Caroline Bernier is working on a project in between Robotics and Fluid Mechanics that aims at the design of robust and efficient biomimetic swimming agents. The approach used to tackle the problem distinguishes itself from a broad body of work by a unique combination of multi-disciplinary tools: (i) high-fidelity Computational Fluid Dynamics to simulate self-propelled swimmers; (ii) compliant actuators to generate energy-efficient force-controlled patterns; (iii) oscillator-based coordination to distribute the computational load within a biologically inspired controller; and (iv) advanced optimization algorithm to calibrate the control schemes for a large variety of gaits. Different and complementary swimming gaits will be investigated, like energy-efficient or fast. Using compliant actuators will allow the swimmer to sense the fluid reactions being useful for its propulsion and exploit energy storage in the elastic deformations of the actuator.
Philippe Billuart is working on the development of a new numerical solver that will be able to solve accurately and efficiently any low Mach number external flows. His research is focusing on the hybrid Eulerian-Lagrangian solvers for the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations. Those approaches are based on the decomposition of the computational domain: an Eulerian grid-based solver is used for the computation of the near-wall region, while a Lagrangian vortex method solves the wake region. Even though the coupling of particle methods with Eulerian solvers is not new, only 3D weak coupling were developed so far. This thesis aims to develop a 3D strong coupling; i.e. a coupling where the Schwarz iterations are not longer required to ensure consistent boundary conditions on each subdomain. As the Schwarz algorithm becomes expensive in 3D, the computational gain in the developed approach should be very significant.
Denis-Gabriel Caprace is working on the numerical computation of wake flows applied to helicopter aerodynamics and formation flight for commercial aircraft. He uses Large Eddy Simulation to analyze the decay of wakes over large downstream distances, using statistics and dedicated metrics. Title of research project: Comprehensive Wake Simulation for the Analysis of Vortex Interactions with Flexible Devices: application to Rotorcraft and Formation Flying Aircraft.
Victor Colognesi is working on the numerical simulation of bird flight. The flight kinematics is obtained via an optimization of the bird’s movement in order to reach an optimal flight regime considering both biomechanical and aerodynamic factors. This study will lead to a deeper understanding of the principles underlying avian flight and might lead to the discovering of flight regimes different from those of actual birds, if we use different mechanical properties for the compliance and actuation of the skeleton. The obtained mechanical and aerodynamic models can then be used to perform simulations of a flock of birds and to investigate the self-organization of such a group in order to reach a global optimum in efficiency.
Michele Di Matteo obtained a master in Energy and Nuclear Engineering at Politecnico di Torino and then he joined iMMC/TFL to start his PhD and research activity about the ejection phenomenon (theoretical developments, numerical simulations, experimental investigations) and its influence on the thermodynamic performances of thermo-mechanical systems (e.g. ejector refrigeration systems).
Elise Dupont is working on the link between energy availability and accessibility and economic growth. To do so, she studies the concept of Energy Return on Investment (EROI), which is the ratio of the energy that is produced by an energy conversion device throughout its lifetime to all the energy inputs that were invested from the extraction of raw materials to the end-of-life treatment of the facility. It is the best indicator to assess the quality and sustainability of an energy project, without any economic distorsion. Easy access to high EROI resources allowed our modern societies to develop their economic activities. However, even taking into account the technological progress, the amount of high EROI resources is decreasing because: (i) EROI of fossil fuels is declining over time, (ii) renewable alternatives have lower EROIs than traditional fossil fuels and (iii) EROI of renewable alternatives is declining with their spatial expansion. She is developing a methodology to estimate the dynamic function for the evolution of the EROI of different renewable energy sources (wind, solar and biomass) with the cumulated annual production, in order to be able to accurately estimate the evolution of the EROI of the future energy system.
Thomas Gillis focus his work on solving efficiently unbounded, immersed body Poisson and Helmholtz problems. Indeed, the unbounded immersed body problem is widely studied through the literature, however, only a few work has been done regarding efficiency and fast solving using the immersed interface method. His thesis is framed by G. Winckelmans and Ph. Chatelain.
William Hay obtained his masters in Chemical Engineering at the University of Sheffield in 2011. He then spent 5 years working in the UK and France for Electricite de France (EDF) in the field of nuclear thermal-hydraulics where he carried out Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) studies in natural convection flows and Pressurized Thermal Shock (PTS). He joined iMMC/TFL in January 2017 to develop mathematical models for natural convection phenomena in Spent Fuel Pools in the event of Loss-of-Cooling Accidents.
Olivier Lamberts obtained his master in Electromechanical Engineering at the Université catholique de Louvain (UCL) in 2013 and is currently pursuing a PhD thesis at TFL as a teaching assistant. His work aims at providing novel insights into the complex flow phenomena at play within supersonic ejectors, both numerically and experimentally. On the experimental side, high resolution flow visualizations (Schlieren and PIV) are carried out in a transparent supersonic ejector while on the numerical side, new post-processing methods of CFD results are developped. Jointly used, both approaches may have far-reaching contributions that include fundamental fluid mechanics and validation of numerical methods.
Gauthier Limpens is working on the devlopment of a model about electricity energy demand and supply for different future country scenarios with high penetration of Renewable Energy. The aim of the study is to analyse for a country or continent how to implement storage and compute Renewable Energy potential. The model will be able to optimise production & storage location in a model where transmissions lines and electrical consumption are hourly taken into account. This model will implement Gaz networks and Heat networks in order to modelise the whole country energy consumption. Before starting his PhD, he worked in aeronautic industries on Fluid mechanics topics (Rockets & lubrification engines). He decided to come back to Energy because he is convinced that a Europe will face a lot of challenges.
Maud Moens is working on the development of a numerical tool for unsteady wind farm simulations. This tool is based on Large-Eddy simulation coupled to Actuator Disk approaches for modelling the wind turbines. The disk models are here improved with realistic controllers, allowing the rotors tor react to wind variations. This tool will offer a convenient framework for studying and elaborating control strategies to decrease problems linked to a grouping of rotors in a large wind farm, problems mainly due the wind turbine wake and its interactions with generators and wakes lying downstream, leading to a decrease in power production and to higher-than-predicted failure rates for some machines. Maud Moens is funded by grants from ENGIE and FRIA.
Philippe Parmentier obtained a master in Mechanical Engineering at the Université catholique de Louvain in 2012 and a master in Aerospace Engineering at the Institut Supérieur de l’Aéronautique et de l’Espace (ISAE-Supaero, Toulouse, France) in 2012. He then started his PhD at iMMC/TFL in the field of CFD for external compressible flows past bodies. His research focuses on the development of a hybrid methodology allowing to combine the benefits of an Eulerian compressible solver and a compressible Vortex Particle-Mesh (VPM) solver. The combination of these two approaches would allow studying, more efficiently and more precisely, problems in which compressibility effects and wakes are of importance : e.g. CROR (Contra Rotating Open Rotor) or helicopter blades.
Maxime Pochet is pursuing a PhD thesis on the combustion of the simple fuels that are hydrogen, ammonia, methane and methanol, or mixing thereof. His work focuses on HCCI engines operated in CHP mode and able to switch from one fuel to another while ensuring maximum efficiency and very low pollution. The methodology used is a combination of 0-Dimensional simulations and experiments. This project takes place in the framework of the FREE project (Flexible eneRgy vEctors of the futurE) : renewable-electricity storage into clean-fuels made from water, air and carbon dioxide capture. Maxime is a FRIA fellow and he is doing a joint PhD between UCL and VUB.
Constantin Sula His researchproject is the modeling and simulation of turbulent reactivemultiphase flows. The project is based upon the application ofbio-based fuels in combustion devices. Focus of the research is thefuel injection and combustion process in engines.
Invited
Sophia Buckingham
Ariane Frère obtained her master in Electromechanical Engineering at the University of Brussels (ULB) in 2008. She then spent three years at General Electric Wind (Germany) where she worked in the Aero & Acoustic team in designing more efficient and quieter wind turbine blades. After two years as research engineer at Cenaero (Belgium) working on CFD modeling over various industrial applications (mainly wind turbine and urban flows), she started a PhD in collaboration with UCL in 2013. Her PhD focuses on the implementation and the evaluation of wall-models for Large-Eddy Simulations (LES) in a Discontinuous Galerkin Methodology. The methodology should make LES more affordable for high Reynolds number flows. It will be demonstrated on industrial applications from the Wind Energy sector in collaboration with DTU Wind. (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ariane_Frere)