High performance frequency solver for blade-tip/casing contacts
Top Benefits
About the role
High performance frequency solver for blade-tip/casing contacts
Réf ABG-132854
Sujet de Thèse
10/07/2025
Contrat doctoral
École Polytechnique de Montréal
Lieu de travail
Montréal - Canada
Intitulé du sujet
High performance frequency solver for blade-tip/casing contacts
Champs scientifiques
- Sciences de l’ingénieur
Mots clés
vibrations, nonlinear dynamics, aircraft engines, rotor/stator interactions
Description du sujet
Context and objectives
More stringent environmental constraints and a very competitive global context force manufacturers to face new challenges in order to improve the efficiency of turbomachines, be it in the aerospace sector or for power generation. The impossibility to compromise safety or the environmental footprint of such systems means that in early design stages designers must now understand and account for nonlinear vibration phenomena - such as blade/casing contacts - that are still only partially characterized today. The proposed Ph.D. project is part of a larger research program that aims at developing a numerical strategy for the simulation, the characterization and the consideration of blade/casing contact phenomena within compressor blade design stages using two complementary solution paradigms: in the time domain and in the frequency domain. This research program will give the opportunity to both industrial partners to share their common knowledge and expertise on this topic in order to develop a uniform numerical tool suited both for gas turbines blades and aircraft engine blades.
The proposed research has three main objectives:
-
Industrial implementation of the regularized-Lanczos harmonic balance method. (RL-HBM). Based on a previously developed methodology, this first objective aims at developing the frequency domain counterpart of an existing time domain solver.
-
Development of a numerical procedure for the live selection of relevant harmonics. While frequency methods are oftentimes considered more efficient than numerical time integration methods, the computational cost and complexity increases dramatically when a large number of nonlinear of degrees of freedom is accounted for. In this context, a live selection of relevant harmonics may significanlty improve numerical performances.
-
Detection of isolated branches of solutions. Several recent numerical developments offer promising avenues for the detection of isolated branches of solutions. Based on previous developments relating to the Melnikov principle, this objective intends to provide new insight on where isolated branches of solutions may be found.
Work environment
The selected candidate will be part of the LAVA which currently employ several researchers and graduate students working in areas closely related to that of the proposed research. All numerical developments will be made using the Python programming language. The candidate will benefit from the digital research infrastructure at LAVA (wiki website, gitlab platform, data and computation servers). The candidate will have the opportunity to supervise undergraduate students throughout the duration of the project.
Prise de fonction :
05/01/2026
Nature du financement
Contrat doctoral
Précisions sur le financement
NSERC Alliance project
Présentation établissement et labo d'accueil
École Polytechnique de Montréal
The Ph.D. thesis will be carried out in the Laboratory for Acoustics and Vibration Analysis ( https://wiki.lava.polymtl.ca/accueil ) at Polytechnique Montréal.
Intitulé du doctorat
Doctorat en génie mécanique
Pays d'obtention du doctorat
Canada
Etablissement délivrant le doctorat
ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE
Profil du candidat
The selected candidate will ideally have advanced notions of vibrations and nonlinear dynamics. A good knowledge of modelling methodologies including the finite element method is preferred. All numerical developments will be carried out using the Python programming language.
Date limite de candidature
30/09/2025
About Polytechnique Montréal
Founded in 1873, Polytechnique Montréal, technological university, is one of Canada's largest engineering teaching and research institutions. It is the Québec leader for the scope of its engineering research activities. It is located on the campus of Université de Montreal, the largest French-language university campus in the Americas. With over 49,000 graduates, Polytechnique Montréal has educated 22% of the current members of the Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec. The institution offers more than 120 programs. Polytechnique has 260 professors and 8,600 students. It has an annual operating budget of $215 million, including a research budget of $81 million.
High performance frequency solver for blade-tip/casing contacts
Top Benefits
About the role
High performance frequency solver for blade-tip/casing contacts
Réf ABG-132854
Sujet de Thèse
10/07/2025
Contrat doctoral
École Polytechnique de Montréal
Lieu de travail
Montréal - Canada
Intitulé du sujet
High performance frequency solver for blade-tip/casing contacts
Champs scientifiques
- Sciences de l’ingénieur
Mots clés
vibrations, nonlinear dynamics, aircraft engines, rotor/stator interactions
Description du sujet
Context and objectives
More stringent environmental constraints and a very competitive global context force manufacturers to face new challenges in order to improve the efficiency of turbomachines, be it in the aerospace sector or for power generation. The impossibility to compromise safety or the environmental footprint of such systems means that in early design stages designers must now understand and account for nonlinear vibration phenomena - such as blade/casing contacts - that are still only partially characterized today. The proposed Ph.D. project is part of a larger research program that aims at developing a numerical strategy for the simulation, the characterization and the consideration of blade/casing contact phenomena within compressor blade design stages using two complementary solution paradigms: in the time domain and in the frequency domain. This research program will give the opportunity to both industrial partners to share their common knowledge and expertise on this topic in order to develop a uniform numerical tool suited both for gas turbines blades and aircraft engine blades.
The proposed research has three main objectives:
-
Industrial implementation of the regularized-Lanczos harmonic balance method. (RL-HBM). Based on a previously developed methodology, this first objective aims at developing the frequency domain counterpart of an existing time domain solver.
-
Development of a numerical procedure for the live selection of relevant harmonics. While frequency methods are oftentimes considered more efficient than numerical time integration methods, the computational cost and complexity increases dramatically when a large number of nonlinear of degrees of freedom is accounted for. In this context, a live selection of relevant harmonics may significanlty improve numerical performances.
-
Detection of isolated branches of solutions. Several recent numerical developments offer promising avenues for the detection of isolated branches of solutions. Based on previous developments relating to the Melnikov principle, this objective intends to provide new insight on where isolated branches of solutions may be found.
Work environment
The selected candidate will be part of the LAVA which currently employ several researchers and graduate students working in areas closely related to that of the proposed research. All numerical developments will be made using the Python programming language. The candidate will benefit from the digital research infrastructure at LAVA (wiki website, gitlab platform, data and computation servers). The candidate will have the opportunity to supervise undergraduate students throughout the duration of the project.
Prise de fonction :
05/01/2026
Nature du financement
Contrat doctoral
Précisions sur le financement
NSERC Alliance project
Présentation établissement et labo d'accueil
École Polytechnique de Montréal
The Ph.D. thesis will be carried out in the Laboratory for Acoustics and Vibration Analysis ( https://wiki.lava.polymtl.ca/accueil ) at Polytechnique Montréal.
Intitulé du doctorat
Doctorat en génie mécanique
Pays d'obtention du doctorat
Canada
Etablissement délivrant le doctorat
ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE
Profil du candidat
The selected candidate will ideally have advanced notions of vibrations and nonlinear dynamics. A good knowledge of modelling methodologies including the finite element method is preferred. All numerical developments will be carried out using the Python programming language.
Date limite de candidature
30/09/2025
About Polytechnique Montréal
Founded in 1873, Polytechnique Montréal, technological university, is one of Canada's largest engineering teaching and research institutions. It is the Québec leader for the scope of its engineering research activities. It is located on the campus of Université de Montreal, the largest French-language university campus in the Americas. With over 49,000 graduates, Polytechnique Montréal has educated 22% of the current members of the Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec. The institution offers more than 120 programs. Polytechnique has 260 professors and 8,600 students. It has an annual operating budget of $215 million, including a research budget of $81 million.