Direct numerical simulation of phase change

This page summarises my master and PhD research on phase-change physics, with an emphasis on direct numerical simulation (DNS) and model development. This work was done at the Laboratory of Scientific Computing & Modelling of the Paul Scherrer Institute, Switzerland.

Focus

Investigated fundamental mechanisms in phase-change phenomena, especially nucleate boiling, by developing and applying state-of-the-art DNS software.

What I did

• Designed and implemented novel high-fidelity simulation workflows for phase-change problems.
• Verified and validated developed computational models.
• Analyzed the resulting data to understand key drivers.
• Translated findings into novel physics insights.
• Collaborated with international partners at several institutions, such as the Massachussetts Institute of Technology and the Kyushu Institute of Technology.
• Published scientific papers, presented at conferences and workshops, supervised students.

Outcomes

• Contributed significantly to the PSI-BOIL DNS software, adding and/or rewriting more than 100'000 lines of its C++ codebase.
• Obtained foundational results for my master and PhD theses. Awarded the ENEN 2022 PhD prize for my work.
• Published six peer-reviewed first-author journal papers as well as four peer-reviewed first-author conference papers. Several of the papers have been highly cited with my work contributing both to the state-of-the-art DNS algorithm development and to the understanding of physics of nucleate boiling.