Combining advanced simulation and manufacturing of Combining advanced simulation and manufacturing of Combining advanced simulation and manufacturing

Increasing levels of engine boosting are necessary to achieve the engine down-sizing required to meet future vehicle emission/efficiency targets. Soon, the vast majority of new cars in Europe will be turbo-charged and the automotive turbocharger business is expanding rapidly (around 55 million units per an-num globally). The turbocharger is a critical component of a highly boosted engine, and good efficiency over a broad range of flows and pressures is necessary to deliver the performance and response that drivers expect.

The project will study the complex aerodynamic flow within a turbocharger turbine with the following main objectives: 1.) Model and understand the 3D flow structures in the inlet housing of a radial or mixed flow turbine. 2.) Evaluate whether symmetrical or asymmetrical inlet housing concepts can pro-vide a benefit at low speed conditions. 3.) Provide confidence in the results through experimental valida-tion, and detailed insight into the aerodynamics through advanced Computational Fluid Dynamics model-ling. 4.) Use Additive Manufacturing methods (AM) to produce prototype housing for performance testing.

Like any best practice work in turbomachinery, the project will use advanced multidisciplinary engineer-ing simulation along with experimental performance testing. 3D aerodynamic and structural modelling work will be carried out using the industry leading ANSYS CFX, Blade-Modeller and Mechanical software suite. Performance testing in the QUB Turbo Lab will use advanced instrumentation, National Instruments data-logging equipment and LabVIEW software. Professional skills will also be developed, including lead-ership, project management, technical writing and presentation skills. The skill set is not limited to the turbocharger industry and is very transferrable into other turbomachinery and energy industries.

The PhD student will work closely with the industry supervisor, undertake a 3 month industrial placement at ICSI in Heidelberg, and also visit the company twice a year for formal project review meetings. (The company uses English as the main working language). The project may also require a visit to the Japa-nese design centre in Yokohama. Turbomachinery PhD students are expected to participate in the inter-national technical community by attending conferences in North America, Europe and Asia. It is also ex-pected that high quality technical papers will presented by the student at the leading conferences - ASME Turbo Expo, the Global Power and Propulsion Forum, the European Turbomachinery Conference and the IMechE Turbocharger Conference.