Two positions exists for PhD research assistants in non-normality, transient growth and sensitivity analysis in thermoacoustics, both starting in January 2012. The projects are funded by ERC and will involve collaboration with researchers at Imperial College London, Ecole Polytechnique Paris, IIT Madras and JNCASR, Bangalore.
The funding will only cover the fees of UK or EU students (click here for eligibility requirements).
We often see flames flickering, for example in a candle or a gas stove. This causes fluctuations in heat release. If the flame is inside a combustion chamber, for example in a rocket or aircraft engine, these fluctuations can lock into acoustic resonances in the chamber. If this happens, the oscillations grow to high amplitudes, sometimes with catastrophic consequences. This is known as thermoacoustic instability and is one of the greatest problems currently facing rocket and aircraft engine manufacturers.
Several techniques are available to predict the onset of thermoacoustic instability. We have developed models and techniques that can estimate the final amplitude of these oscillations and the route that the system takes to get to them. This involves concepts from nonlinear dynamical systems, chaos theory, and the application of control theory to thermoacoustics.
Project 1; starts January 2012
So far, we have studied this for a simple thermoacoustic system. The aim of this project is to study the same phenomenon in more complex thermoacoustic systems. This approach will provide a new framework for the study of thermoacoustic instability, based not on linear stability analysis but on non-modal and nonlinear stability analysis. Furthermore, this approach removes the need for an explicit transfer function between acoustic perturbations and heat release, which could be a weak point of many thermoacoustic models
Detailed description of the project
Project 2; starts January 2012
It would be useful to identify the components of a system that are most influential at generating thermoacoustic instabilities and how they should be altered in order to reduce these instabilities. We have already achieved this for fluid mechanical instabilities. The aim of this project is to extend this analysis to thermoacoustic instabilities and then to check the results experimentally.
Detailed description of the project
An application letter and a CV should be sent to Dr Matthew Juniper (email mpj1001@cam.ac.uk) by 8th September 2011.
http://www2.eng.cam.ac.uk/~mpj1001/ID_PhD_opps.htmlPlease quote Scholarization.blogspot.com on your application when applying for this scholarship
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