PhD Position in Plasma-Assisted Combustion Simulation

This PhD position at Vrije Universiteit Brussel focuses on advancing plasma-assisted combustion technologies within the ERC-funded ESCAPADE project. The successful candidate will work on reducing computational costs of state-to-state plasma-combustion models while maintaining accuracy. The project combines detailed kinetic modelling, mechanism reduction, and physics-informed machine learning to create high-fidelity reduced-order models. These models will be integrated into in-house solvers and validated against experimental data, particularly for ammonia/hydrogen combustion systems. The research aims to enable scalable simulations for industrial applications, bridging fundamental plasma chemistry with advanced CFD environments.

• Develop advanced computational tools for plasma-assisted combustion simulations capable of modelling plasma discharges and non-equilibrium chemistry.
• Construct high-fidelity reduced-order models from large state-to-state kinetic mechanisms containing hundreds to thousands of species and reactions.
• Apply and extend plasma-directed relation graph techniques (P-DRGEP), principal component analysis, and machine-learning-based lumping strategies.
• Integrate developed methodologies into in-house plasma-assisted combustion solvers and validate against experimental benchmark datasets.
• Focus on ammonia/hydrogen combustion systems for future energy and propulsion applications.
• Enable direct integration of detailed plasma chemistry into advanced CFD environments, including DNS and LES simulations.