Renato Montillo

During my master's degree in environmental engineering, my interest in mathematical modeling of physical phenomena grew, especially when applied to complex problems. For this reason, after completing my master's degree, I started a new master's degree in mathematical engineering, which led me to the course on environmental fluid dynamics taught by my current mentor. After the course ended, my professor gave me the opportunity to start a PhD in mathematical modeling of turbulence and noise, which immediately caught my attention as an interesting topic. However, I had no prior knowledge of noise theory and very little understanding of turbulence modeling. I had to start studying noise theory from scratch and delve into turbulence modeling in much greater detail than before.

Our goal is to create a mathematical model capable of evaluating the noise generated by sophisticated hydraulic machines such as pumps and turbines, using the Lighthill analogy and a deep study of turbulent fields. My research team is in constant contact with an Italian industry, which is interested in producing silent pumps for domestic use. Thanks to this collaboration, we have the opportunity to build a model and validate it with experimental data obtained from their laboratories.

The research is based on the study of turbulence models, such as Large Eddy Simulation and Wall-modeled Large Eddy Simulation, to obtain the flow fields of a generic fluid flow. The Lighthill theory is then applied to the obtained fields to estimate the noise source, and the Lighthill wave equation is solved to determine the noise propagation. The use of Matlab and Openfoam is crucial in this regard.

The objective of the research is to obtain a comprehensive model capable of providing well-validated results from experimental tests. For the moment, a functional model has been built for simple geometries, and in the near future, it is believed that it will be possible to obtain a functional model for complex geometries and complex motion conditions.