Postdoctoral position : Large-Eddy Simulation of flow in a non-isothermal cavity with adsorption

IMT NORD EUROPE; France; Sur place; EUR 40 000 - 50 000; Plein temps

Résumé du poste

A research institution in France is seeking a postdoctoral researcher in Indoor Air Quality to conduct high-fidelity simulations and optimize air purification systems. The successful candidate will need a PhD in fluid mechanics and strong skills in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). The role involves carrying out simulations, writing publications, and may include teaching responsibilities. Experience with software like Star-CCM+ or OpenFOAM is desirable.

Qualifications

• Must hold a PhD in fluid mechanics with strong skills in CFD.
• Experience in high-fidelity turbulence simulations (LES or DNS) is required.
• Knowledge of heat transfer and natural or mixed convection is expected.

Responsabilités

• Conduct LES numerical simulations of natural convection-driven flow.
• Optimize a system for heating and purifying indoor air.
• Become proficient with existing CFD codes.

Connaissances

CFD

Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS)

Large-Eddy-Simulation (LES)

Unsteady flows and turbulence

Optimization techniques

Development and programming of numerical codes

Good level of English

Formation

PhD in fluid mechanics

Outils

Star-CCM+

OpenFOAM

Description du poste

Organisation/Company IMT NORD EUROPE Research Field Technology » Energy technology Researcher Profile First Stage Researcher (R1) Country France Application Deadline 14 Jan 2026 - 22:00 (UTC) Type of Contract Temporary Job Status Full-time Offer Starting Date 1 Apr 2026 Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? Not funded by a EU programme Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No

Offer Description

Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) is a scientific field concerned with detecting, quantifying, and preventing concentrations of pollutants (gaseous or particulate) known to affect human health or perceived comfort. Numerical models in IAQ aim to predict the temporal evolution of pollutant concentrations, which may arise from multiple factors: air-exchange rates, gas–surface interactions, homogeneous or heterogeneous reactions, emission sources, variations in air and material temperature, etc.

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is particularly valuable for IAQ modelling because it provides detailed spatial distributions of concentration, temperature, and velocity, helping to better understand interactions at local scales. Simulation studies are generally more cost-effective than large-scale measurement campaigns and make it easier to isolate specific phenomena compared with full-scale experiments. The main limitation of CFD simulations lies in the difficulty of capturing the full complexity of physical phenomena, often due to simplified thermal or mass boundary conditions and turbulence models (such as Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes, RANS), which approximate air-flow velocity fields.

This project focuses on using high-fidelity CFD turbulence simulations of the Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) type to represent gas–surface interactions as accurately as possible within an idealized confined environment, while accounting for adsorption and thermal transfers at walls.

The research follows two main directions:

• Fundamental research: improving our understanding of gas–surface interaction mechanisms in indoor air under coupled heat and mass transfer conditions; identifying the transfer regimes governed by dimensionless numbers; designing LES numerical benchmarks to better assess RANSbased simulations.
• Applied research: designing systems based on physicochemical adsorption mechanisms to both mitigate indoor air pollution and improve thermal comfort.

Missions:

The first mission is to conduct LES numerical simulations of a natural-convection-driven flow inside an ideally confined cubic environment. A temperature difference is imposed on two opposite vertical walls, and the Rayleigh number is set to 10⁹. A first-order temperature-dependent Langmuir adsorption kinetic model is applied to internal walls to simulate pollutant transfer between the gaseous and adsorbed phases. Several simulations will be carried out by varying the Damköhler number, characterizing the ratio between reaction and diffusion timescales, in order to determine its influence on air–wall transfer dynamics.

The second mission to optimize a system designed to both heat and purify indoor air. Simulations will be performed in 2D and then 3D to identify optimal geometrical configurations offering the best compromise between heat and mass transfer enhancement.

Activities:

• Become proficient with an existing CFD computation code.
• Implement a kinetic model in an existing CFD environment.
• Carry out numerical simulations on a computing cluster and perform postprocessing.
• Write scientific publications.
• Organize regular meetings to summarize and present ongoing work (in English or French).
• In addition to their research duties, the postdoctoral researcher may teach up to 25 hours per year (TDequivalent hours) within the institution.

The candidate must hold a PhD in fluid mechanics with strong skills in CFD. Experience in high-fidelity turbulence simulations (LES or DNS) is required. Knowledge of heat transfer, natural or mixed convection, and/or mass and reactive transfers is expected. Prior experience in adsorption is not mandatory but will be highly appreciated. Experience with Star-CCM+ or OpenFOAM, as well as with optimization techniques and programming, is desirable.

Technical Skills

• Scientific rigor and strong writing ability
• Organized, meticulous, autonomous, and responsive
• Communication and teamwork abilities
• Interpersonal skills
• Pedagogical mindset
• CFD
• Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS), Large-Eddy-Simulation (LES)
• Unsteady flows and turbulence, statistics, FFT, etc.
• Development and programming of numerical codes and routines
• Good level of English
• Natural or mixed convection
• Flow similarity
• Optimization and numerical techniques
• Heat and/or mass and/or reactive transfer

Knowledge

• Scientific rigor and strong writing ability
• Organized, meticulous, autonomous, and responsive
• Communication and teamwork abilities
• Interpersonal skills
• Pedagogical mindset
• CFD
• Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS), Large-Eddy-Simulation (LES)
• Unsteady flows and turbulence, statistics, FFT, etc.
• Development and programming of numerical codes and routines
• Good level of English
• Natural or mixed convection
• Flow similarity
• Optimization and numerical techniques
• Heat and/or mass and/or reactive transfer