Note: This project is a joint collaboration between INSA Rouen (CORIA Lab. CNRS UMR 6614) and University 
of Sherbrooke. The elected candidate will spend 18 months in Rouen, France (the first half of the PhD) and 18 
months in Sherbrooke, Canada (the second half of the PhD) according to the stage of the project. The salary 
in each country will be defined based on the regulation imposed by French/Canadian government. The 
indicated salary is a nominative salary for PhD stay in France.

Subject: Vertical axis wind turbines (VAWTs) appear to hold promise for energy conversion due to their 
improved self-starting capability, promise of flexible design, and low wind operation. VAWT blades are 
generally characterized by a relatively large surface area, which has a thin circular shape to produce a large 
drag that is used for power generation. However, due to the small size of these turbines, they usually operate 
at relatively low Reynolds numbers, which can induce a laminar to turbulent transition along the blade, and 
thus directly alter the performance of the turbine. Moreover, it appears that most numerical studies consider 
a fully turbulent flow, where the near and far wakes of the turbine are usually studied in the performance 
analysis, while the boundary layer transition can directly influence the near wake of the turbine. The present 
project aims at characterizing the instability mechanism leading to the laminar-turbulent transition on a full-
scale wind turbine geometry/blade. 
In this project, direct numerical simulations (DNS) will be performed to capture the flow instabilities and 
transition to turbulence occurring on both sides of a wind turbine blade (a single blade geometry with rotating 
boundary conditions) caused by different types of instabilities (transverse flow, centrifugal, etc.). 
Subsequently, simulations will be systematically performed using Large Eddy Simulations (LES) for a wide 
range of Reynolds numbers to understand the main flow characteristics for different operating conditions. In 
this context, an analysis of the blade's receptivity to flow instabilities must be taken into account in the input 
conditions. The results will then be used to control the boundary layer at the blade surface, and also to 
modify the wind turbine blade profile to achieve higher performance.

Please contact professor Shadloo at msshadloo@coria.fr for more application/question. Your email should 
include your CV and your (provisional) notes. A letter of recommendation will be needed after pre-selection 
of the candidate. Only pre-selected candidate will be contacted.