Host Institution: Centrale Supélec (France)

 Laboratoire EM2C

Phone: +33 1 4113

giampaolo.maio@centralesupelec.fr

Research interests

My university studies were focused mainly on analysis, modelling and optimization of industrial processes involving energy transformations and power plants that utilize both fossil fuels and renewable energy sources. During my university internship and my master thesis I focused my research interest in the field of Computational Fluid Dynamics, applied to the study of chemically reacting fluid flows. I studied the application of different turbulent combustion models, based on the RANS method, to the simulation of 3-D real scale combustion chambers. I developed skills to utilize CFD codes (ANSYS FLUENT and STAR-CCM+) and to manage them on HPC. My Master thesis is about CFD modelling of MILD combustion and a 3-D CFD simulation of the IFRF HEC-EEC (High Efficiency Combustion – Excess Enthalpy Combustion) test furnace is performed.

In the context of the the CLEAN-gas PhD programme my research activity will be focused on the study of tabulated chemistry in Large Eddy Simulations of turbulent flames. The aim of my doctoral position is to describe turbulent flame dynamics and pollutant formation. For that purpose, different chemical descriptions (such as reduced scheme and tabulated chemistry) combined with several turbulent combustion models, including chemical descriptions in an LES formalism, will be tested.

Education

·         From Oct 2015. Phd student researcher at École Centrale Paris

·         Oct-Dec 2014. Internship at ENEA Portici research center, Italy. Acquiring skills to manage CFD simulation software (FLUENT and STAR-CCM+) on CRESCO/ENEAGRID High Performance Computing

·         2012-2015. Master Degree in Energy Engineering at Università degli Studi del Sannio, Italy. Thesis title: CFD modelling of a flameless furnace: comparison of different turbulent combustion models with two different simulation software (FLUENT and STAR-CCM+) on HPC (high performance computing). Advisors: Prof. Gaetano Continillo, Prof. Francesco Saverio Marra and Dott. Ing. Carmine Mongiello

·         2009-2012. Bachelor Degree in Energy Engineering at Università degli Studi del Sannio, Italy. Thesis title: H₂S removal from biogas considering it’s energy valorization in solide oxide fuel cells. Advisors: Prof. Francesco Pepe and Dott. Ing Pietro Bareschino.

Project title:  Tabulated chemistry for large eddy simulations of turbulent combustion

Objectives. Flame stabilization and pollutant predictions are strongly influenced by the interaction of complex combustion chemistry with the turbulence. Different strategies have been developed to model detailed chemistry phenomena at a reduced computational cost. Methods consist either in reducing the size of the chemical scheme or in tabulating the chemistry as a function of a reduced set of variables. In addition, various turbulent combustion models have been proposed to include these chemical descriptions in an LES formalism. Among existing methods, the Thickened Flame Model for LES (TFLES) is compatible with both reduced and tabulated chemistry. More recently, the Filtered Tabulated Chemistry for LES (F-TACLES), has been introduced as an alternative. The ability of these strategies to reproduce the mean chemical structure of turbulent steady flames has been extensively studied. However, their performances to describe the dynamic and the pollutant formation in unsteady flows remains to be assessed.

Expected results. The PhD student will test the ability of several turbulent combustion modeling strategies to capture turbulent flame dynamics and pollutant formation. For that purpose, different chemical descriptions (such as reduced scheme and tabulated chemistry) combined with several turbulent combustion models (such as TFLES and F-TACLES) will be tested. The target flame retained for challenging the modeling strategies is a pulsed swirled flame stabilized in a non-adiabatic confined combustor experimented at the EM2C laboratory. Comparison between experimental measurements and numerical prediction of flame transfer functions will be performed. The influence of the turbulent combustion model and chemical description on the pollutant formation in an unsteady environment will be determined.

Planned secondment. IT-POLIMI (8-10 months). Coupling between tabulation of chemistry and reduction of detailed kinetic mechanisms.