ISR-Research Associate - Computational PDRA

Job title:                   PDRA Research Associate in Computational Fluid Dynamics

Annual Salary:          Equivalent to US$34,000 – US$46,000 (or ￡28,000 - ￡37,000) dependent on relevant research experience

Start/duration:         Tenable from 1^stDecember 2017 for up to three years

Probation period:    6 months

Based at:                  The Advanced Institute of Engineering Science for Intelligent Manufacturing, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, P. R. China

Responsible to:       Professor Xue-Feng Yuan and DrHaiming Huang at Guangzhou University and Professor Carlo Massimo Casciola and Dr Alberto Giacomello at Sapienza University of Rome

Project Description

It has been shown that nanoscale textures are capable of making superhydrophobicity robust by enhancing its lifetime and stabilising it over a broad range of pressures. However, for applications such as drag reduction it is advantageous to realise coatings with larger size, which are capable of interacting with the flow. A promising solution for these applications is that of hierarchical structures, which are also present in nature: the nanoscale features guarantee robustness, while the larger scale one are capable of modifying the flow. Simulating the effect of such multiscale surfaces underwater is currently very challenging. Only one scale can be afforded in standard computations, neglecting the interaction between the wetting state of the surface and the flow or the presence of surface features of different sizes. By utilizing molecular dynamics on extra-large scale parallel machines (“Tianhe-2”) and other supercomputers in Europe, this project aims at filling this gap by simulating a very large system with a hierarchical coating combining 1-nanometer robust textures and 10-nanometer ones, hence to shed light on the complex interaction between the fluid flow and the wetting state of the surface, with the ambition to move towards real-world applications in which hierarchical surfaces are employed. The long term goal of this study is finding design criteria for superhydrophobic coatings which are both robust and have optimal drag-reducing capabilities. From the fundamental side, the project also aims at developing multiscale methods in which molecular dynamics is coupled with continuum fluid mechanics.

Key Responsibilities

A successful candidate will conduct the computational part of the project with specific tasks including: 1) to optimise LAMMPS package for carrying out large scale simulation under flow conditions; 2) to simulate hierarchical superhydrophobic surfaces under different conditions via MD; 3) in perspective, to integrate LAMMPS with OpenFOAM for multiple scale simulations.

A successful candidate should have a PhD or equivalent in molecular dynamics or computational physics. In-depth knowledge in statistical physics, soft matter physics, computational fluid dynamics, C++ programming are essential. Experience in extra-large scale parallel computing are advantageous. You should be capable of working under your own initiative and with a multidisciplinary research team, of presenting your work to our industrial partners and at international conferences, so excellent communication and organizational skills are also required.

Informal enquiries may be made to Prof Xue-Feng Yuan (email: xue-feng.yuan@gzhu.edu.cn) or Professor Carlo Massimo Casciola(email: carlomassimo.casciola@uniroma1.it).

Closing date:  30 June 2018