Silvio Schmalfuß

Researcher at TROPOS - Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research

Leipzig, Saxony, Germany

About

10+ years of experience in academic and industrial research (mechnical process engineering, automotive industry, pharmaceutical industry) with main focusses on - Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) for multiphase flows with OpenFOAM, including solver and library development (C++) and writing tools for post processing (Python) - Mechanical engineering (basic design ideas, CAD, calculations, ...) - Laboratory work (mainly flow measurements with LDA, PDA, CTA)

Experience

  • Researcher at Leibniz-Institut für Troposphärenforschung e.V. (TROPOS)
    Aug 2017 - Present · 9 yrs

    I am working as an engineer at the turbulent moist air wind tunnel LACIS-T (Turbulent Leipzig Aerosol Cloud Interaction Simulator). I am responsible for the setup, maintenance, extension etc. of the wind tunnel itself and auxiliary components like measurement systems. We carry out experiments in the fields of aerosol and cloud droplet microphysics, turbulence, and the interaction between these. Exemplary measurement tools are Laser Doppler, Phase Doppler, and Constant Temperature Anemometry. To supplement the experiments I develop CFD libraries for OpenFOAM and run simulations that resemble the experiments. Employed techniques include conjugate heat transfer, Euler-Lagrange particle tracking, Large Eddy Simulations. At the mechanical engineering side I do CAD with SolidWorks and run CFD simulations for the design of new components.

  • Researcher at The Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg
    May 2014 - Jun 2017 · 3 yrs 2 mos

    I worked at several scientific projects at the chair of mechanical process engineering run by Prof. Martin Sommerfeld, and did extensive analysis of a novel mixing apparatus, a medical inhalor, and a car exhaust gas sensor for soot detection). My main tool for this was OpenFOAM. Besides simply using it, I also implemented own solvers and extended existing libraries according to the needs of the projects. Furthermore, I was involved in lab work, mainly with Laser Doppler Anemometry, and I was one of two admins of the chair's local compute cluster.

  • Researcher at University of Applied Science Merseburg
    Jul 2009 - Mar 2013 · 3 yrs 9 mos

    I did the mechanical design (CAD, calculations like necessary power input, stress analysis, ...), physical setup and thorough testing (general behaviour of the system, mixing characteristics, flow measurements, ...) for a novel, stirrer-less mixing apparatus. Afterwards I focussed on the numerical simulation of the multiphase flows inside the apparatus with OpenFOAM, employing Volume-of-Fluid and Euler-Lagrange approaches.

  • Student Intern at MAN ROLAND DRUCKMASCHINEN AG
    Apr 2007 - Aug 2007 · 5 mos

    I did the obligatory internship of my studies at the development department of the rotary printing press manufacturer MAN Roland. My main task was to exploit possible improvements and novelties in machine configurations. From this work, two patents were filed.