Uncertainty Quantification in Particle-Laden Fluid

In order to contain global warming, great effort is devoted to the development of renewable energies. In the PSAAP II project, the objective is to improve the efficiency of solar thermal power facilities, by investigating a system in which the solar radiative power is harvested by particles inside a fluid, in order to generate an efficient heat exchange. To understand and develop such systems, PSAAP II aims at promoting predictive simulations of particle-laden turbulence subject to radiation. Such simulations rely on two key elements: a proper choice of the model describing the particular phase and related numerical methods, and Uncertainty Quantification (UQ). Indeed, physical and numerical parameters, as well as initial or boundary conditions may be not perfectly known and such uncertainties can have a great impact on the output of the simulations. The objective of my project is centered around the impact of uncertainties on the simulation of various models for particle-laden flows. This project is conducted in collaboration between the Center for Turbulence Research and the Institute for Computational and Mathematical Engineering at Stanford University, and the EM2C laboratory of CentraleSupélec in France. The project will take advantage of Stanford expertise in UQ and advance computing on the one side, and EM2C expertise in the development of modeling and simulation strategies for particle-laden flows.