Summary
The PROMES-CNRS laboratory is seeking a highly motivated Postdoctoral Researcher for a 12-month contract. This position focuses on developing advanced high-performance computing simulations for multiphysics phenomena in fluidized bed solar receivers. The goal is to improve the accuracy of thermal transfer predictions in these systems, addressing current discrepancies between numerical models and experimental results. The work is part of the European LBM4HPC project, aiming to develop innovative concentrated solar power (CSP) technologies.
Postdoctoral Researcher: High-Performance Computing for Multiphysics Simulations of Fluidized Bed Solar Receivers
Designation
Postdoctoral Researcher (Chercheur en contrat CDD)
Research Area
- Fluid Mechanics
- Numerical Engineering
- Thermodynamics
- Multiphase Flows (gas-solid flows, fluidized beds)
- High-Performance Computing (HPC)
- Concentrated Solar Power (CSP)
Location
PERPIGNAN, Pyrénées-Orientales, France
Eligibility/Qualification
Education
- Doctorate (PhD) in Fluid Mechanics, Numerical Engineering, Thermodynamics, or a related field.
Skills and Experience
- Strong skills in:
- Numerical methods (DEM, LBM, CFD)
- Modeling multiphase flows (gas-solid flows, fluidized beds)
- Heat transfer (conduction, convection, radiation)
- Experience in:
- High-Performance Computing (HPC) (MPI, OpenMP, GPU acceleration)
- Scientific programming (C++, Python, Fortran)
- Open-source or commercial CFD codes (e.g., waLBerla, OpenFOAM, Neptune_CFD, TrioCFD)
- Particle-resolved simulations
Job Description
Context
In solar receivers, concentrated solar radiation heats a gas-particle mixture within vertical tubes, aiming to reach particle temperatures of approximately 1000 °C. However, current Euler-Euler simulations (Two-Fluid Model or TFM) struggle to accurately predict wall-to-bed heat transfer coefficients, showing discrepancies of up to a factor of 2 compared to experimental data.
Key Challenges
The complex physics involved includes:
- Multi-scale couplings (micrometric particles vs. meter-scale receivers).
- Radiative heat transfer between particles and walls.
- Collective particle phenomena (e.g., particle ‘packets’).
- Complex particle shapes (flattened, sharp-edged) influencing hydrodynamics and heat transfer.
This postdoctoral position aims to address these challenges by developing advanced simulations to reduce the gap between experiments and numerical models. The multiphysics platform waLBerla already enables particle-laden flow simulations on large computing clusters. The project will extend and adapt DEM (Discrete Element Method) simulations and fluid-particle coupling to account for complex particle shapes and radiative heat transfer.
Main Activities
- High-Fidelity Simulations of Solar Receivers:
- Develop full-resolution simulations using the waLBerla framework (DEM for particles + LBM for fluid).
- Model radiative heat transfer between particles and walls, as well as inter-particle radiation.
- Incorporate complex particle shapes (non-spherical geometries) and their impact on near-wall concentration and heat transfer.
- Multiphysics Coupling:
- Study couplings between temperature, velocity, and two-phase flow in asymmetrically heated receivers.
- Analyze local phenomena (e.g., individual particle heating, gas property variations) and their impact on overall receiver performance.
- Validate simulations through comparison with experimental data.
- Scaling and Performance Optimization:
- Conduct large-scale simulations (10⁶ particles) to capture collective phenomena (e.g., coordinated particle movement near walls).
- Optimize computational performance for exascale computing (CPU/GPU acceleration).
- Collaborate with FAU (Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg) and other European partners.
Working Environment
The PROMES-CNRS laboratory (Processes, Materials and Solar Energy) is recruiting for this postdoctoral position focused on high-fidelity modeling of wall-to-bed heat transfer in high-temperature solar receivers. This work is part of projects developing innovative Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) technologies using dense circulating gas-solid fluidized beds as an alternative to traditional heat transfer fluids. The proposed work is integrated into the European LBM4HPC project (‘Lattice Boltzmann for Exascale’), which introduces a unifying abstraction layer for LBM-based solvers to decouple problem formulation from solver implementation and hardware-specific optimization.
How to Apply
Applications must be submitted online through the CNRS employment portal.
Last Date for Apply
Wednesday, October 28, 2026, 23:59 (CET)
Apply Link
