PhD scholarship in tip vortex and turbine wakes control funded ERC

King's College London Department of Engineering

Organisation/Company King's College London Department of Engineering Research Field Engineering
- Aerospace engineering Technology
- Energy technology Mathematics
- Applied mathematics Engineering
- Simulation engineering Technology
- Marine technology Engineering
- Mechanical engineering Researcher Profile First Stage Researcher (R1) Positions PhD Positions Final date to receive applications 1 Nov 2026 - 23:59 (Europe/London) Country United Kingdom Type of Contract Temporary Job Status Full-time Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? Horizon Europe - ERC Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No

About the Project
This fully funded PhD studentship is supported by the European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant project MISSMAPS - MIcroScale Solutions for MAcroscale problems: flow control through Permeable Structures, led by Dr Yabin Liu at King’s College London.

The project will investigate how coherent vortical structures generated by wind and tidal turbine rotors can be controlled to improve wake recovery and reduce undesirable flow effects, which are critical challenges to enhance the performance of wind and tidal farms and accelerate our net-zero transition. The research will focus on tip-vortex dynamics, turbine-wake interactions, and passive flow-control strategies, including novel permeable blade-tip concepts.

Based on the concluded physics and optimal parameters, advanced 3D permeable structures will be designed, modelled, and tested. The successful candidate will combine advanced computational fluid dynamics (CFD), including large-eddy simulation (LES) and/or hybrid-fidelity simulation (RANS-LES), with experimental validation. Alternatively, a candidate with expertise and interest in fluid-structure interaction, multi-physics design, or AI-driven optimisation, will also be considered. The work will examine vortex formation, instability, breakdown, wake mixing, and interactions between multiple turbines, with the aim of developing new physical understanding and practical strategies for offshore renewable energy systems.

The PhD will be based at King’s College London and co-supervised by leading researchers at the University of Oxford and TU Delft, providing access to complementary expertise in turbine aero-hydrodynamics, wake modelling, experimental fluid mechanics and aeroacoustics. The student will work within a wider international network of academic and industrial collaborators in offshore wind and tidal energy, with opportunities for collaborative research visits, experimental campaigns, specialist training, and participation in international conferences.

The studentship provides full PhD funding in accordance with King’s College London and ERC arrangements, including tuition fees, a doctoral stipend, and research support for computational and experimental work, laptop, training, travel, and conference participation.

Note:

The PhD student is expected to spend the majority of their time on CFD simulations and assist in the experimental work in collaboration with external partners. OpenFOAM will be mainly used for large-scale simulations on HPC clusters, while commercial tools like Fluent can be used for small-scale tests. Nektar++ could be an alternative option to OpenFOAM depending on the student’s experience.

• Applicants should hold, or expect to obtain, a first-class or strong upper-second-class degree (or international equivalent) in Engineering, Fluid Mechanics, Applied Mathematics, Physics, Computer Science, or a closely related discipline. A relevant Master’s degree is desirable but not essential.
• Applicants should have a strong interest in fluid dynamics,…