Helmholtz awards PhD Prize 2024
David Marschalsky
Dr Michael Bergmann from the Institute of Propulsion Technology is the DLR-winner of the Helmholtz Doctorate Award. Helmholtz President Prof. Otmar Wiestler presented him with the award on 29 April in Berlin. Bergmann's thesis deals with the development of a numerical simulation tool based on the Discontinuous Galerkin method for the highly-accurate simulation of flows in turbomachinery.
Scale-resolving simulations, in which not only the mean flow but also the high-energy turbulent scales of a flow are resolved, allow the aerodynamic behaviour of turbomachinery components to be predicted without significant model errors. These simulations help to reduce the inaccuracies of current simulation models and have the potential to replace component bench tests in the development process of new turbomachinery designs, thus saving development time and costs. They are therefore seen as a crucial building block for climate-neutral aviation.
The flow solver developed by Dr Bergmann offers significant efficiency advantages over previously available methods, bringing the use of computationally intensive, scale-resolving simulations closer to industrial practice. The developed framework was integrated into the simulation system for turbomachinery flows TRACE, which has been continuously developed at DLR since 1989 and is used by the industrial partners MTU Aero Engines AG and Siemens Energy AG for the design processes of turbomachinery components.
The next major step in the transfer of research to industry is the industrialisation of the process. To this end, two projects involving industry have been launched in 2024: the DLR-led EU project Sci-Fi-Turbo from the Horizon 2023-24 research programme in cooperation with GE Aviation Germany. The TurboHyTec project from the joint project AG-Turbo in cooperation with MTU Aero Engines AG, which will increase the flexibility of the newly developed flow solver with regard to industrial processes.
About the Helmholtz PhD Prize
Every year, the Helmholtz Association awards the Helmholtz PhD Prize for the best doctoral theses. The aim of the Helmholtz Doctoral Prize is to encourage doctoral candidates to embark on a scientific career and to carry out mission-oriented top-level research, and to help shape the transfer of science to society at an early stage.
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Annabel Brückmann