PhD student – HyNOISE Doctoral Candidate (DC6): Experimental quantification of direct noise and flame-flow-acoustic interactions in an unconfined hydrogen jet flame

Polytechnic University of Bari; Italia; On-site; EUR 60,000 - 70,000; Full time

Job summary

Technische Universität Berlin in Berlin, Germany, invites applications for a Doctoral Network position within HyNOISE to study hydrogen flame noise using PIV, BOS, and advanced data-driven modeling.

You will work under the MSCA framework for 36 months, join an international team, and gain access to a structured training program and secondments across partner institutions.

Applicants must meet admission requirements for doctoral studies at TU Berlin.

Qualifications

• Master's degree in aerospace engineering, mechanical engineering, physics or equivalent.
• Hands-on experimental combustion experience required.
• Strong fundamentals in fluid mechanics and thermodynamics.
• Good programming skills in LabVIEW, MATLAB or Python; data analysis ability.
• Excellent written and verbal English; ability to work in an international team.

Responsibilities

• Identify key mechanisms driving combustion noise in turbulent hydrogen jets.
• Combine experiments and data analysis to validate models and simulations.
• Collaborate with a multinational team and participate in secondments.
• Publish results and present at international conferences.

Skills

MSc in aerospace/mechanical/physics

Hands-on combustion experiments

Fluid mechanics

Thermodynamics

Computer science / informatics

English communication

Education

Master degree in aerospace/mechanical/physics

Tools

LabVIEW

MATLAB

Python

Job description

Organisation/Company Polytechnic University of Bari Research Field Engineering » Mechanical engineering Engineering » Aerospace engineering Engineering » Simulation engineering Physics » Applied physics Researcher Profile First Stage Researcher (R1) Positions PhD Positions Application Deadline 15 Nov 2026 - 23:59 (Europe/Rome) Country Italy Type of Contract Temporary Job Status Full-time Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? Horizon Europe - MSCA Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No

Offer Description

About HyNOISE

HyNOISE is a Doctoral Network aimed to train doctoral candidates able to face current and future challenges in the prediction and control of direct and indirect noise generated by hydrogen flames. Four specific research objectives will be pursued: 1) Unveil the dynamics and sound pressure level generated during unsteady ignition and flashback process 2) Investigate the direct broadband sound generated due to the coupling between unsteady flame dynamics and flame-flame interactions, hydrodynamic and thermo- diffusive instabilities, and turbulence. 3) Understand physical mechanisms leading to the onset of thermoacoustic instabilities coupled with different modes at either with a specific focus on high frequencies 4) Study the contribution of convective waves to combustion noise and thermoacoustic instabilities. Multiple hydrogen-air archetypes typical of air-breathing hydrogen combustion systems in both single and annular multi-injector configurations will be investigated. In a collaborative partnership between academic and industry partners who are major European gas turbine manufacturers, HyNOISE bring relevant expertise together and to pursue solutions for hydrogen through integration and combination of unique and advanced theoretical, high-fidelity modelling and experimental expertise. This will lead to the development of new models and tools able to correctly predict hydrogen flame dynamics and its resulting pressure field, and, on this basis, developing control and mitigation methods to overcome current limitations in hydrogen combustion systems and design innovative, quiet, and stable combustion devices. The technologies developed will stimulate the green transition in the power generation and transport sectors, thus contributing to the achievement of the EU's challenging decarbonization goals.

About the host organization

Technische Universität Berlin (TUB)is one of the largest technical universities in Germany. Its seven faculties cover engineering and natural sciences, economics and business, planning sciences, humanities and the social sciences. The TUB has a professional EC Funding Support Service with long-standing experience in the administration of EC grants (FP 7: 211 contracts, Horizon 2020: 160 contracts and Horizon Europe: 103 contracts so far). The TU Berlin received approx. 138 million € funding (Horizon 2020 & Horizon Europe). The Institute of Fluid Dynamics and Technical Acoustics (ISTA) within the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Transport Systems performs teaching and research related to fluid dynamics, acoustics, and combustion. The Chair of Fluid Dynamics (Prof. C. Oliver Paschereit, website: https://www.tu.berlin/fd ) and the Chair of Nonlinear Thermo-Fluid Mechanics (Prof. Alessandro Orchini, website: https://www.user.tu-berlin.de/aorchini/) at the ISTA closely collaborate on research and development in experimental combustion and fluid dynamics and their modelling. Beside fundamental research, development work is being performed for major companies in power generation as well as in transportation.

Individual Research Project (IRP)

The main objective of the project is to identify the key mechanisms that drive combustion noise in turbulent hydrogen jet flames. The interaction of turbulence and flame intrinsic instabilities is likely to generate hot spots, which, when accelerated at the combustor’s exit, cause noise emissions. Therefore, the interaction of turbulence, flame dynamics and noise emissions will be investigated. The goal is to enhance our understanding of the interactions between these physical mechanisms, by employing simultaneously the experimental methods of Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV), OH* chemiluminescence and microphone array recordings. Furthermore, the project will sample data to validate simulations in other associated projects. The experimental setup consists of a small-scale unconfined hydrogen jet burner test rig in an anechoic room, which allows for high quality acoustic near- or far-field measurements not affected by acoustic reflections. The air can be preheated and premixed with hydrogen while being acoustically excited axially or azimuthally. Hydrodynamic stability analysis and data analysis techniques, such as POD or extended Spectral Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (eSPOD), will be conducted on the high-speed PIV and OH* recordings of the hydrogen flames. The results will describe mode shapes and growth rates of unstable modes in relation to the broadband noise of the unexcited, unconfined flame. Moreover, the stability analysis defines the frequency range for subsequent experiments of the axially excited flame. Finally, to enhance the fundamental understanding of the noise generation in a turbulent reacting flow and extend the physical data base for validation of numerical simulations, the knowledge of the density and pressure fields is crucial. In a new approach, at first a physics-informed neural network (PINN) will be employed to uncover otherwise not-measurable fields from the available experimental data. The results will be validated by background oriented Schlieren (BOS) measurements that deliver a line-of-sight integrated density field. The density and pressure fields will be correlated with the far-field noise measurements to enhance the understanding of the link between flame and noise.

Research Objectives

• Flow and flame characterization.
• Synchronized flow, flame, and combustion noise measurement.
• Density field estimation (PINN + BOS).
• Stability analysis and excited flame measurements.

Expected Results

• Description of the flow and flame dynamics including mode shapes of a hydrogen jet flame at different equivalence ratios, nozzle outlet velocities and levels of turbulence.
• Determination of interaction of far field noise spectra of different hydrogen jet flames with flow and flame mode shapes.
• Validation of density field reconstruction in a hydrogen jet flame.
• Combustion noise control concept with proven influence on noise level and frequency range.

Secondments

• NTNU (Norway, ca. 2 months): gain experience on active grids
• University of Cambridge (UK, ca. 3 months): apply advanced data-driven modelling to improve density field reconstruction using experimental data

The IRP will have a strong link to other IRPs from different DCs for:

• Work on Low-Order modelling and data-drive tools
• Provision of input and data

Requirements

Research Field Engineering » Mechanical engineering Education Level Master Degree or equivalent

Research Field Engineering » Aerospace engineering Education Level Master Degree or equivalent

Research Field Physics » Applied physics Education Level Master Degree or equivalent

Skills/Qualifications

Essential skills and requirements

• MSc or equivalent in the field of aerospace engineering, mechanical engineering, physics or similar
• Previous hands-on experimental experience in combustion is required, including practical experience in setting up, operating, or diagnosing laboratory-scale combustion experiments.
• Solid knowledge on Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, Computer Science and Informatics
• Ability to work efficiently and self-reliantly in a diverse inter-disciplinary and multi-cultural environment
• Ability to work in a team as well as independently
• Ability to solve complex problems with adherence of strict deadlines
• Excellent communication skills (both written and verbal) in English to derive the full benefit from the network training
• As secondments and events are foreseen, applicants must be ready to travel
• Applicants must meet the formal requirements for admission to doctoral studies at Technische Universität Berlin

Desired skills

• Experience with optical flow and combustion diagnostics (e.g. PIV, OH* chemiluminescence, high-speed imaging, BOS) and/or acoustic measurements is highly desirable.
• Experience with experimental data acquisition and analysis (e.g. LabVIEW, MATLAB or Python), signal processing, and practical design or modification of experimental rigs is an advantage.

Specific Requirements

• Applicants can be of any nationality.
• Candidates may apply prior to obtaining their master’s degree, but cannot receive an employment contract before having obtained the master degree.
• Candidates may apply to multiple positions offered within HyNOISE, but should carefully choose the ones that they apply for.

In addition:

Horizon Europe MSCA Mobility Rule: Researchers must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in the country of the host organization (Germany) for more than 12 months in the 36 months immediately before the recruitment date – unless as part of a compulsory national service or a procedure for obtaining refugee status under the Geneva Convention.

Horizon Europe MSCA Eligibility Criteria: Doctoral Candidates (DC) must, at the date of recruitment by the host organization, have not been awarded a doctoral degree.

Applicants who do not fulfill the Mobility Rule and the Eligibility Criteria CANNOT be considered for the research position.

Languages ENGLISH Level Excellent

Additional Information

• You will be working within our international group of researchers with experience in a broad range of sciences.
• You will get in contact with the other members of this international consortium.
• You will benefit from the well-structured training program offered by the host institution and the HyNOISE consortium to develop skills and thorough understanding of space transportation systems and their environmental impact.
• You will be employed by the host organization for 36 months.
• You will participate in international conferences and secondments to other organizations within the HyNOISE network and in outreach activities targeted at a wide audience.
• Employment and remuneration at TU Berlin will be in accordance with the applicable TV-L collective agreement. The MSCA fundings (see page 118ff.) includes a living allowance, a mobility allowance and, where applicable, a family allowance; where the applicable MSCA allowances exceed the corresponding TV-L remuneration, the fellow will receive the full eligible allowance amounts.

Please find additional information in the Information package for Marie Curie fellows in Doctoral Networks referenced in the original listing.

Selection process

For the selection procedure, the HyNOISE consortium will appoint a Recruitment Committee (RC) for each position. The selection will be carried out in two consecutive stages. In the primary selection, the RC evaluates all submitted application documents. Eligible candidates of sufficient quality will be shortlisted. In the final selection, short-listed applicants are invited to interviews, held either in person at the host institution or via video-conference, and to complete a position-specific task. Both interviews and tasks are evaluated against predefined criteria, leading to a ranked list of candidates. Final decisions are made by consensus within the RC. Applicants will be informed about rejection or admission to the interview stage by the end of January 2027. The employment and relocation phase will then start immediately, allowing sufficient time for contracting, visa applications, and relocation before the official start of the DC projects by October 2027.

More information and other vacant positions can be found at:

Reference to data protection: The personal data you submit will be processed at POLIBA in accordance with its Data Protection Declaration ( https://www.poliba.it/en/protezione-dei-dati-personali ). In addition, your personal data will be shared with the consortium partners (see https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101311721 ) for the purpose of evaluating your application and carrying out the joint selection procedure. The project partners are joint responsible for the processing of personal data.

We in the HyNOISE consortium value diversity and we commit to equal treatment of all applicants irrespective of gender, sexuality, health status as well as social, cultural or religious background.

Number of offers available 1 Company/Institute Technische Universität Berlin (TUB), Institute of Fluid Dynamics and Technical Acoustics (ISTA) Country Germany State/Province Germany City Berlin Postal Code 10623 Street Müller-Breslau-Str. 8 Geofield