FREDU_CFD_LAB

The FredU-CFD-LAB (Frederick University (FredU) Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and Internal Combustion Engines (ICE) Research Lab) research topics span from CFD modelling development for injection and combustion processes taking place in the cylinders ICE and combustion chambers, CFD modelling incorporating reduced and optimized chemical kinetics mechanisms for combustion simulations, experimental investigations for exhaust gas emissions’ measurements of vehicle ICE operating with conventional and alternative fuels (biomethanol, biodiesel, biomethane and ammonia), ICE data recording and diagnostic tools development for vehicle and marine ICE condition monitoring and fault diagnosis, to modelling of advanced alternative fuels production and combustion process employing chemical pathways approaches.

The research activities of FredU-CFD-LAB span over a decade, and ongoing research collaborations and networking activities with local and European research teams and industrial companies materialize through active Cooperation of Science and Technology (COST) actions of the European Union, as well as collaborative research proposal preparation.

There are currently 2 open positions for PhD candidates, for academic PhD and industrial PhD program of FredU, and interested candidates are invited to apply.

The main research interests and activities of the research lab include:

• The development of spray atomization models for computational fluid dynamics (CFD) two-phase flow simulations of liquid fuel sprays injection in the cylinders of vehicle and marine ICE. The CFD codes, namely STAR-CD, openFoam and openSmoke++ are employed for CFD simulations and combustion modelling, along with atomization and reduced-order combustion models which are developed and implemented in CFD codes.
• The CFD methodologies application and chemical kinetics pathways for the investigation of the production processes, and combustion and emissions of biomass-based biofuels.
• The technical assessment of mitigation measures and technologies for the reduction of pollutants emissions from stationary combustion systems, and vehicle and marine ICE, incorporating experimental measurement techniques (special sensors, diagnostic tools and data-based models with digital-twins).

Research Projects experience

Currently, there is participation in the Management Committees of the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) Actions CA22151, “Cyber-Physical systems and digital twins for the decarbonisation of energy-intensive industries (CYPHER)” and CA20127, “Waste biorefinery technologies for accelerating sustainable energy processes (WIRE)”, and the work package WP7 “Research to education” of the EU-CONEXUS-Plus “European University for Smart Urban Coastal Sustainability”.