PhD student – HyNOISE Doctoral Candidate (DC7): Identification and modelling of hydrodynamic instabilities driving combustion noise in turbulent hydrogen flames Polytechnic University of Bari in Italy

HyNOISE Doctoral Candidate DC7 is a fully funded PhD position focused on the identification and modelling of hydrodynamic and thermo-diffusive instabilities that drive combustion noise in turbulent hydrogen flames.

The project is part of the Horizon Europe MSCA-funded HyNOISE Doctoral Network, an international consortium dedicated to predicting and controlling direct and indirect noise generated by hydrogen flames. The network combines academic and industry expertise to develop new models and tools for hydrogen combustion dynamics, pressure-field prediction, and noise mitigation, with applications in cleaner power generation and transport.

The individual research project at CIEMAT investigates the effect of thermo-diffusive instabilities on sound generation in hydrogen flames through high-fidelity numerical simulation. Planned work includes direct numerical simulations of canonical configurations such as a cellular hydrogen flame interacting with counter-rotating vortices, a cellular hydrogen flame impinging on a wall, and a cellular hydrogen flame in a narrow channel under acoustic forcing. Reference simulations of planar flames will be used for comparison.

The research will use the compressible Navier-Stokes equations and energy-species transport equations with high-accuracy finite differencing, simplified and detailed chemical kinetics, transport models, and non-reflecting boundary conditions. The results will be analysed to understand how thermo-diffusive instabilities influence sound generation and the acoustic flame transfer function of hydrogen flames.

The host organization is CIEMAT, the Spanish public centre for energy research, through its Fluid Mechanics and Combustion Modeling group. The group has strong expertise in reacting and non-reacting flows, combustion modelling, and parallel DNS solvers, with a particular focus on hydrogen laminar flames.

Eligibility highlights include an MSc or equivalent in aerospace engineering, mechanical engineering, physics or a similar field, strong foundations in fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, numerical analysis, CFD, and simulation/modelling tools, plus excellent English communication skills. Applicants must satisfy the MSCA mobility rule and doctoral candidate criteria, and be eligible for doctoral enrollment at UC3M. Experience in combustion/fluid mechanics laboratories and high-performance computing is desirable.

The contract is full-time for 36 months. Funding follows MSCA regulations and includes a living allowance, mobility allowance, and, where applicable, a family allowance. The gross amounts are subject to statutory deductions.

Applications must be submitted by email as a single PDF containing a cover letter, evidence-based CV, reference letters or referee contacts, and relevant certificates. The deadline is 31 December 2026 at 23:59 Europe/Rome. The position is expected to start between January and October 2027.