Design and Process Engineering
· Designing, construction, calculation, technology of manufacturing, technical preparation of manufacturing including assembly and testing,
· Thermal and nuclear power plant devices such as steam and combustion turbines, steam generators, steam power plants and heating plants including nuclear power stations, industrial power engineering and their environmental aspects,
· Water turbines, hydrodynamic and hydrostatic pumps, piping systems, hydroelectric power plants, and pumping stations,
· Machinary and devices for chemical industry, food-stuff industry, and biotechnological treatment lines,
· Construction, modelling and theoretical studies of machines and devices for cutting, forming machines, industrial robots, and manipulators,
· Machine parts and mechanisms, methodology of designing machine elements and working mechanisms of general application with consideration of stochastic qualities of inputs, including the application of special types of machines and devices,
· Cars, vans and lorries, buses, trailers, semi-trailers, and motorcycles,
· Combustion engines for all types of vehicle drives, simulation of combustion engine thermomechanical systems, dynamics of driving gear, engine accessories, ecology,
· Machines and devices for in-plant handling of material and handling between operations, for the mining and transport of building materials, for passenger conveyance in buildings,
· Aerodynamic calculation and designing, flight mechanics, fatigue and durability of aircraft constructions, aeroelasticity of aircraft,
· Quality of machine industry production.

prof. Ing. Václav Píštěk, DrSc.

1. Assessment of energy consumption by specific industrial processes

   The objective of the doctoral project is to implement a sophisticated approach for evaluation and optimisation of energy-consuming process. Specific representative of this process is professional laundry care. The following tasks will be solved: • Development of methodology for energy intensity evaluation of professional laundry care process, • Process modelling and simulation aimed at its optimization including energy consumption and other operational costs, • Experimental and operational data acquisition and their subsequent processing, • Validation of analytical models based on experimental and operational data, • Case studies.

   Supervisor: Stehlík Petr, prof. Ing., CSc., dr. h. c.

2. Experimental research of flow and heat transfer for petro-chemistry and energy sources

   The work will be focused on the collection of highly reliable and accurate data from laboratory experiments at a large-scale combustion facility for burners up to 2 MW. The work will include error analysis, statistical data analysis and data processing, designed to support advanced combustion simulations. Attention will be directed also towards the design and construction of experimental equipment and measurement techniques, precise process control and monitoring of operating conditions in experimental combustion research. The flow in modern burners with low NOx emissions has a complex structure with a significant tangential velocity component and its experimental analysis is highly important for the validation of numerical models. It is an area of key importance for the design of gas and liquid burners, fired heaters and combustion chambers in a range of industries, mainly in petro-chemistry and power production.

   Supervisor: Hájek Jiří, doc. Ing., Ph.D.

3. Hydrogen production from biomass using dark fermentation method

   1. Initial literary search - methods of hydrogen production, hydrogen properties, possibilities of utilization and safety of hydrogen treatment 2. Experimental activities - selection of appropriate substrates for hydrogen production using "dark fermentation" method, opting optimum operation conditions and proper method of maintaining low partial pressure of hydrogen in the reactor 3. Design of unit prototype for hydrogen production (including design of reactor and peripheries), production and testing 4. Heat balance of hydrogen production using dark fermentation method, including proposal for gas cleaning and its potential utilization and subsequent assessment of profitability of hydrogen production from biomass.

   Supervisor: Hájek Jiří, doc. Ing., Ph.D.

4. Modeling and analysis of heat transfer equipment for high temperature applications

   The work will be focused on modelling and analysis of function and design solution of heat transfer equipment for high temperature applications in the process and power systems, where at least one heat transfer fluid in the equipment reaching high working temperature (above 250°C). The purpose is to perform complex 3D modelling of thermal and hydraulic processes of operating fluids in heat transfer equipment for specific applications with the aid of present CFD facilities and analysis of fluids behaviour influence to structural solution of equipment. Included will be also discussion of the structural and material aspects of solutions and aspects of control and measurement of equipment. The work will include also confrontation of calculated values with results of operating measurement or experimental verification of analysed equipment, especially focused on verification of heat duties, film heat transfer coefficients and fluids pressure drops.

   Supervisor: Jegla Zdeněk, prof. Ing., Ph.D.

5. Modern methods of modelling unsteady flows for petro-chemistry and energy sources

   In practice there are a number of instances, where flow is not only turbulent, but also contains large fluctuations, which posed significant difficulties for older turbulence models. The development of models for turbulent flows has however recently led to several promising directions, among which is especially prominent the so-called scale-adaptive simulation (SAS) due to its good practicability. Subject of the work will be the application of advanced turbulence models connected with adequate description of chemical reactions and heat transfer by radiation for the prediction of complex flows like for example swirling flow in industrial burners. Numerical simulations will be analyzed using data measured at a large-scale combustion facility. The objective of this work is to develop an up-to-date modelling methodology which will provide high quality predictions and at the same time will have acceptable computational costs in simulation of practical units.

   Supervisor: Hájek Jiří, doc. Ing., Ph.D.

6. Simulation of heat and mass transport in porous media

   Heat and mass transport in porous media is present in a range of practical processes – from lime burning, through catalytic reactors and grate combustion, to the drying of porous materials. Modelling of these processes is therefore a practical tool for the design and analysis of a number of widely used devices. In this work, the student will develop and implement a simulation tool for the modelling of processes and equipment, where heat and mass transport in porous media plays a key role. Existing computational methods will be further developed and adapted to concrete processes and equipment. In the development will be used the MATLAB numerical computing environment.

   Supervisor: Hájek Jiří, doc. Ing., Ph.D.