Welcome to the Institute for Thermal Energy Technology and Safety (ITES) at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).
The ITES uniquely embodies the energy transition: our mission is to enable innovative thermal technologies for a sustainable and safe net-zero energy supply. To this end, the ITES performs research in hydrogen safety and applications [H2], heat transfer / storage / transport using water [MPS], liquid metal [KALLA], and molten salt [FTS], efficient use of alternative heat sources [EVT], magnetohydrodynamics for fusion [MHD], numerical flow modeling [FPS], as well as analysis and decision support for critical infrastructure and radiological accidents [RESIS].
An important part of our mission is the training and education of the next generation of practitioners and engineers through apprenticeships, lectures, internships, and theses [Lectures, Openings].

Bei der Wärmespeicherung mit Flüssigmetallen bei Temperaturen über 600 °C besteht eine der Herausforderungen darin, kompatible Materialien und Komponenten zu entwickeln. Deshalb bauen wir derzeit einen neuen Prüfstand für den Test von Komponenten in Hochtemperatur-Flüssigmetall auf. Diese Arbeiten sind Teil des vom BMWK geförderten Projekts LIMELISA in Zusammenarbeit mit dem DLR und der Firma KSB. Das Paper fasst das Design dieses Kreislaufs zusammen.
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The RESIS department held a transfer workshop titled "Resilience & Sustainability - AI-based Early Warning Systems for Dam Safety" at Tbilisi State University in Georgia from September 25-27.
This event focused on the presentation of an early warning system demonstrator based on a deeper understanding of the complex interactions between water levels, meteorological data and seismicity. This system enables robust predictions regarding the deformation of dams. Significant results were achieved within the framework of the DAMAST project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).
Against the background of the increasing occurrence of extreme precipitation events and the growing importance of dams, this innovative approach provides a solid basis for research and the development of pioneering early warning systems.
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Klarissa Niedermeier, Franziska Müller-Trefzer and Thomas Wetzel won the „best poster award“ at the Heat Powered Cycles Conference 2023, 3.-6. September 2023, in Edinburgh, on their work on “Liquid Metals as Heat Transfer Fluids for High-Temperature Heat Storage”.
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The H2 department will give the following 3 presentations at the "International Conference on Hydrogen Safety" in Québec in September:
- Experimental investigation of hydrogen-air flame propagation in fire extinguishing foam
- Liquid hydogen evaporation above four different substrates
- Modelling the non-adiabatic blowdown of pressurised cryogenic hydrogen storage tank
The head of the H2 department is Prof. Dr.-Ing. Thomas Jordan.
More information can be found on the department page.
more InformationAt the IHK- Workshop "From research to practice: process heat and sector coupling for companies" (2023) at the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology (ICT) in Pfinztal on June 22, 2023, Dr. Dietmar Kuhn /ITES and Dr. Joachim Fuchs /INR gave the presentation "Utilization of waste heat in industry" to an interested audience.
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The urban supply of goods and energy in the future
Ralf Caspary talks to Dr. Sadeeb Simon Ottenburger in Science Talk. He heads the "Resilient and Smart Infrastructure Systems" department at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology.
How can critical infrastructures be made sustainable and resilient? Dr. Sadeeb Simon Ottenburger is researching how potential threats can be averted.
Whether for the supply of electricity or food, consumers rely on secure infrastructures to provide them with goods and services. In this context, increasing digitization enables flexible control of supply systems. However, it also increases the vulnerability to disruptions and attacks.
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The article "Magneto-convective flows around two differentially heated cylinders" by Chiara Mistrangelo, Leo Bühler, Cyril Courtessole, Viktor Klüber and Christina Köhly was published In the journal Heat and Mass Transfer.
Detail: Numerical simulations are used to investigate the liquid metal heat transfer around heated and cooled pipes under the influence of strong magnetic fields. The simulations support an experimental campaign carried out at the MEKKA laboratory of KIT.
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The article "Towards the simulation of magnetohydrodynamic flow in an entire water-cooled test blanket module mock-up" by Chiara Mistrangelo, Leo Bühler, Viktor Klüber and Christina Köhly was published in the journal Fusion Engineering and Design.
Detail: As part of the research in EUROfusion on breeder blankets for future fusion reactors, a water-cooled lead-lithium blanket is considered as a reference design for a DEMO reactor, to be tested in the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor ITER. The goal is to numerically simulate the liquid metal flow in a complex complete blanket geometry with all breeder units and flow manifolds.
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The article "Design of a scaled mockup of the water-cooled test blanket module for magnetohydrodynamic experiments in liquid metal manifolds and breeder units" by Christina Köhly, Leo Bühler and Cyril Courtessole was published in the journal Fusion Engineering and Design.
Detail: The article presents the design of a scaled mock-up experiment to study magnetohydrodynamic liquid metal flows in a test blanket module for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor ITER at the MEKKA laboratory of KIT. The planned experiments will contribute to a better understanding of the flow behavior and to the optimization of the blanket design for ITER.
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Thermal stratification can lead to the failure of safety-relevant components in conditions can lead to the failure of safety-relevant components. An efficient POD-ROM code is to provide predictions about the liquid metal flow in the complex reactor geometry. In the article "Simulation of stratification phenomena with a spectral Fourier-Chebyshev method on the background of a lead-cooled fast reactor" in the journal Annals of Nuclear Energy, a self-developed spectral code was presented. which can be used to calibrate the faster POD-ROM code.
Its efficiency and high accuracy were demonstrated using Rayleigh-Bénard convection verified.
Daxiao Liu, Philipp Marthaler, Andreas Class
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In his dissertation, Viktor Klüber dealt with the topic: "Three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic phenomena in circular pipe flow". A numerical code for the simulation of liquid metal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) flow in breeding blankets of future fusion reactors has been extended to address complex MHD phenomena in geometries with curved walls such as circular pipes.
He carried out the work in the INR and ITES.
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In the context of the "33rd (Virtual) Meeting of the German CFD Network of Competence" from 22-23 March 2022 in Garching, the presentation: "Combustion experiments with homogeneous and gradient H2-CO-air-mixutres in semi-confined geometries" by A. Friedrich, G. Necker, M. Moore, J. Grune, M. Kuznetsov and T. Jordan was given by Mr. Andreas Friedrich via Internet.
The work was carried out at ITES via the project executing agency GRS with funding from the BMWi.

Klarissa Niedermeier, Martin Lux, Markus Daubner, Franziska Müller-Trefzer and Thomas Wetzel from the department "KALLA" received a "Poster communication award" for the presentation of a poster entitled "A test rig for component testing for high-temperature thermal energy storage with liquid metals" at the Eurotherm Seminar "Innovative solutions for thermal energy storage deployment", in Lleida, Spain, from 24.05.2023 - 26.05.2023. At KALLA, we are investigating, among other things, high temperature heat storage and process technology.
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Lorenz Weber, Stephan Gabriel, and Andreas Class from the Department „Framatome Professional School“ published their article „On the statistical evaluation of bubbly flows using Voronoi cells grouped in clusters with fixed cell count“ in the journal Physics of Fluids.
Congratulations!

For more than a year, researchers at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have been supporting the Ukrainian authorities on the subject of nuclear safety. The team of Sadeeb Simon Ottenburger provides decision support in the event of damage to one of the four nuclear power plants in the war-torn country.
more InformationResearch associate (f/m/d)
Field of study: Mechanical or process engineering
- You will be responsible for the development of a data-based model for the prediction of knocking phenomena in the engine combustion of hydrogen.
- Furthermore, your tasks include the implementation of this model in a suitable combustion software, the verification of the implemented model and the validation on new data.
- Your job profile will be rounded off by attending project meetings and preparing project documentation.
We are looking forward to your application!
more InformationAn exploratory material study for type IV hydrogen vessel liners in cryo-compressed conditions
Task description: Hydrogen-based drives for heavy-duty transport solutions are essential elements for the decarbonisation of the economy. These commercial applications have high demands in terms of power and range, often in multi-shift operation around the clock. Purely battery-based drives are too heavy, take too much time to recharge and may be even more expensive to purchase...
more Information„Computational fluid dynamics with OpenFOAM“
The format of the course allows a very flexible participation!
The course consists of four parts, each extending over two days. During day1, participants receive videos of the lectures, slides, and do the proposed exercises. During day2, teachers are available at any time for a one-to-one discussion via Zoom meeting to solve issues related to exercises and answer questions. The course will be held in English.
Objective: The purpose of the course is to acquire the knowledge and practical skills necessary to use the software OpenFOAM.
October 2024!
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