Research Fellow in Energy Geostructures

Location: Leeds - Main Campus

Contract type: Fixed Term (for up to 8 months to 31^st July 2027 to complete a specific task or time limited work, including the need for specific expertise or additional resource for a project.)

Downloads: Candidate Brief (PDF)

Heating and cooling of buildings is a key priority for global decarbonisation due to the scale of the demand and the current reliance on fossil fuels. Energy geostructures, where civil engineering substructures are connected to ground source heat pump systems offer a novel solution to this challenge. Appropriate design of energy geostructures requires consideration of the thermal behaviour and associated energy assessment. At the University of Leeds, our dynamic energy geotechnics team are leading research in this growing area. We would like to recruit someone to develop our research in design and analysis of diaphragm walls used for thermal energy extraction. Are you an ambitious researcher looking for a new challenge? Do you have expertise in ground energy systems and energy geostructures, especially their thermal analysis and design? Do you want to join an expanding research team at a leading UK university?

As part of an exciting EPSRC-FAPESP project, Efficient Ground Energy Systems in Diaphragm Walls in Challenging Conditions, led by Prof Fleur Loveridge, you will lead innovative research into the design and analysis of energy retaining walls used as ground heat exchangers. The project aims to encourage the adoption of energy retaining walls through provision of better guidance. It includes a mixture of laboratory and field scale testing and a range of computational techniques carried out across three Universities – University of Leeds, University of Dundee and University of Sao Paulo. In particular the project will:

• Understand the impact of temporary and spatial variation in ground properties on heat transfer and stress/strain conditions in the walls;
• Develop and test models of heat flow around the walls, as well as implement them for routine use;
• Develop and test new approaches for geotechnical design for energy retaining walls.

As a Research Fellow in Energy Geostructures on this project you will lead research in delivering new knowledge on the thermal design and performance of energy walls to facilitate rapid implementation of embedded retaining walls for widespread application. You will:

• Undertake numerical simulations of energy walls, and understand which modelling and ground condition simplifications are acceptable with reference to field data as appropriate;
• Develop, test and implement analytical models for planar heat flow around energy walls;
• Work closely with project partners at University of Sao Paolo and University of Dundee to integrate their inputs and outputs into your analysis;
• Collaborate with other University of Leeds researchers on development of energy systems modelling tools for energy walls;
• Take a leading role in production of project outputs including journal papers and accessible guidance for practice.

To explore the post further or for any queries you may have, please contact: 

Fleur Loveridge, Professor of Geo-Energy Engineering

(https://eps.leeds.ac.uk/civil-engineering/staff/861/professor-fleur-loveridge)

Tel: +44 (0)113 343 2248

Email: f.a.loveridge@leeds.ac.uk

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