Context
The development of the shipbuilding industry and the imperatives of the energy transition urging for the reduction of emissions are at the origin of new needs and consequently of new research subjects, both in the academia and in the research and development activities of industrial players in the sector. Different directions of research have thus emerged, among which: reduction of hydrodynamic resistance (particularly in wave), hydrodynamic/sail multimodal propulsion, and clean fuels. The LHEEA laboratory at Centrale Nantes, a joint research unit of the CNRS, works on these fields of research and aims to strengthen its position in these first two directions with this position of permanent researcher.
The Ecole Centrale de Nantes, a historic French actor in research and training in naval hydrodynamics, is located in a pioneering region of the naval industry. This regional anchoring of the shipbuilding industry has been coupled in recent times with the development of the industrial fabric of marine renewable energies (MRE). At the same time, the LHEEA has extended its research in this field of MREs where it is the French leader, in particular through its experimental platforms: Ocean engineering tanks and SEM-REV test site where the first floating offshore wind turbine in France is tested.
The LHEEA develops dual expertise for marine engineering in the broad sense. On the one hand, the LHEEA investigates numerical methods for free surface hydrodynamics in this field, with numerous edited or open-source software. And on the other hand, it develops experimental methods in its large infrastructures dedicated to the small-scale experimentation of ships or offshore structures, with a towing tank (140mx5mx3m) and an ocean engineering tank (50mx30mx5m), both equipped with wave generators, and a circulation channel.
A number of medium/long-term collaborations have been initiated with major industrial partners such as Bureau Veritas, Naval Group, or CMA-CGM. In addition to its fundamental academic research activities, the laboratory is part of an applied research approach, which implies in particular the implementation of a quality approach that complements the usual methods for the scientific approach and integrity.
Part of the research in naval hydrodynamics at the LHEEA Lab is currently carried out within the IIHNE research group (Interfaces and Interactions in Numerical and Experimental Hydrodynamics). Various numerical activities are undertaken around the development of low-fidelity models (often built on potential flow theory) and high-fidelity ones (resolution of Navier-Stokes equations with CFD solvers). At the experimental level, the tests carried out aim at, e.g., identifying the loadings in extreme sea leading to structural damage of ships, or studying the loadings or movements of ships in waves.
Role and tasks
The IIHNE research group of the LHEEA laboratory is recruiting a permanent researcher capable of:
• Engage in and then handle parts of the existing projects on the theme of 'naval hydrodynamics' (academic and industrial collaborations).
• Support the development of simulation tools and experimental methods for the new needs of naval engineering (decarbonization, optimization, operations at sea, etc.). In particular, we are aiming for multimodal hydrodynamic/sail propulsion.
• Provide expertise in the simulation of ships propelled in waves, including maneuvering and operation at sea.
• Develop forthcoming activities, particularly in connection with data (use of ship databases and production of experimental databases, including machine learning activities).
The researcher recruited is intended to become in the medium term the main point of contact for the naval hydrodynamics activities of the LHEEA, in particular by supporting, coordinating, and establishing a strategy for the development of numerical and experimental activities in this domain.
Keywords
Ship hydrodynamics, Computational Fluid Dynamics, experimental modeling, free-surface hydrodynamics, ocean
engineering, seakeeping, maneuvering
Contract
Permanent position. Annual gross salary following national standards, depending on experience