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As fuels undergo thermal stressing, they degrade and deposit on wetted surfaces which can be detrimental for the performance, efficiency and maintenance of an engine. So far, work on thermal degradation has been focused on the chemical kinetics and less on the physical mechanism of insoluble attachment on the surface.

Recently, potential molecular structures for insolubles have been proposed, and the aim of this study is to investigate numerically the process by which deposit formation occurs at the wetted surface by using a multi-scale approach. This approach will combine classical CFD with lower scale methods to develop a model by which the attachment to the wall can be described accurately so it can be subsequently used in pure CFD methodologies which are less computationally demanding.

This work will provide a deeper understanding of the wall attachment process and therefore assist in the future development of deposition models. Such models can then be used for fuel system design and heat exchangers where this problem has a detrimental impact on operating efficiency.

This is a self-funded PhD.

For informal enquiries contact Dr Spiridon Siouris (s.siouris@sheffield.ac.uk).