Monday, January 28, 2013

Netherlands : PhD on Droplets in Turbulence

This PhD-project involves a fundamental study of these surprising manifestions of turbulent flow, using advanced experimental techniques and direct numerical simulations using Europe's fastest supercomputer facilities. Turbulence simulations are based on modern spectral codes and Lattice Boltzmann algorithms are used for studies of droplet break-up in complex flows. These algorithms are all available in our laboratory. The experiments use laser-induced phosphorescence and fast intensified cameras and machines where turbulence without a mean flow is created in air. Much of the experimental infrastructure is already present, which gives your research project a flying start.

The challenge of the experiments is to find image-based statistical quantities that can capture the de-mixing at the scale of the smallest turbulent vortices, and that can follow the fast initial stages of turbulent breakup. The latter phenomenon will be compared with statistical data from idealized numerical experiments.

Practical application of this research can be found in the physics of atmospheric clouds and the dynamics of sprays in turbulent fuel injection.

Location

The work will be carried out at the Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (www.fluid.tue.nl) of Eindhoven University of Technology. The project is supervised by Dr.ir. W. van de Water and Profs. H.J.H. Clercx and G.J.F. van Heijst.

Requirements

We are looking for an enthusiastic PhD-student with strong experimental and/or numerical skills and a strong background in fluid mechanics. The PhD-candidate should have an MSc in (applied) physics, mechanical engineering, applied mathematics or aeronautical engineering. The ideal candidate has experience with the design and execution of laboratory experiments, and has a strong affinity with numerical simulations and fundamental studies of turbulence. Depending on the experimental and numerical skills of the candidate a suitable combination of experimental and computational aspects of the scientific problem will be addressed. The PhD-candidate should also have good written and oral communication skills in English.

Conditions of employment

When fulfilling a PhD position at the FOM foundation, you will get the status of junior scientist. You will have an employee status and can participate in all the employee benefits FOM offers. You will get a contract for 4 years. Your salary will be up to a maximum of 2,610 euro gross per month. The salary is supplemented with a holiday allowance of 8% and an end-of-year bonus of 8.33%. You are supposed to have a thesis finished at the end of your four year term with FOM. A training programme is

part of the agreement. You and your supervisor will make up a plan for the additional education and supervising that you specifically need. This plan also defines which teaching activities you will be responsible (up to a maximum of 10% of your time). The conditions of employment of the FOM-foundation are laid down in the Collective Labour Agreement for Research Centres (CAO-Onderzoekinstellingen), more exclusive information is available at this website under Personeelsinformatie (in Dutch) or under Personnel (in English). General information about working at FOM can be found in the English part of this website under Personnel. The 'FOM-sollicitatiecode' (in Dutch) applies to this position.


Application Deadline : 31 March 2013