Help solve a key challenge in greenhouse horticulture: design high resolution microclimate observation networks to enable energy savings by optimizing the growth microclimate for greenhouse crops.
The crop microclimate plays a vital role in optimizing productivity of greenhouse crops, yet accurate knowledge of variations in greenhouse microclimates remains limited. In particular, understanding of the interactions between crop vegetation structure and their microclimate environment remains a challenge. In this PhD research you will develop CFD models at different scales, from 2D and 3D techniques resolving the plant‑structure and flows at the leaf‑to‑plant scale, to multi‑layered plant‑climate models resolving canopy‑scale fluxes to porous media models representing airflow and fluxes at the full greenhouse or vertical farm scale. An important challenge in connecting these models lies in a proper representation of the aerodynamic and flux resistances and plant‑climate interactions at each hierarchical scale.
Your research will focus on numerical CFD modeling using adaptive grids to represent the leaf‑plant‑canopy climate gradients and fluxes for improved prediction of crop‑climate interactions. You will start by implementing a geometric idealised plant model in the CFD model to represent the plant structure and study the impact of airflows on turbulence and aerodynamic resistance inside the canopy and on heat diffusion and temperature penetration in response to radiation. Results will be compared with experimental data collected by another PhD researcher in the same project. A next step will be to extend the CFD model with mass fluxes of CO2 and water vapour and study the impact of airflows and sensible heat flux on mass fluxes and their associated source and sink terms from the vegetation. Based on these findings you will develop conceptual representations using resistance analogies, to transfer the identified relationships to a multi‑layer model structure that can be used at the greenhouse scale.
You will work in close collaboration with a team of PhD researchers and postdocs as well as project partners from industry and the horticulture sector. Therefore, communication skills and proven ability to work productively in a team are very important. You will work closely with two supervisors – Marie‑Claire ten Veldhuis (experimental expertise) and Bas van de Wiel (theoretical expertise) – and a dedicated technician. This team‑oriented supervision approach has proven effective in previous projects, with weekly joint whiteboard sessions.
Job requirements- Hold an MSc in applied physics, atmospheric science, or a related field.
- Have proven relevant project/thesis experience with complex CFD simulations.
- Be a team player and enjoy interdisciplinary collaboration.
- Have a good command of written and spoken English.
Doctoral candidates will be offered a 4‑year period of employment in principle, but in the form of two employment contracts. An initial 1.5‑year contract with an official go/no‑go progress assessment within 15 months, followed by an additional contract for the remaining 2.5 years assuming everything goes well and performance requirements are met.
Salary and benefitsSalary and benefits are in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities, increasing from €3,059 to €3,881 gross per month, from the first year to the fourth year based on a full‑time contract (38 hours), plus 8% holiday allowance and an end‑of‑year bonus of 8.3%.
Additional notesPersonal data will be processed for the risk assessment conducted by TU Delft, carried out on the legal basis of the GDPR: performing a public task in the public interest.
#J-18808-Ljbffr€3059 - €3881 monthly