Description
Leader of the group Multiscale Dynamics: Ute Ebert.
Nature and technology are full of dynamics, often involving multiple scales in length, time and energy. To model these processes, we combine scientific computing with model reduction and machine learning, with particular focus on plasma dynamics in lightning and space weather, and in high voltage and plasma technology.
Our research addresses questions in nature such as start and propagation of lightning strokes, terrestrial gamma-ray flashes and space weather, and closely related technological problems such as switch gear for long-distance electricity nets, air purification and disinfection with corona reactors, and protection of satellites and electricity nets from space weather.
Within national and European projects, we collaborate with colleagues in applied plasma physics, electrical and mechanical engineering, atmospheric electricity, and cosmic particle and space science, and with non-academic partners such as ABB, DNV-GL, ESA-ESTEC and NASA.
Find more about our work (including publications) on the personal homepages of the staff scientists:
- Ute Ebert (group leader)
- Enrico Camporeale
- Jannis Teunissen
and on the page with our numerical codes for Multiscale Plasma Dynamics.
View a photo of the Multiscale Dynamics group.
News
Better simulations for lightning and high-voltage technology
Until recently, it was not clear how lightning could start. CWI PhD student Casper Rutjes modelled and simulated the origin of lightning and ionizing radiation from storm clouds and explained the physics of these phenomena. On 15 March he defended his PhD thesis. His results are important for lightning research, high-voltage technology and nuclear medicine models.
Radio telescope LOFAR shows how lightning grows
Dutch radio telescope LOFAR can observe the creation of lightning flashes at an unprecedented one-metre resolution, which may lead to better lightning protection. The results were published by an international scientific team with RUG, ASTRON, CWI, RU and VUB on 16 February 2018 in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres.
In Memoriam Willem Hundsdorfer
With sadness, we let you know that our colleague Prof. Willem Hundsdorfer passed away on Friday 10 November, at the age of 63. Since 1984 Willem had been affiliated with CWI; first in the Numerical Mathematics department, where he built up an international reputation. Since 2002, he had been part of the Multiscale Dynamics research group, where he shared his expertise for developing simulations of electric discharges that by now are widely recognized.
Lightning produces afterglow of gamma radiation
Ionizing radiation due to lightning shines for much longer than presumed before: up to 10,000 times longer. This was demonstrated for the first time by computer simulations of CWI researchers. Their work was published on 22 October in Geophysical Review Letters.
Members
Associated Members
Publications
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Rutjes, C, Ebert, U, Buitink, S, Scholten, O, & Trinh, T.N.G. (2019). Generation of seed electrons by extensive air showers, and the lightning inception problem including Narrow Bipolar Events. Journal of Geophysical Research - Atmospheres. doi:10.1029/2018JD029040
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Pezzi, O, Valentini, F, Servidio, S, Camporeale, E, & Veltri, P. (P.). (2019). Fourier-Hermite decomposition of the collisional Vlasov-Maxwell system: Implications for the velocity-space cascade. Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, 61(5). doi:10.1088/1361-6587/ab04d5
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Li, Y, van Veldhuizen, E.M, Zhang, G.J, Ebert, U, & Nijdam, S. (2018). Positive double-pulse streamers: how pulse-to-pulse delay influences initiation and propagation of subsequent discharges. Plasma Sources Science and Technology, 27(12). doi:10.1088/1361-6595/aaf2c6
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Diniz, G, Rutjes, C, Ebert, U, Ferreira, I.S, & São Sabbas, E.F.M.T. (2018). Modeling neutron emissions in high energy atmospheric phenomena. Journal of Geophysical Research - Atmospheres. doi:10.1029/2018JD028962
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Bagheri, B, Teunissen, H.J, Ebert, U, Becker, M.M, Chen, S, Ducasse, O, … Yousfi, M. (2018). Comparison of six simulation codes for positive streamers in air. Plasma Sources Science and Technology, 27(9). doi:10.1088/1361-6595/aad768
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Teunissen, H.J, & Ebert, U. (2018). Afivo: A framework for quadtree/octree AMR with shared-memory parallelization and geometric multigrid methods. Computer Physics Communications. doi:10.1016/j.cpc.2018.06.018
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Mascini, N.E, Teunissen, H.J, Noorlag, R, Willems, S.M, & Heeren, R.M.A. (2018). Tumor classification with MALDI-MSI data of tissue microarrays: A case study. Methods. doi:10.1016/j.ymeth.2018.04.004
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Camporeale, E, Sorriso-Valvo, L, Califano, F, & Retinò, A. (2018). Coherent structures and spectral energy transfer in turbulent plasma: A space-filter approach. Physical Review Letters, 120. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.125101
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Hare, B.M, Scholten, O, Bonardi, A, Buitink, S, Corstanje, A, Ebert, U, … Winchen, T. (2018). LOFAR lightning imaging: Mapping lightning with nanosecond precision. Journal of Geophysical Research - Atmospheres. doi:10.1002/2017JD028132
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Elkholy, A, Shoshyn, Y, Nijdam, S, van Oijen, J, van Veldhuizen, E.M, Ebert, U, & de Goey, L.P.H. (2018). Burning velocity measurement of lean methane-air flames in a new nanosecond DBD microplasma burner platform. Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science, 95, 18–26.
Software
Afivo: A framework for adaptive mesh refinement with geometric multigrid methods
Afivo, short for Adaptive Finite Volume Octree, is a framework for adaptive mesh refinement on quadtree (2D) and octree (3D) meshes with shared memory parallelization (OpenMP) and geometric multigrid methods.
PumpKin: Analyzing complex chemistry models
PumpKin, short for Pathway Reduction Method for Plasma Kinetic Models, is a tool for post-processing results from zero-dimensional plasma kinetics solvers.
Current projects with external funding
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Making plasma-assisted combustion efficient ()
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Real-time forecasting of killer electrons on satellite orbits ()
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Artificial Intelligence Data Analysis (AIDA)
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European Science Cluster of Astronomy & Particle physics ESFRI research infrastructures (ESCAPE)
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Let CO2 spark! Understand breakdown dynamics for high voltage technology and lightning Abstract Sparks, (Let CO2 spark!)
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Plasma for Plants: Towards controlled and efficient plasma-activated water generation for a cleaner environment (Plasma for Plants)
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Science and Innovation with Thunderstorms (SAINT)
Related partners
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CNRS
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CSIC
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IT-DTU Lyngby
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Universita di Pisa
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Universitetet i Bergen
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University of Bath
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Bristol Industrial and Research Associates Limited
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DENA DESARROLLOS SL
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Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
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Technische Universiteit Eindhoven
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Universidad Politecnica Catalunya
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Université Paul Sabatier (Toulouse III)