项目介绍

2024年12月21日

This PhD position is supervised by Prof. Johan Meyers (Department of Mechanical Engineering), and co-supervised by Prof. Dirk Van Hertem (Department of Electrical Engineering). The position is jointly hosted by the Turbulent Flow Simulation and Optimization (TFSO) research group in the department of Mechanical Engineering and the Energy Transmission Competence Hub (ETCH) of Electrical Engineering/Energyville. The research is part of the project “Wind-farm co-design in the North-Sea basin given climate and market uncertainty” led by Prof. Johan Meyers, Prof. Dirk Van Hertem, Prof. Konstantinos Gryllias and Prof. Nicole van Lipzig.

Project

BACKGROUND
Europe aims at massive investments in wind energy, with over 300 GW offshore developments by 2050.  Much of these installations will be in the North-Sea basin, where the combination of excellent wind conditions and an abundance of sand banks provides favorable conditions for bottom fixed wind farms. At this scale of development, wind farms start to mutually interact through farm wakes that can extend for 50km and more. In fact, recent climate simulations have found significant uncertainty on North-Sea wind conditions induced by unknown offshore development scenarios, much larger than, e.g., the uncertainty introduced by climate change.  At a time when the business model of wind energy is becoming subsidy free, this leads to large uncertainties in planning and development.
In the past, wind-farm planning and design happened in separate stages: first wind resource assessment, next wind farm siting (topology optimization, turbine selection). Afterwards, wind farm operation aimed at maximizing energy yield and minimizing operational expenses, given an assured income through a subsidy system. However, this approach is becoming untenable: wind farm planning and future development scenarios strongly influence wind conditions, and income is not guaranteed by subsidies, but needs to be earned in a market with variable pricing. As a result of the latter, wind farm operational decisions (control) become important for income as well, leading to a co-design problem in which planning and operation of wind farms need to be jointly addressed.

PHD PROJECT DESCRIPTIONResearch aims at the development of a wind farm co-design methodology that couples existing turbine and farm wake models and electricity grid models to determine optimal wind farm siting, and integrates this with turbine lifetime models. To this end, existing wind-farm engineering models such as WAYVE (https://gitlab.kuleuven.be/TFSO-software/wayve) from the group of J. Meyers and electricity grid planning models from the group of D. Van Hertem will be combined. Moreover, a methodology is developed that allows incorporating uncertainty due to climate change, economic expansion scenarios, and energy market effects. In the context of the project, a close interaction is foreseen with two other PhD researchers, one focusing on climate and market scenarios, and the other on the development of lifetime consumption and cost models of turbines, both providing valuable input for the overarching co-design problem. The research involves extensive Python code and optimization algorithm development, as well as supercomputing.

Profile

Candidates have a master degree in one of the following or related fields: fluid mechanics, aerospace or mathematical engineering, numerical mathematics, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, or computational physics. They should have a good background or interest in wind energy, fluid mechanics, optimization, simulation, and programming (Fortran, C/C++, Python, …). Proficiency in English is a requirement. The position adheres to the European policy of balanced ethnicity, age and gender. Persons of all origins and gender are encouraged to apply.

Offer

Immediate start is possible. The PhD position lasts for the duration of four years, and is carried out at the University of Leuven. The candidate also takes up a limited amount (approx. 10% of the time) of teaching activities. The remuneration is generous and is in line with the standard KU Leuven rates. It consists of a net monthly salary of about 2400 Euro (in case of dependent children or spouse, the amount can be somewhat higher); social security is also included. Following Belgian law, the salary is automatically adjusted for inflation based on the smoothed health index.

Interested?

To apply, use the KU Leuven online application platform (applications by email are not considered). Applications should ideally include:
a) an academic CV and a PDF of your diplomas and transcript of course work and grades
b) a statement of research interests and career goals, indicating why you are interested in this position
c) a sample of technical writing in English, e.g. a paper with you as main author, or your bachelor or master thesis
d) preferably at least one recommendation letter
d) a list of at least two additional references (different from recommendation letters): names, phone numbers, and email addresses
e) some proof of proficiency in English (e.g. language test results from TOEFL, IELTS, CAE, or CPE)

Please send your application as soon as possible.  Apply by March 3rd, 2025 at the latest
Starting Date: immediate start possible, preferably before October 1st 2025.You can apply for this job no later than March 03, 2025 via the online application tool

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