Open industrial PhD student position in two-phase CFD modeling

Topic: Development of CFD modeling capabilities to support the design of two-phase heat sinks for electronic equipment.

BTS Engineering Lab at Huawei’s Research Center in Stockholm is a highly creative, multidisciplinary, and international think-tank, dedicated to envisioning of strategic product designs and turning them into innovative, working solutions.

The R&D department of Thermal Engineering is looking for a talented individual in the area of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and thermal engineering, focusing mainly on two-phase simulations. The PhD candidate is expected to conduct research on the topic of using novel CFD methods to design and optimize the complex two-phase cooling systems.

Topic Description:

The ever-increasing power density of microprocessors makes thermal management a crucial technology for future development of communication and other electronic equipment. New cooling technologies are being investigated at Huawei’s Stockholm Research Center. Two-phase cooling is among the promising approaches, where boiling heat transfer is used to remove high heat fluxes from the electronic components. Optimal design of the two-phase cooling systems requires knowledge of pool and flow boiling regimes, wall condensation phenomena, refrigerant properties, wall treatment effects, porous structures and related processes.

CFD is a known tool used to evaluate two-phase heat sink designs and to make proposals on technical solutions to improve them. Current CFD codes lack adequate models for resolving the multi interface phenomena between the vapor, liquid and solid walls, which affect the boiling phenomena and overall heat transfer efficiency. The main challenges are (1) to develop and validate computationally efficient 2 phase models, (2) to validate the models against experimental data; (3) to use developed models and methods for exploring the effects of system design and physical properties of materials on the performance of thermal management equipment.

The successful candidate will work in close contact with other experts in two-phase modeling, material science, production and design from Huawei’s Stockholm Research Center.

Objective of the Ph.D. thesis:

- Develop computationally efficient CFD models for simulation of the effects of the micro-scale two-phase phenomena on the transient heat and flow distribution.
- Carry out calibration and validation of the CFD models.
- Use developed computational models to explore the effects of design, physical properties of coolants and materials, etc.
- Propose and develop an approach for further reduction of the computational time of the complex two-phase simulations needed for full scale design optimization.


Candidate Profile:

The candidates should have as many skills for this position as listed below.

At least a Master degree (or be close to obtaining a Master’s degree) or equivalent in Engineering or Physics with outstanding grades. Strong background in fluid mechanics and two-phase flow and boiling.
Strong background in mathematical modeling, (achievements in national or international mathematical competitions or receiving awards/grants in this area are looked upon as a big plus)
Working experience in a top research group in the related field is a plus.
Publications in top academic journals, invention patents etc. are a plus.
Experience in CFD modelling (including all important steps. i.e. geometry, mesh, simulation and post-processing) with commercial codes such as Star CCM+, ANSYS Fluent, OpenFOAM or equivalent.
Experience in thermal simulations for electronic or telecom equipment with Flotherm, Icepack or equivalent.
Experience with performing experiments and analyzing experimental data to develop and validate CFD models.
Programming skills in Python, MATLAB, Java, C/C++ or equivalent.
Be proficient in spoken and written English.
Good presentation and reporting skills.

Employment:

The successful candidate will have a full-time employment at Huawei’s Stockholm Research Center. The offices are located in Kista, Stockholm. The successful candidate will be enrolled in an industrial PhD student program. The work will be done in a collaboration between Huawei’s Engineering Lab in Stockholm and the KTH Royal Institute of Technology will serve as a Swedish academic partner.

The position will remain open until filled.