The newly established group of Environmental Fluid Mechanics at the Institute of Environmental Engineering at ETH Zurich (Switzerland) focuses on organism-flow interactions and particle transport in environmental flows.
We have an opening for 3 PhD positions:
PhD Position 1: The first project focuses on the mixing of inertial particles across a density interface, a problem of importance in environmental problems such as the dispersion of contaminants in stratified flows. The successful candidate will conduct particle tracking experiments and direct numerical simulations (DNS) to explore:
- interfacial motions and development of instabilities at the density interface,
- transport velocities of neutral and inertial particles across the interface,
- clustering and dispersion of inertial particles
PhD Position 2: Most microorganisms in aquatic ecosystems are associated with solid-liquid interfaces, where they form complicated three-dimensional structures known as biofilms. The experimental project focuses on the growth of biofilms in porous media with the purpose to characterize the coupling between hydrodynamics and biofilm structure, and in particular to:
- study the relation between biofilm attachment and detachment and shear; do certain biofilm shapes represent an ecological advantage and why?
- investigate the formation of filamentous biofilm streamers
- quantify the influence of the evolving biofilm structure on local nutrient supply.
PhD Position 3: Here the subject of study is the permeable sediment bed of a river as an important component of the riverine habitat. Through measurements in the laboratory and in the field we want to characterize:
- the interaction between surface and subsurface flows and associated exchange of mass, momentum and passive substances,
- the re-suspension of fine particles and dissolved matter and its deposition into the interstices of the coarser porous bed (clogging),
- the ecological feedback mechanisms affecting residing organisms.
