Hendrik Nicolai
Title:
Assistant Professor
Link(s):
Degree(s):
Ph.D. Mechanical and Process Engineering, Technical University Darmstadt
M.A.Sc. Mechanical and Process Engineering, Technical University Darmstadt
B.A.Sc. Mechanical and Process, Technical University Darmstadt
Courses:
MECH 265: Numerical Linear Algebra (3 credits)
MECH 309: Numerical Methods in Mechanical Engineering (3 credits)
MECH 501/600: Computational Turbulence (3/4 credits)
Research areas:
Combustion and Energy Systems
Selected publications:
- Schneider, M., Rong, F. Z., Hasse, C., & Nicolai, H. (2026). Combustion modelling for the flame–wall interaction of thermodiffusively unstable hydrogen/air flames. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 1029, A36. link to article
- Nicolai, H., Schuh, V., Bähr, A., Schneider, M., Rong, F., Kaddar, D., Bode, M. and Hasse, C., 2025. Laminar and turbulent hydrogen-enriched methane flames: Interaction of thermodiffusive instabilities and local fuel demixing. Proceedings of the Combustion Institute, 41, p.105885. link to article
- Schuh, V., Kaddar, D., Bähr, A., Bode, M., Hasse, C. and Nicolai, H., 2026. An Extended Artificially Thickened Flame Model for Turbulent Hydrogen and Hydrogen-Enriched Flames With Intrinsic Instabilities Under Gas Turbine Relevant Conditions. Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power, 148(2), p.021007. link to article
- Koob, P., Nicolai, H., Lindenthal, A., Witkind Hirth, F.A., Bürkle, N., Soworka, T., Eggels, R., Clemen, C., Koch, R., Behrendt, T. and Schroll, M., 2025, June. Comprehensive Modeling of the Cause-And-Effect Chain in Aero-Engine Combustor Simulations: From Primary Breakup to Soot Formation. In Turbo Expo (Vol. 88780, p. V03AT04A005). American Society of Mechanical Engineers. link to article
- More under: google scholar
Current research:
- Development and application of high-fidelity numerical models in reactive flows.
- Scale-resolving simulations in reactive multi-phase flows under laminar and turbulent conditions
- Collaborative research with industrial partners on gas turbines and aircraft engines, exploring the aerodynamic and thermal interactions.
- Model Development and Simulation of zero-carbon fuels, such as hydrogen and hydrogen-ammonia mixtures.
Areas of interest:
- Direct Numerical Simulations, Large-Eddy Simulation and RANS simulations in the context of reacting flows.
- Reduced-order Modeling of Technical Systems by Chemical Reactor Networks
- Advanced flamelet-based tabulation approaches for laminar and turbulent reacting flows
- Statistical and geometrical subgrid-scale turbulence-chemistry interaction Closures
- Numerical methods for reactive flows targeting high-performance computing and GPU acceleration.
- Higher-order Methods for Reacting Flows
Areas of expertise:
Thermofluids