PhD position / Reduced order modeling and surrogate-based optimization for turbomachinery blade design

THE JOB POSITION HAS BEEN FILLED. PLEASE DO NOT SEND APPLICATION.

Cenaero (http://www.cenaero.be/ ) and ULB-BATir (Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium, http://www.ulb.ac.be/smc/) jointly propose a PhD position entitled: "Reduced order modeling and surrogate-based optimization for turbomachinery blade design" (4-year contract).

Nowadays, aircraft engine performances can be dramatically improved thanks to the coupling of numerical optimization algorithms and accurate simulation tools (e.g. CFD solvers used to predict the air flow inside the engine). More specifically, in the framework of the objective map defined by the ACARE (Advisory Council for Aeronautics Research in Europe) in terms of noise and pollution reduction scheduled for 2020, a key role is devoted to the development and use of multidisciplinary optimization methods to improve the geometry definition of all engine components.

However, a series of challenges still need to be addressed in order to achieve this task. Among them, a well-known bottleneck of the current industrial design process is related to the high computational time required by the numerical simulations (several hours for the evaluation of a single design), even when parallel machines are involved. One solution consists in building approximate models (also called surrogates) to calculate at a reasonable CPU time the global quantities
of interest (efficiencies, pressure rates, etc.)

Based on the above considerations, the proposed PhD project will investigate appropriate combinations of design sampling and learning methods with model reduction techniques based on proper orthogonal decomposition (also known as principal component analysis or Karhunen-Loève expansion), in order to provide accurate predictions of the flow fields for a low number of high-fidelity CFD simulations. The novel methods developed by the candidate will be tested (and possibly adapted) to the shape optimization of industrial turbomachinery blade designs.

This thesis offers a unique opportunity to undertake a 4-year PhD project in Cenaero (an applied research center in close contact with the industry, particularly with aeronautical companies) and ULB-BATir, a laboratory dedicated for more than two decades to computational mechanics. The candidate must hold a master's degree in computational mechanics. He/she is expected to have a strong interest for numerical methods such as the finite element and/or the finite volume method; additional background in optimization or approximation methods is also highly appreciated

If you are interested, please contact me by email:

Dr. Rajan FILOMENO COELHO
Université Libre de Bruxelles - BATir (Building, Architecture and Town planning Department)
E-mail: rfilomen@batir.ulb.ac.be
URL: http://homepages.ulb.ac.be/~rfilomen