Applicants are invited for a PhD fellowship/scholarship at Graduate School of Technical Sciences, Aarhus University, Denmark, within the Mechanical and Production Engineering programme. The position is available from 01 December 2025 or later. You can submit your application via the link under 'how to apply'.

Title:
Data-driven modeling and prediction of turbulent flows

Research area and project description:
Turbulent flows are everywhere, from nature to engineering. Common examples include atmosphere and ocean currents, blood flow in arteries, and flow through turbines, ships, and pumps. The main objective of this PhD project is to advance high-fidelity computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tools to support fast-paced engineering design and decision-making.

In this regard, this project will focus on developing physics-constrained, data-driven turbulence models for numerical simulations of turbulent flows through machine learning (ML). Data from direct numerical simulation (DNS) and experiments will be leveraged to train and validate models applicable to large-eddy simulation (LES) and Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) approaches.

From an application perspective, the developed models will be deployed in realistic scenarios, including simulations of turbulent flows over complex terrain and within wind farms, among others. This project will integrate fundamental applied mathematics and practical CFD applications.

• Project description. For technical reasons, you must upload a project description. Please simply copy the project description above and upload it as a PDF in the application.

Qualifications and specific competences:
We are looking for highly motivated and independent candidates with the intention to complete a 3-year PhD at Aarhus University. The ideal candidate is expected to have most of the following qualifications:

• Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Physics, or relevant fields.
• In-depth knowledge in fluid mechanics and turbulence.
• Experience with high-performance computing and/or machine-learning algorithms.
• Good writing and communication skills in English.

Place of employment and place of work:
The place of employment is Aarhus University, and the place of work is Department of Mechanical and Production Engineering, Aarhus Univeristy, Katrinebjergvej 89F, 8200 Aarhus N, Denmark.

Contacts:
Applicants seeking further information regarding the PhD position are invited to contact:

• Associate Professor Mahdi Abkar, abkar@mpe.au.dk (main supervisor)

For information about application requirements and mandatory attachments, please see our application guide. If answers cannot be found there, please contact:

• admission.gradschool.tech@au.dk

How to apply:
Please follow this link to submit your application.

Application deadline is 15 August 2025 at 23:59 CEST.

Preferred starting date is 1 December 2025.

Please note:

• Only documents received prior to the application deadline will be evaluated. Thus, documents sent after deadline will not be taken into account.
• The programme committee may request further information or invite the applicant to attend an interview.
• Shortlisting will be used, which means that the evaluation committee only will evaluate the most relevant applications.

Aarhus University’s ambition is to be an attractive and inspiring workplace for all and to foster a culture in which each individual has opportunities to thrive, achieve and develop. We view equality and diversity as assets, and we welcome all applicants. All interested candidates are encouraged to apply, regardless of their personal background.