The Institute of Aerodynamics and Flow Technology is a leading research institute in the field of aerodynamics/aeroacoustics of airplanes and aerothermodynamics of space vehicles.

The C²A²S²E department develops numerical methods for multidisciplinary simulation and optimization of air vehicles. In addition to physical modeling of complex flows and the development of modern numerical algorithms, our research activities cover the software-based integration of all relevant disciplines, the development of efficient optimization strategies as well as surrogate modeling based on higher fidelity methods.

The position is designed as a sponsorship position and the work is being carried out in close cooperation with Airbus Defense & Space. Your task is to develop and implement a method for predicting liquid sloshing in aircraft fuel tanks, considering thermodynamic effects. This method is to be implemented in the CFD solver CODA, which is being developed jointly by DLR, ONERA and Airbus. The goal is the highly accurate prediction of forces as a basis for the design of tanks. The challenge lies in the implementation of the volume-of-fluid method in a coupled, incompressible solution method, considering the pressure-density coupling. For validation, experimental and analytical data will be available, as well as reference data from computations using the legacy DLR CFD-code. The application covers basic, generic testcases as well as realistic tank geometries with the objective of providing best-practice guidelines for the numerical simulation of multi-phase fuel-sloshing flows in tanks.

Your tasks:

• Implementation of the Volume-of-Fluid method into the incompressible solver of CODA
• Implementation of a thermodynamic model for pressure-density coupling
• Validation of the implementation with generic test cases, analytical model problems and preexisting experimental data
• Sloshing simulation of realistic tank geometries using legacy DLR codes and CODA