Yann Bartosiewicz obtained his PhD in mechanical engineering from U. of Sherbrooke, Canada in 2003. After a position of research scientist at Natural Ressources Canada, he joined UCLouvain in september 2005 as assistant professor. Since 2013 he is associate professor at UCLouvain in the division of thermodynamics and fluid mechanics (TFL) which he lead between 2012-2016. His teaching duties include thermodynamics, thermal cycles and nuclear thermal-hydraulics. He is also an academic member of the Belgian Nuclear Education Network (BNEN) which he chaired between 2012-2016.
His research interest covers :
- numerical simulation and experiment in thermodynamic,
- fluid mechanics and heat transfer for applications in energy systems,
- nuclear thermal-hydraulics.
For energy systems his research focusses on the investigation of supersonic ejectors to be used in waste heat recovery technologies as well as two-phase ejectors to be used in heat pumps. Those investigations are carried out at the component scale by as well as at the system scale. In both cas a balance is achieved between numerical simulations (CFD, system modeling) and experiments (local flow measurement/visualization within an ejector and full system experiment).
In this field the collaborations includes Natural ressources Canada, University of Sherbrooke, Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Firenze, EDF (Electricité De France), Polish academy of sciences.
For nuclear thermal-hydraulics, the research is essentially conducted by numerical simulation. The main research topic concerning GENII/GENIII reactors is the simulation of two-phase choking occurring during the flashing of a liquid (application to a Loss of Coolant Accident) other two-phase flows situation related to safety. For future reactors (GENIV) the research is focussed on the simulation of turbulent heat transfer in liquid metals under different conditions; this includes direct numerical simulations (DNS), Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) and Reynolds Averaged Simulation (RANS). This research in thermal-hydraulics is essentially achieved through the participation in EU projects with many collaborators (EDF, CEA, NRG, SCK•CEN, VKI, etc.). More information ...
Philippe Chatelain obtained his doctorate in aeronautics and applied mathematics from Caltech in 2005. After a research associate position at ETH Zurich, he is since 2009 professor of aeronautical mechanics at UCLouvain. His research interests cover :
- fluid mechanics,
- Lagrangian numerical methods, their deployment in HPC environment, and their application to fundamental problems as well as more applied ones in bio-propulsion,
- aeronautics and wind energy.
His work in these last two thematics led in 2013 to the launch of Wake Prediction Technologies, a spin-off company which offers services in studying and modelling aircraft and wind turbine wakes.
He also collaborates with the von Karman Institute, ULg and Cenaero on aerothermal flows past Thermal Protection Systems. Other collaborations include UMons, UCLA, Caltech,UIUC, DTU and ETHZ. More information ...
Francesco Contino focuses his research effort on four strands: Energy systems, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations of reactive systems, Real Driving Emissions and Robust Optimisation — optimisation combined with uncertainty quantification. About energy systems, he works at micro and macro levels to understand what are the key drivers to help us succeed the energy transition. For numerical simulations, he has developed a reduction method (TDAC), in collaboration with Politecnico di Milano, to use detailed mechanisms in CFD simulation; it is included in the official release of OpenFOAM. Francesco Contino also works on real driving emissions of passenger cars and heavy duty; he includes uncertainties in emission factors and uses Portable Emissions Measurement System (PEMS). Finally, he works on making robust design optimisation affordable by working on efficient optimiser and fast uncertainty quantification methods.
He received his degree in electro-mechanical engineering from the Université catholique de Louvain in 2006. He has spent one year learning Chinese in Nankai University, Tianjin, China. He then performed his Ph.D. thesis at UCLouvain between 2007 and 2011 as a Research Fellow of the Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique - FNRS. In 2011-2012, he had a post-doc position at Université d'Orléans, where he worked on the impact of valerate esters on engine performances. In October 2012, he joined the Vrije Universiteit Brussel as Assistant Professor. In 2018, he was appointed Associate Professor in the same university. Since 2019, he is Associate Professor at UCLouvain. He is member of the board of the Belgian Automotive Engineers (www.ubia.be) and Chairman of the Belgian Section of the Combustion Institute (www.combustioninstitute.org).
During his PhD, he has also developed a passion for efficient scientific communication and was among the finalists of Famelab 2015. In the context of his teaching activities, Francesco Contino has also been working with Stefanie Van Damme on a workshop for high-school students about the science behind combustion and explosion: "Will it burn or will it blow?". More information...
Hervé Jeanmart obtained a mechanical engineering degree from UCLouvain in 1996 and then his PhD in fluid mechanics in 2002 from the same University. After a post-doctoral experience at the University of Stuttgart (team of Prof. Weigand) in 2003 on the internal cooling of gas turbines, he came back at UCLouvain as an associate professor in 2004.
His teaching activities cover basic and applied thermodynamics, internal combustion engines and renewable energy.
His research activities cover topics related to combustion, and more specifically, biomass thermochemical conversion including gasification, combustion and operationnal issues, combustion of gases in HCCI engines and combustion kinetics. Recently, he started a new interdisciplinary activity on the Energy Return on Investment of renewable energy and its impact on the society.
Research collaboration includes ULB, VUB, Umons, CIRAD, CEA, University of Lille and University of Orléans. He also collaborates with the University of Kinshasa, the University of Ouagadougou and the 2iE. More information ...
Miltiadis Papalexandris received an MSc degree in Naval Architecture & Marine Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens and MSc and PhD degrees in Aeronautics from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Soon after the completion of his PhD, he joined the Engineering Staff of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. While at NASA, he worked mainly on thermal control and optical modeling of space telescopes, including the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and the Laser Interferometry Space Antenna (LISA). In 2002 he became a member of the academic personnel (faculty) at UCLouvain where he remains until now. He is the recipient of the William Balhaus Dissertation Prize of Caltech, NASA's Space Act Award, and the NOVA Award of Excellence of NASA. Prof. Papalexandris is an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).
The research activities of his group lie primarily on the fields of Theoretical and Computational Fluid Dynamics with particular emphasis on the fundamentals of multi-phase flows, complex fluids, and reacting flows. These activities cover: i) development of mathematical models for the flows of interest, ii) algorithm development and implementation for these models, iii) software verification and validation, and iv) detailed numerical studies and simulations via high performance computing. More information ...
Grégoire Winckelmans obtained a mechanical engineer degree from UCLouvain (1983), a postgraduate degree in aeronautics and aerospace from the von Karman Institute (VKI, 1984), a M.S. degree (1985) and a Ph.D. degree (1989) in aeronautics from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). He was senior scientist at STD Research Corp. until 1992, then postdoc at Caltech until 1993, then assistant professor at U. of Sherbrooke. He joined UCL in 1996 and is full professor since 2007. His service duties include: member of the “Conseil d’Administration” of Cenaero (since 2003), of Skywin aerospace cluster of Wallonia (since 2006), president of the mechanical engineering dept. (2007-2009), then of iMMC (2009 -2015).
His research interests cover fluid mechanics, and more specifically turbulent flows, together with their numerical simulation (DNS, LES) deployed in HPC, and their modelling; advanced numerical methods (eulerian, lagrangian, hybrid vortex particle-mesh (VPM) method) and subgrid-scale modelling (also multi-scale); vortical and turbulent flows: wakes of aircraft, wind turbines, rotorcraft.
He and the research group worked on many projects devoted to aircraft wake vortices since 1994: Canadian project (VFS), EC projects (I-WAKE, ATC-WAKE, AWIATOR, WakeNet2-Europe, FAR-WAKE, FLYSAFE, CREDOS, WakeNet3-Europe, GREEN-Wake, UFO), RW project (LASEF), research contracts in projects (TBS, WIDAO, SESAR 6.8.1 for Eurocontrol, SESAR 12.2.2 for Thales, SESAR 9.11 and 9.30 for Airbus), service contracts (Airbus). They also developed the WAKE4D software for operational modelling of aircraft wake vortices, and developed metrics for the assessment of wake hazard (also for RECAT-EU and for RECAT2-EU). He his co-founder, with Prof. Philippe Chatelain and Dr. Ivan De Visscher, of Wake Prediction Technologies (WaPT): a UCL spin-off created in 2013; also built on the expertise developed in the simulation and modelling of aircraft wakes and wind turbine wakes (since 2010).
Research collaborations include Caltech, Stanford (CTR), Cenaero, UMons and DTU. More information ...
Invited Faculty
Hamid ït Abderrahim is a nuclear engineer and reactor physicist. A graduate from South Paris University, he chose to conduct his doctoral research at the Belgian Nuclear Resaerch Centre in 1984. He has stayed in Belgium ever since. In 1996, he set up the MYRRHA project to develop an innovative research infrastructure in close collaboration with various research centres and European universities among them UCLouvain. In 2006, he became director of one of the scientific institutes of SCK•CEN before being appointed as Deputy Director-General in 2010.