Experimental Characterization and Modeling of Liquid Jets Impacting a Rotating Surface
Direction Mobilité et Systèmes

IFP Energies nouvelles (IFPEN) est un acteur majeur de la recherche et de la formation dans les domaines de l’énergie, du transport et de l’environnement. De la recherche à l’industrie, l’innovation technologique est au cœur de son action, articulée autour de quatre priorités stratégiques : CLIMAT, ENVIRONNEMENT ET ÉCONOMIE CIRCULAIRE, ÉNERGIES RENOUVELABLES, MOBILITÉ DURABLE et HYDROCARBURES RESPONSABLES.

L’engagement d’IFPEN en faveur d’un mix énergétique durable se traduit par des actions visant :

• à gagner en efficacité énergétique ;
• à réduire les émissions de CO2 et de polluants ;
• à améliorer l’empreinte environnementale de l’industrie et des transports ;

tout en répondant à la demande mondiale en mobilité, en énergie et en produits pour la chimie.

Dans cet objectif, IFPEN développe des solutions permettant, d’une part, d’utiliser des sources d’énergie alternatives et, d’autre part, d’améliorer les technologies existantes liées à l’exploitation des énergies fossiles.

Experimental Characterization and Modeling of Liquid Jets Impacting a Rotating Surface

The thermal management of electric motors is essential to increase their power density while ensuring reliability and durability. Cooling active parts such as coil heads with oil jets is a promising approach. However, the resulting flows are particularly complex, both from the perspective of physical understanding and numerical modeling.

Objectives

Among the many physical issues (thin liquid film, heat transfer, film destabilization by air, etc.), this internship will focus on the impact of the rotation of the impact surface on the hydrodynamics of an oil jet.

An experimental setup allowing the characterization of oil jets impacting a horizontal wall is currently in place at IFPEN. It will be adapted to study the hydraulic jump (shape and location) and measure the film thickness upstream and downstream of the jump, for different oil flow rates and rotational speeds. Velocity measurements in the film may also be carried out.

The results will be compared to analytical models from the literature and numerical simulations (which will be conducted in parallel with this internship). Depending on progress, the impact of a textured, also rotating, surface may also be studied.

Profile

Master’s degree or final year of engineering school (Bac +5).

• Strong knowledge of fluid mechanics, motivated by an experimental topic.
• Skills in data analysis, problem-solving, and proficiency in software such as MATLAB or Python.
• Proactive mindset, ability to work independently and collaboratively.

Keywords : Electric machine cooling, fluid dynamics, experimentation.

Duration and period of the internship : 6 months, from February/March to August/September 2027.
Location : Rueil-Malmaison