The general scopes of the research projects at each university (as part of an integrated project) have already been specified as per the abstract below.  Studies conducted at the University of Pretoria are to be experimental in nature in evaporation/condensation heat transfer while those at the Universities of Mauritius and Lagos are to be numerically based on condensation and evaporation respectively.  Specialist training and measurements in evaporation heat transfer is to be hosted at Imperial College (London). 

Guidelines / Requirements:

• Candidates must be able to commence with the project by middle 2016.
• Candidates must have suitable academic qualifications and research experience (selection made based on merit).
• Candidates must be citizens of Sub-Saharan Africa Countries
• Candidates must be in their early career phase towards becoming talented research cadres.
• Applications are open to everybody, but female candidates are specifically encouraged to apply.
• Candidates must be willing to travel between the African universities and Imperial College (London) for training and research visits for up to 3 months per year.

Applications process: Interested applicants should forward an introductory letter, full academic record, CV, and two reference letters to Carin Van Zyl: [email protected] 

Enquiries:

Prof Josua Meyer, Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering, University of Pretoria, [email protected]

Associate Prof. Khalil Elahee, Engineering, University of Mauritius, [email protected] 

Dr. Olabode Olakoyejo, Engineering, University of Lagos, [email protected]

Closing date:  28 February 2016

Title of project: Harnessing unsteady phase-change heat exchange in high-performance concentrated solar power systems

Abstract: Electricity production via concentrated solar power is a promising renewable energy technology, especially in the case of Africa. Solar plants based on direct steam generation have advantages over plants that employ secondary fluids in solar collectors (e.g. oils or molten salts), including: higher steam temperatures and plant efficiencies, and reduced pumping power. Such plants operate in inherently time-varying conditions, due to variations in cloud coverage, ambient conditions and diurnal irradiance, thus giving rise to significant fluid flow and heat transfer unsteadiness. While work has been done towards understanding steady state operation, unsteady phenomena remain unexplored. The main aims of this project are to conduct fundamental research using advanced experimental and numerical methods on flow with phase-change (boiling and condensation) heat transfer in the presence of unsteadiness, and to use the data to develop system models that can describe transient plant performance.