16th Symposium of VKI PhD Research 2025

Don't miss the opportunity to learn about the exciting research activities conducted at VKI! Join us online (for the public) / on-site (for VKI members, supervisors and invited guests) from February 18th to February 21th for the VKI PhD Symposium, where prominent lecturers in three application fields of fluid dynamics will give keynote lectures to open each day of the symposium.
VKI PhDs will review the doctoral research carried out in the three departments of the Institute. The symposium is organized into sessions covering a range of topics, including:
- Compressor Aerodynamics & Heat Transfer
- Instrumentation & Measurement Techniques
- Propellant Management
- Turbine Aerodynamics & Heat Transfer
- Shape Optimization
- Liquid Metals & Industrial Flow
- Machine Learning for Fluid Dynamics
- Thermal Management and Process Safety
- Wind Energy & Environmental Flows
- Shape Optimization
- CFD & Numerical Methods
- Hypersonic Propulsion
- Aeronautics & Low Speed Aerodynamics
- Rarefied and Plasma Flows
- Aerothermochemistry
- Aerothermodynamics
This online symposium is open to public. Before register, please check out our eligibility criteria.
Participation is on-site for VKI members, university supervisors, and invited guests. Public attendees must register (free) and can participate online only.
The session on 21 February will not be broadcasted.
Online Programme (updated 14/02/2025)
Tuesday February 18, 2025
Location: von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics, Sint-Genesius-Rode
09:15 - 09:30: Welcome word
09:30 - 10:30 Keynote Lecture: Floating wind energy: a sea of challenges and opportunities, Prof.dr.ir. Axelle Viré, TU Delft
10:30 - 11:00 Coffee Break
Session - Liquid Metals & Industrial Flow
Chair: Mrs. Matilde Fiore, Research Engineer
- 11:00 - 11:20: Damien Rigutto: Wetting Defects in Inertial Wetting
- 11:20 - 11:40: Lorenzo Schena: Reinforcement Twinning (RT) of Wind Turbines and Farms
Session - Thermal Management and Process Safety
Dr. Sara Gonzalez Ruiz, Research Engineer
- 11:40 - 12:00: Carlo Sanapo:GPU-Accelerated PIV Solver: A Python-Based Implementation with CuPy for Large-Scale Datasets
Session - Thermal Management and Process Safety
Dr. Sara Gonzalez Ruiz, Research Engineer
- 13:30 - 13:50: Pierrette Atikpo: Challenges in Modeling Buried Detonation Sources: An Experimental Study
Session - Wind Energy & Environmental Flows
Chair: Prof. Wim Munters, Professor in the Environmental and Applied Fluid Dynamics Department
- 13:50 - 14:10: Alexandros Palatos Plexidas: Analysis of wake characteristics in the Southern Bight of the North Sea using hi-res mesoscale simulations
14:10 - 16:00 Poster Session (only on-site presentations, no broadcasting)
- Samuel Ahizi: Meshless CFD and reduced order modeling of cryogenic sloshing in conformal tanks
- Aswath Ashok: Development of a 3D multiphase model for hydrogen evolution in an electrolysis stack
- Bruno Barata: Aeroelastic analysis and design strategies to mitigate flutter effects on probe measurements
- Benjamin Crevits: Compartment fire prediction using CFD and AI
- Waut Declercq: Advancing additive manufacturing of technical ceramics for aerospace applications
- Valerio Di Domenico: Development of digital twins for the thermal hydraulics of liquid metal nuclear reactors
- Anouk Dierickx: Validation wind speed in CMIP6 climate models
- Andre Dietz: Fundamental investigation of transonic trailing edge flow
- Bruno Fontaine: Development of a deterministic Boltzmann-Poisson solver for simulation of rarefied plasma in the VKI DRAG-ON facility
- Antoine Ghyoot: Development and application of a high-order code for hypersonic turbulent phenomena
- Diego Hachez: Cross-hatching research plan
- Julien Heine: Data-driven approaches for identification and modelling of loss and deviation driving mechanisms in modern aircraft engine compressors
- Grace Kirk: Modelling hypersonic meteors in the upper atmosphere using Monte Carlo Methods
- Selçuk Kizilcaoglu: Investigation of bubbly flow dynamics in microstructures
- Alessandro Novi: Cryogenic bubble growth at artificial nucleation site: experimental and numerical work
- Silay Önder: A numerical study on the two phase flow in porous transport layer of a PEM electrolyser
- Sunny Raghav: High fidelity numerical solver for gaseous state rotating detonation engine
- Sebastiano Randino: Reinforcement twinning of floating wind turbines
- Landry Riou: Modelling of vortex-enhanced inductively coupled plasma torches
- Jan Skácel: Modelling and simulation of plasma-spacecraft interaction and charging in Very Low Earth Orbit
- Balint Soos: Modeling and optimization of aeroacoustic noise in urban air mobility vehicles
- Nicholas Zingale: Self-noise and unsteady rotor aerodynamics modeling for unmanned air vehicles and horizontal axis wind turbines
Wednesday February 19, 2025
Location: von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics, Sint-Genesius-Rode
09:00 - 10:00 Prof. dr. Sylvia Wenmackers, KU Leuven & Prof. Vincent Ginis, Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Debating game: Ethics of (generative) AI in research (only on-site)
10:00 - 10:30 Coffee Break
Session - Shape Optimization
Chair: Prof. Tom Verstraete, Turbomachinery and Propulsion Department
- 10:30 - 10:50: Stefano Platini: Development of an Automatic Tool for Complex S-Shaped Duct Optimization
Session - CFD & Numerical Methods
Chair: Dr. Silvania Lopes, Research Engineer
- 10:50 - 11:10: Carlo Brunelli: Implicit Large Eddy Simulation on Low-Reynolds Airfoils
- 11:10 - 11:30: Marco Castaldi: Development and Application of an Implicit Density-Based Solver for Chemically Reacting Flows in OpenFOAM
- 11:30 - 11:50: Julien Klauner: Weak Imposition of an Ablative Boundary Condition in a High-Order Immersed Interface Framework
- 11:50 - 12:10: Karel Van den Borre: Control Schedule Optimisation for Variable Cycle Engines
12:10 - 13:30 Lunch
Session - Aeronautics & Low Speed AerodynamicsChair: Dr. Alessandro Zarri, Research Engineer
- 13:30 - 13:50: Matija Avirovic: Flow Topology Over an Airfoil at Low Reynolds Number
- 13:50 - 14:10: Manuel Ratz: Characterization of an Accelerating Propeller at Low Reynolds Numbers with Phase-Locked PIV
Chair: Dr. Damien Le Quang, Research Engineer
- 14:10 - 14:30: Stefano Aliberti: Cross-track tethered satellite system in LEO/VLEO: mission characterization and design analysis
- 14:30 - 14:50: Anatole Berge: Modeling of the ion dynamics in a low-temperature plasma with methods of moments
14:50 - 15:20 Coffee Break
Thursday February 20, 2025
Location: von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics, Sint-Genesius-Rode
09:00 - 10:00 Keynote Lecture: Dr. Stefano Bianchi, Airbus
Engine Design and Integration
The Role of Research Toward Sustainable Aviation
10:00 - 10:30 Coffee Break
Session - Compressor Aerodynamics & Heat Transfer
Chairs: Julien Heine and Bruno Barata, Doctoral candidates in the Turbomachinery and Propulsion Department
- 10:30 - 10:50: Jorge Pérez Bárcena: Design of Facility for Compressor Turbulent Boundary Layer Interactions
- 10:50 - 11:10: Thanh-Son Tran: Investigation of Advanced Axial Compressor Optimization Concepts
Session - Instrumentation & Measurement Techniques
Chair: Dr. Alessandro D'Aguanno, Research Engineer
- 11:10 - 11:30: Enrico Zammit: Self-Aligning Focusing Schlieren Applied to Linear Cascade
- 11:30 - 11:50: Francesco Mancini: CWT-1 improvements
- 11:50 - 12:10: Alexandre Halby: Impact of Tailboard Configuration on the Aerodynamics of Linear Transonic Turbine Cascades
12:10 - 13:30 Lunch
Session - Turbine Aerodynamics & Heat Transfer
Chair: Dr. Filippo Merli, Research Engineer
- 13:30 - 13:50: Francisco Monteiro: Digital Twinning and Control for the Thermal Management of Cryogenic Propellants
- 13:50 - 14:10: Federico Bertelli: Measurements of the Freestream Turbulence behind an Active Jet Grid and its Effects on the Aerodynamics of a Turbine Cascade Flow
- 14:10 - 14:30: Peter Cassidy: Transitional Boundary Layers at Off-Design Incidence in Low-Pressure Turbines
- 14:30 - 14:50: Lorenzo Da Valle: Numerical and Experimental Investigation of Purge Flows in a High-Speed Low-Pressure Turbine
14:50 - 15:20 Coffee Break
Session - Turbine Aerodynamics & Heat Transfer (continued)
Chair: Dr. Filippo Merli, Research Engineer
- 15:20 - 15:40: Giovanni Di Lucia: PIV Measurements of a Transonic Cascade
Session - Shape Optimization (continued)
Chair: Prof. Tom Verstraete, Turbomachinery and Propulsion Department
- 15:40 - 16:00: Victor Loir: Adjoint Shape Optimization of a Turbo Heater based on Large Eddy Simulations through an Adaptation of the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes Equations
Friday February 21, 2025
Location: Euro Space Center, Libin
09:00 - 10:00 Keynote Lecture: Prof. Matthew McGilvray, University of Oxford
Overview of Research from the Oxford Hypersonics Group with a focus on transpiration cooling
Session - Aerothermochemistry
Chair: Dr. Bernd Helber, Research Engineer
- 10:30 - 10:50: Sander Holum: Development of Off-Stagnation Point Testing Methodology for Atmospheric Reentry Plasma Flows
- 10:50 - 11:10: Diana Martins: Plasma Testing of Woven Flexible Materials
- 11:10 - 11:30:Roemer Spreij: Towards Dynamic Flight-to-Ground Duplication in the VKI Plasmatron
Session - Aerothermodynamics
Chair: Prof. Guillaume Grossir, Aeronautics and Aerospace Department
- 11:30 - 11:50: Vincenzo Romano: Investigation of Multiphysics Effect on Hypersonic Boundary Layer Stability with UQ methods
12:00 - 13:30 Lunch
Session - Aerothermodynamics (continued)Chair: Dr. Pierre Schrooyen, Research Engineer
- 13:30 - 13:50: Ata Baskaya: Influence of Ablation on Hypersonic Flows
- 13:50 - 14:10: Maxime Borbouse: Stabilisation Strategies for High Order DGM Simulation of Turbulent Hypersonic Flows
14:30 - 16:30 Visit to ESA Education Center or Euro Space Center (only VKI members)
Event Information
Event Date | 18-02-2025 9:00 am |
Event End Date | 21-02-2025 5:00 pm |
Cut off date | 17-02-2025 12:00 pm |