Research assignment – R&D – Air Flow Simulation

The R&D department Rubber Process & Tire Technology (RPTT) serves as a research and technology group to support other departments within VMI in topics related to rubber processing and tire technology. In that role RPTT research current and potential promising topics relate to processing rubber compound. It additionally supports product groups to make the right design decisions to shape rubber in the right way in their machines.

The VMI LAT100 (Laboratory Abrasion & Skid Tester or Grosch machine) tire tread compound tester, accurately simulates road conditions for fast and economical laboratory testing of rubber samples. The test machine can be employed for routine measurements as well as for scientific research, measuring both the abrasion resistance and the friction properties under a wide range of selectable conditions.

The test piece is a solid wheel made of the compound to be tested, which runs under load on a rotating abrasion disk at a slip angle to the rotating direction. The speed and the surface of the disk (grain and material), the slip angle and the radial load on the test sample can be varied over a wide range.

In order to replicate the conditions found on the road, the abration disk is sprayed with dust coming out of an air flow channel. The location of the air flow channel has been observed to have great effect on the deposition of the dust. Ideally, one would want the dust to deposit on the abrasion and solid rubber wheel, and not anywhere else inside the testing cabinet.

However, testing experimentally different locations of the air flow channel has proven to be time consuming. Thus, in this assignment, a different approach is taken. We would like to explore the effect of the air flow channel position by means of numerical simulations. This will allow us to get additional insights about the influence of the air flow in dispersing the powder.

You will perform simulations of air flow coming out of the air flow channel and compare the results for different locations. You will answer the following questions:

• Is there an ideal location of the air flow channel where we can maximize the amount of dust on the abrasion wheel while keeping safety and quality standards?
• What is the effect of varying the mass flow rate on the dust deposition?
• What is the effect of varying the angular velocity of the rotating wheel on the dust deposition?
• How can we predict the amount of dust deposited on a surface from the results of numerical simulations?

• You are a last year bachelor student or a master student in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Applied Physics or similar;
• You are looking for an internship between 5 and 6 months with a start date as early as July;
• You are looking for an internship of 40 hours per week. For this internship, it is possible to be working partly at home on the assignment;
• You have a basic level of programming and elemental bachelor level mathematics and physics;
• You have access to Academic Ansys, Simscale, Comsol or similar commercial software in order to take part in this project. If you do not have access to any commercial software, then you should have enough experience to be able to simulate air flow onto a rotating surface using open source software such as OpenFoam or Basilisk;
• You would like to improve your data analysis skills and want to learn how to deal with large amounts of data;
• You are creative, proactive, solution-oriented, analytical and research-oriented person.

We give you the opportunity to join a cozy team for six until nine months. You will have the opportunity to carry out challenging research in which you can add real value to the organization. For this internship you will receive an internship allowance and a travel allowance.

In addition to our own internship program, you will have the opportunity to participate in a Master Class at Perron038.

These Masterclasses are organized each time by different companies and relate to soft skills, but can for example also be about LinkedIn, project management and job application tips.

VMI is one of the partners at innovation center Perron038 in Zwolle. Various technical companies work together here in the field of Technology and they share knowledge and experiences with each other in an inspiring environment. At the training sessions & Tuesday afternoon drinks at Perron038 you will also meet students from the other companies in the region. Want to know more about Perron038? Read more

With your internship at our company, you make a valuable contribution to our organization. Your input and ideas help us achieve our goals and improve our services.

As an intern, you will bring:

• A fresh perspective and new ideas that help us improve our processes;
• An opportunity to inspire and motivate our employees with your enthusiasm and energy;
• A change to enrich our culture and values with your unique perspective.

Interested?

Have you become interested and do you think you are the student we are looking for?

Then apply immediately!

A screening test may be part of the application procedure.