MSCA - Postdoctoral Fellowships (PF) on “Modelling of Cavitation Dynamics in Liquid Rocket Turbopumps to Address Cavitation-Induced Flow and Rotordynamics Instabilities”

Research project description

Cavitation dynamics continue to pose a significant risk in the development and operation of launch vehicle (LV) propulsion systems. In addition to generating unsteady loads that can directly damage turbopump hardware, cavitation dynamics often couples with LV fluid feed systems, producing system wide instabilities (such as POGO) that can cause catastrophic failures. Despite its importance, the current understanding of cavitation dynamics is limited. There is a critical need for more in-depth characterization of the cavitation dynamics in turbopump inducers to avoid flow and rotordynamics instability. The research activities will start from the mathematical framework already developed at the University of Pisa and will be focused on the consolidation, development and validation of the reduced order model on already available experimental data at University of Pisa and in open literature.

The research activities will be carried out under the supervision of Prof. Angelo Pasini.

Eligibility criteria

Applicants must have a PhD degree at the time of the deadline for applications (13^th September 2023). Applicants who have successfully defended their doctoral thesis but who have not yet formally been awarded the doctoral degree will also be considered eligible to apply.

At the call deadline, the applicant must have a maximum of 8 years experience in research, from the date of the award of their PhD degree. Years of experience outside research and career breaks will not count towards the above maximum, nor will years of experience in research in third countries, for nationals or long-term residents of EU Member States or Horizon Europe Associated Countries who wish to reintegrate to Europe.

Mobility Rule: The applicant may be of any nationality but must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Italy (for European Fellowships) or the host organisation for the outgoing phase (in case of Global Fellowship) for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately before 13^th September 2023.

Application procedure

Expressions of interest must be sent by email to angelo.pasini@unipi.it no later than the 10^th of June 2023 and must consist of two pdf files:

1. Complete and updated CV, clearly demonstrating all 3 eligibility requirements.
2. Motivation letter, maximum one page.