Dr Lefki Germanou

Dr Lefki Germanou

What is your role?

I am a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Engineer involved in consultancy and research projects, providing technical advice to clients in order to improve their products and services. I employ my expertise in state-of-the-art numerical simulations and fluid mechanics to guide customers and help them reach their performance goals.

What is your academic/industrial background?

I have a PhD in computational methods for unconventional gas flows in ultra-tight porous media (shale) from the University of Strathclyde. Before that, I completed a research internship on shape optimisation using the adjoint CFD method at the R&D centre of Toyota Motor Europe in Belgium. I hold a Diploma (equivalent to MEng) in Mechanical Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens, focusing on Air & Ground Transport Vehicles during the last two years of the five-year degree.

What was the route of your interest in engineering?

From a young age, I had a keen interest in maths, physics and chemistry at school. I was also fascinated by computers, spending lots of my spare time on short projects, playing games and upgrading the hardware. As a teenager, I found attractive the idea of learning about the aircraft engineering principles and pursuing relevant studies. Therefore, mechanical engineering seemed like the ideal fit for my interests.

What are your main areas of expertise?

I have expertise in CFD with a special focus on single phase to multiphase flow measurement, erosion prediction, shale gas flows, and shape optimisation.

What most excites/interests you about your role?

I particularly enjoy the fact that I have the opportunity to work on a wide range of projects, addressing different engineering challenges each day. As a member of the modelling team, I also get to use and expand my skillset while collaborating with well-established colleagues. Finally, I find my work rewarding since I interact with numerous leading companies and reputable institutions, offering cost-effective solutions which add value to their work.

What future trends do you see developing in your area of work?

An increasing amount of companies are interested in performing basic CFD simulations in-house. Therefore, they often use cloud-based CFD software which do not demand any special hardware infrastructure or long term investment. At the same time, there is an increasing need for more sophisticated models and extensive simulations which require the services of CFD experts such as the modelling team of TÜV SÜD National Engineering Laboratory.

In my opinion, machine learning will most likely play a major role in accelerating and improving the accuracy of CFD simulations in the near future. Such advances will facilitate the spread of CFD into diverse areas, on both traditional industries but also on emerging technologies.