Let me take this opportunity to welcome you to the first edition of the von Karman Institute's Newsletter. This would be the occasion to give you some insights and news about the VKI educational and research activities.
Green technologies such as noise reduction, reduction of pollution (NOX releases) as well as global warming (CO2 release) are the drivers for revolutionary changes in century old industries like aerospace, car industry or energy conversion. New ideas like using micro satellites for in orbit technology demonstration and debris mitigation, advances in new propulsion concepts and qualification of new reusable materials will make future high speed travel affordable.
These are some of the topics that bring young engineers and scientists from all over the world to the von Karman Institute to study, improve their skills and perform their research.
Peter Grognard
Managing Director of the von Karman Institute
Please join us in welcoming Prof Dr. Frank EULITZ to the faculty of the von Karman Institute. He will be joining us as of next Monday November 16th. Frank has been appointed as head of the Turbomachinery and Propulsion Department. In this function, he replaces Prof. Tony Arts.
Coming from the industry, Frank was Vice-President for Innovation & Technology of the Siemens Gas and Power New Businesses Fields group. With global dedicated teams, Frank was leading technology and digitalization driven innovation to meet the challenges of industry and utilities for clean, affordable, and reliable energy. Before, Frank had served in various engineering and technology management positions including the Siemens H-class gas turbine development and business transformation of the supply chain and product life cycle management of Siemens gas turbine, steam turbine, and generator business segments.
After graduating in Aerospace Engineering, Frank started as a research engineer at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) focussing on numerical simulation of unsteady turbomachinery flows.
Since many years, Frank is also an expert regularly involved in the von Karman Institute lecture series programmes. Frank holds an MBA degree in general management and a Ph.D. degree in mechanical engineering.
Heat exchangers have a fundamental role in aviation engineering. Continued efforts are made to achieve even greater compactness, less weight and higher performances. Current designs of multiphase heat exchanger headers – where the liquid enters and leaves the tubes – are based on empirical approaches. What is more, the heat exchanger's operation relies on the use of refrigerant fluids with high global warming potential.
The EU-funded PANTTHER project, coordinated by the von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics (VKI) aims to optimise the performance of multiphase heat exchangers with low GWP fluids, using a 3D CFD porous media model that takes phase change phenomena and fin structures into account. Topological optimisation and adjoint methods will be assessed, while two experimental facilities with innovative measurement techniques will allow an optimum validation. The partners of the project are TEMISTH and LIEBHERR Aerospace. The project started in September 2020 for a duration of 36 months and an estimated budget of € 1 196 128,75.
This CleanSky2 project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement n° 886698.
Read more on https://pantther.h2020.eu
VKI is fully involved in the newly EU project Patricia which focuses on research on advanced partitioning to efficiently separate Am from spent fuel, on experimental and fuel performance code development work studying the behaviour of Am bearing fuel under irradiation and on the safety related research supporting the licensing process of MYRRHA in its role in the development trajectory for a dedicated accelerator driven transmuter. Read more
The ESA GSTP Project on Investigation of Liquid Film Cooling in Small Rocket Engines has been close-out, developing an advanced and accurate not-intrusive LIF approach to detect the temperature of the micro-metric liquid layer. The Belgian-German working group (VKI / DLR) has tackled some of the challenges related to the physical understanding and modeling of the phenomena by means of both numerical and experimental activities. Read more
A first milestone has been reached! The Doppler-LiDAR purchased by VKI is working and ready to perform testing in the framework of SeaFD research project. The SeaFD project aims to provide realistic wind load predictions for offshore wind turbines at extreme weather conditions. The Doppler-LiDAR will help to reach this goal and extend the lifetime of wind turbine drivetrain and its bearings. The Doppler-LIDAR currently measures the wind velocity on a vertical profile up to 400meter over the VKI buildings. Read more
The H2020 UPWARDS project funded by the EU aims at improving wind turbine design by accounting for more realistic weather conditions, impacting both the generation of noise and its propagation through the atmospheric boundary layer. VKI and SISW are collaborating on that topic, and have reached an important milestone of the project, validating the core methods of the aeroacoustic simulation chain through benchmark comparison. Read more
Next von Karman Institute Lecture Series / Events
17-20 November 2020
UQOP2020 - Conference on Uncertainty Quantification and Optimisation
Online Event
23-26 November 2020
Advanced concepts for the reduction of flow-induced noise generation, propagation and transmission
Online Lecture Series
We are working on next generation propulsive technologies and we are doing it with passion and motivation on a day-to-day base. If you share the same spirit, then check out our current opening in the Axial Compressors research group of VKI. We are seeking for a young and motivated Research Assistant to support the on-going research activities within the EU-funded ASTORIA project.
Jobs: Post-doctoral Research Position in AeroacousticsVKI is offering a post-doctoral research position in aeroacoustics. VKI deeply involved in research programs aimed at developing efficient and quiet innovative propulsion systems for conventional tube-and-wing aircraft architectures as well as more disruptive Urban Air Mobility concepts. The research program addresses both aeropropulsive efficiency and noise emissions, and is supported by the H2020 RIA project ENODISE.
Be part of the VKI teamRecent publications
- ZAMPONI, R.; SATCUNATHAN, S.; MOREAU, S.; RAGNI, D.; MEINKE, M.; SCHRÖDER, W.; SCHRAM, C.: On the role of turbulence distortion on leading-edge noise reduction by means of porosity, Journal of Sound and Vibration, October 2020, Vol. 485, Paper 115561, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsv.2020.115561
- PASMAN, H. J., FOUCHIER, C., PARK, S., QUDDUS, N., & LABOUREUR, D. (2020). Beirut ammonium nitrate explosion: Are not we really learning anything?. Process Safety Progress, e12203, https://doi.org/10.1002/prs.12203
- BOCCELLI, S.; CHAROY, T.; ALVAREZ LAGUNA, A.; CHABERT, P.; BOURDON, A.; MAGIN, T.E.: Collisionless ion modeling in Hall thrusters: Analytical axial velocity distribution function and heat flux closures, Physics of Plasmas, July 2020, Vol. 27, Issue 7, Paper 073506, https://doi-org.ezproxy.ulb.ac.be/10.1063/5.0006258
- GROSSIR, G.; PUORTO, D.; ILICH, Z.; PARIS, S.; CHAZOT, O.; RUMEAU, S.; SPEL, M.; ANNALORO, J.: Aerodynamic characterization of space debris in the VKI Longshot hypersonic tunnel using a free-flight measurement technique, Experiments in Fluids, July 2020, Vol. 61, Paper 163 https://doi-org.ezproxy.ulb.ac.be/10.1007/s00348-020-02995-7
- BARISELLI, F.; BOCCELLI, S.; DIAS, B.; HUBIN, A.; MAGIN, T.E.: A self-consistent method for the simulation of meteor trails with an application to radio observations, Astronomy & Astrophysics, accepted 2 July 2020 https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202037454
PhD Theses recently defended
- Bodgan, C.: On the aerodynamics and heat transfer of a high-speed turbine with advanced rotor tip geometries, von Karman Institute/Université catholique de Louvain, 16 October 2020
- Fouchier, C.: Investigation of the Pollutant Dispersion Driven by a Condensed-Phase Explosion in an Urban Environment, von Karman Institute/Université libre de Bruxelles, 11 September 2020
- Barros Dias, B.: Thermal ablation and radiation modeling of meteor phenomena, von Karman Institute/Université catholique de Louvain, 4 September 2020