Experimental Characterization and Modeling of Liquid Jets Impacting a Rotating Surface

IFP Energies Nouvelles Group; Rueil-Malmaison; On-site; EUR 10,000 - 15,000; Full time

Job summary

IFP Energies Nouvelles Group seeks a Master’s student for an internship in Experimental Characterization and Modeling of Liquid Jets Impacting a Rotating Surface. You will work on oil-jet impacts on a rotating plane to understand film formation and heat transfer, using MATLAB/Python for data analysis.

The 6-month internship runs Feb/August 2027 at the Rueil-Malmaison site, with close collaboration between experiments and numerical simulations.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree or final year of engineering school.
• Strong knowledge of fluid mechanics.
• Data analysis, problem-solving, and proficiency in MATLAB or Python.
• Proactive mindset, ability to work independently and collaboratively.

Responsibilities

• Characterize oil jets impacting a rotating surface.
• Adapt the experimental setup for oil-jet tests.
• Measure film thickness and velocity fields in the oil film.
• Compare experimental results with analytical and numerical models.

Skills

Fluid mechanics

Data analysis

Problem-solving

MATLAB

Python

Education

Master’s degree or final year of engineering school

Tools

MATLAB

Python

Job description

Experimental Characterization and Modeling of Liquid Jets Impacting a Rotating Surface

The thermal management of electric motors is essential to increase their power density while ensuring reliability and durability. Cooling active parts such as coil heads with oil jets is a promising approach. However, the resulting flows are particularly complex, both from the perspective of physical understanding and numerical modeling.

Objectives

Among the many physical issues (thin liquid film, heat transfer, film destabilization by air, etc.), this internship will focus on the impact of the rotation of the impact surface on the hydrodynamics of an oil jet.

An experimental setup allowing the characterization of oil jets impacting a horizontal wall is currently in place at IFPEN. It will be adapted to study the hydraulic jump (shape and location) and measure the film thickness upstream and downstream of the jump, for different oil flow rates and rotational speeds. Velocity measurements in the film may also be carried out.

The results will be compared to analytical models from the literature and numerical simulations (which will be conducted in parallel with this internship). Depending on progress, the impact of a textured, also rotating, surface may also be studied.

Profile

Master’s degree or final year of engineering school (Bac +5).

• Strong knowledge of fluid mechanics, motivated by an experimental topic.
• Skills in data analysis, problem-solving, and proficiency in software such as MATLAB or Python.
• Proactive mindset, ability to work independently and collaboratively.

Keywords : Electric machine cooling, fluid dynamics, experimentation.

Duration and period of the internship : 6 months, from February/March to August/September 2027.
Location : Rueil-Malmaison