Thermal Fluids
and Energy
Group
We are an interdisciplinary group led by Dr Michael Gibbons focused on the decarbonisation of energy systems, thermal energy transport, conversion and storage, electronics cooling and zero-carbon technologies to address domestic and global energy challenges at Trinity College Dublin.
Nimvari, M.E., Persoons, T., Gibbons, M.J, Pore-scale simulation of two-phase flow in biporous media, Physics of Fluids 36 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0232694.
Gibbons, M. J., Garivalis, A. I., O’Shaughnessy, S. M., Robinson, A. J. & Di Marco, P. Water droplet evaporation in varied gravity and electric fields. npj Microgravity 10, 1–9 (2024). https://www.nature.com/articles/s41526-024-00396-2.
Farrell, G., Gibbons, M.J. & Persoons, T. Combined Passive/Active Flow Control of Drag and Lift Forces on a Cylinder in Crossflow Using a Synthetic Jet Actuator and Porous Coatings. Actuators 11, 201 (2022). https://doi.org/10.3390/act11070201.
Gibbons, M. J., Marengo, M. & Persoons, T. A review of heat pipe technology for foldable electronic devices. Applied Thermal Engineering 194, 117087 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2021.117087.
13 April 2025
The TFE team would like to congratulate Una McNamara and Sean Ryan on completing their Master research project with the Thermal Fluid and Energy group at TCD this month.
Excellent work by both, with research focusing on developing characterisation facilities for flat heat pipe and loop heat pipe technology.
TFE would like to wish both Una and Sean the best of success with the next stage of their promising careers.
2 November 2024
The TFE team would like to welcome Dr. Pengfei Guo. Pengfei is an expert in laser based additive manufacturing and material science.
The Thermal Fluids and Energy Group are excited to have Pengfei on-board and look forward to working with him and the excellent research he will contribute.
24 October 2024
Our research on capillary driven flow in porous media has been published in Physics of Fluids @AIP_Publishing. Multiphase flow in porous media is crucial for fuel cell, water harvesting and waste heat technologies. This work was led by Dr Majid Eshagh Nimvari and thank you to @Researchirel & @royalsociety for supporting this work.
Our goal is to understand multiphase flow in porous media to intelligently design and fabricate innovative porous structures at the core of next-generation green technologies. @tcddublin @tcdengineering
https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0232694
PhD Studentship — Machine Learning for Two-Phase Heat Transfer
Open now · Closing 30th September 2026 · Applications reviewed on a rolling basis
Fully funded 4-year PhD studentship (€25,000 p.a. stipend plus registration fees for EU and non-EU students), supported by a Royal Society–Research Ireland University Research Fellowship.
Additive manufacturing enables the fabrication of spatially complex metal structures with features on the micron-scale. However, our capacity to intelligently design these surfaces is limited, because the models that predict boiling performance only work for the simple shapes that have been empirically tested. This project develops physics-informed machine learning models of flow boiling surface performance and couples them to topology optimisation, so that the geometry of a phase-change surface is determined by computation rather than intuition. Designs are then fabricated in the group and tested on our flow boiling facility.
Backgrounds in mechanical, chemical or aerospace engineering, applied mathematics, physics or computer science are all welcome. Experience across the full project is not expected — training is provided.
Full post specification and application process
Informal enquiries to [email protected]
We are always interested in growing our research group.
If you are interested in applying for PhD or Postdoctoral position, please get in touch. Potential funding pathways include the Reseach Ireland (https://www.researchireland.ie/), Marie Curie programmes (https://marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu/), China Scholarship Council (CSC) (TCD link), and Trinity College Dublin (https://www.tcd.ie/).
Please contact me directly - [email protected]
FUNDING & PARTNERSHIPS
