PhD in Mechanical Engineering: Thermoacoustics of Net-zero Swirl Stabilised Premixed Hydrogen Combustors

Award summary

100% fees covered for Home students, and a minimum tax-free annual living allowance of £19,237 (2024/25 UKRI rate)

Overview

Hydrogen combustion offers a lower environmental impact and higher energy efficiency than traditional fossil fuels, with applications in aerospace as well as power generation sectors. With the need for the development of novel hydrogen-compatible combustion devices, understanding of the flame behaviour and thermoacoustic instabilities for hydrogen-air swirl flames is needed to accelerate the development of net-zero hydrogen combustors. 

This project will use state of the art CFD techniques, offering potential benefits to industry and will contribute to the progress of science in the areas of fluid dynamics, turbulence and net-zero combustion.

There is substantial scope for the student to direct the project with the main focus on (i) Generating an advanced Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) database for hydrogen-air premixed swirl flames. (ii) Developing a comprehensive understanding and a detailed analysis of the behaviour of the Precessing Vortex Core under both non-reacting and reacting flow conditions. (iii) Identification of the conditions for which hydrodynamic/thermoacoustic instabilities exist. 

This studentship is part of an EPSRC funded project (EP/Y017951/1) and will train the PhD student in high-performance computing, computer programming, applied mathematics, fluid mechanics, mathematical modelling and data analysis for large datasets -of the order of 100 Terabytes- generated from the simulations. Project partners include Rolls Royce plc and Kyoto University.

Number of awards: 1

Start date: 15^th September 2025

Award duration: 3.5 years

Sponsor: Newcastle University

Supervisors: Dr. Umair Ahmed

Eligibility criteria

You must have, or expect to gain, a minimum 2:1 Honours degree or international equivalent in a subject relevant to the proposed PhD project (inc. Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Applied Mathematics and Physics). Ability to undertake scientific programming (e.g. in Matlab, Python, Fortran or C/C++) will be beneficial.

Applicants whose first language is not English require an IELTS score of 6.5 overall with a minimum of 5.5 in all sub-skills.

The studentship covers fees at the Home rate (UK and EU applicants with pre-settled/settled status and meet the residency criteria). International applicants are welcome to apply but will be required to cover the difference between Home and International fees.

International applicants may require an ATAS (Academic Technology Approval Scheme) clearance certificate prior to obtaining their visa and to study on this programme.

How to apply

You must apply through the University’s Apply to Newcastle Portal

Once registered select ‘Create a Postgraduate Application’.

Use ‘Course Search’ to identify your programme of study:

• Search for the ‘Course Title’ using the programme code: 8090F
• Research Area: Mechanical Engineering
• Select ‘PhD Mechanical Engineering (full time) – Mechanical Engineering' as the  programme of study

You will then need to provide the following information in the ‘Further Details’ section:

• A ‘Personal Statement’ (this is a mandatory field) - upload a document or write a statement directly in to the application form
• The studentship code ENG145 in the ‘Studentship/Partnership Reference’ field  
• When prompted regarding your research proposal - select ‘Write Proposal’. You should then type in the title of the research project from this advert. You do not need to upload a research proposal. 

Contact details: Dr. Umair Ahmed (email: umair.ahmed@newcastle.ac.uk)

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