Institution of Engineers Australia and he is listed on the National Engineering Register. He holds Bachelor's and Master's Degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the North-West Univeristy in South Africa and his professional interests include finite element analysis, mechanical design, structural optimisation, advanced manufacturing processes and optics.

Johannes is currently an Investigator on the ASTRI Heliostats Project, the manager of the High Flux Solar Simulator and SG4 Dish facilities, and the Lead Chief Investigator of a high performance computing allocation under the ANUMAS startup scheme. He is an active entrepreneur and a Director at Timestep Pty Ltd which provides finite element analysis and mechanical design services.

Johannes is involved in the supervision of undergraduate and postgraduate research students, particularly those who use explicit nonlinear finite element solvers and optimisation solvers in their research work. He has technical interest and expertise in the simulation of problems involving material, geometric or contact nonlinearity.

Investigator: ASTRI P11 Heliostat Field Cost Down Project (2016 - 2021)

Investigator: ARENA High Temperature Solar Thermal Energy Storage via Manganese-oxide based Redox Cycling (2016 - 2019)

Manager: High Flux Solar Simulator facility (2018 - 2020)

Manager: SG4 Dish facility (2016 - 2020)

Lead Chief Investigator: Structural and thermal modelling of components in concentrating solar power systems, NCI startup project code FB74 (current)

Nonlinear finite element analysis, mechanical design, structural optimisation, advanced manufacturing processes, optics, entrepreneurship.

Pottas, J., Li, L., Habib, M., Wang, C.H., Coventry, J. and Lipiński, W., 2022. Optical alignment and radiative flux characterization of a multi-source high-flux solar simulator. Solar Energy, 236, pp.434-444.
 
Wang, B., Li, L., Schäfer, F., Pottas, J.J., Kumar, A., Wheeler, V.M. and Lipiński, W., 2021. Thermal reduction of iron–manganese oxide particles in a high-temperature packed-bed solar thermochemical reactor. Chemical Engineering Journal, 412, p.128255.
 
Wang, B., Li, L., Pottas, J.J., Bader, R., Kreider, P.B., Wheeler, V.M. and Lipiński, W., 2020. Thermal Model of a Solar Thermochemical Reactor for Metal Oxide Reduction. Journal of Solar Energy Engineering, 142(5).

Pottas, J., & Coventry, J. (2019). Springback in assembly of mirror panels with stamped supports for concentrating solar power applications. In 12th European LS-DYNA Conference.

Li, L., Wang, B., Pottas, J., & Lipinski, W. (2019). Design of a compound parabolic concentrator for a multi-source high-flux solar simulator. Solar Energy, 183, 805-811.

Rumsey-Hill, N., Pottas, J. and Coventry, J., 2019, July. Design of efficient stamped mirror facets using topography optimisation. In AIP Conference Proceedings (Vol. 2126, No. 1, p. 030048). AIP Publishing LLC.

Wang, B., Wheeler, V. M., Pottas, J., Kreider, P. B., & Lipinski, W. (2018). Thermal modelling of a solar thermochemical reactor for metal oxide reduction. In International Heat Transfer Conference Digital Library. Begel House Inc..

Li, L., Wang, B., Pottas, J., Zapata, J., & Lipinski, W. (2018). Application of a Compound Parabolic Concentrator to a Multi-Source High-Flux Solar Simulator. In Optics for Solar Energy (pp. OW3D-5). Optical Society of America.

Pottas, J. J., Habib, M., & Lipinski, W. (2018). Photogrammetric Measurement and Alignment of Radiation Modules in a High-Flux Solar Simulator. In Optics for Solar Energy (pp. OW3D-4). Optical Society of America.

Updated:  10 August 2021/Responsible Officer:  Dean, CECS/Page Contact:  CECS Marketing