PhD Studentship: Computational Modelling Studies of Flow and Mixing of Particle-liquid Systems in Industrial Stirred Vessels

Funding is available to fully support a PhD research student (including university tuition fees and salary tax free). The candidate must be a UK citizen due to funding requirements and should have at least a strong upper second-class (2.1) degree in Chemical Engineering or related discipline. The project provides a unique opportunity to train a student in advanced research techniques and equip him/her with a wide range of skills that will enhance his/her employability by a wide spectrum of industries including food, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, energy, environmental, minerals, biomedical etc. Enquiries about the research project should be addressed to Professor M. Barigou (m.barigou@bham.ac.uk).

Mechanically agitated vessels are ubiquitous in industry including the manufacture of fine chemicals, pharmaceuticals, personal/home care products, paper and pulp, polymers, food, and the formulation of products for these sectors. Their design, however, is still often as much an art as a science and for many applications, it cannot be carried out from first principles. In particular, numerous difficult mixing problems are found with particle-liquid processing. There are many important topics that either have not been studied at all or if they have, many questions still exist so that even empirical solutions are lacking in physical insight. The work will address computational modelling aspects of the project, which may include numerical simulations (e.g. CFD, SPH, DEM, Matlab) depending on the candidate’s background and interests. Model testing and validation will use unique experimental data from the technique of Lagrangian Positron Emission Particle Tracking (PEPT) as well as other advanced Eulerian optical laser flow imaging techniques, e.g. particle imaging velocimetry (PIV), ERT. The project is suitable for a student with keen interest in computational work and modelling techniques.

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