{"id":1854,"date":"2026-02-24T07:34:25","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T07:34:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hydroalpslab.geekworkers.dev\/?p=1854"},"modified":"2026-03-06T19:02:32","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T19:02:32","slug":"prof-dr-michel-cervantes-lulea-university-of-technology-on-sabbatical-at-hydro-alps-lab","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hydroalpslab.ch\/en\/le-prof-dr-michel-cervantes-lulea-university-of-technology-en-sejour-sabbatique-au-hydro-alps-lab\/","title":{"rendered":"02.26 - 10.26 Visit from Prof. Michel Cervantes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Hydro Alps Lab is delighted to welcome Prof. Dr. Michel Cervantes, professor at Lule\u00e5 University of Technology (LTU), Sweden, for a six-month scientific visit in 2026 as part of an SNSF Scientific Exchanges programme supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The aim of this scientific mobility is to strengthen the strategic collaboration between LTU and the HES-SO Valais on a key issue for hydroelectricity: the simultaneous measurement of flow and the internal roughness of pipes and turbines under operating conditions.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">An international expert in hydraulic machinery<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Prof. Michel Cervantes has been a professor at LTU since 2010 and is one of the world's leading specialists in hydraulic turbines. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full is-resized is-style-default\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"554\" height=\"370\" src=\"http:\/\/hydroalpslab.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Photo_Michel_Cervantes.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1855\" style=\"width:234px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hydroalpslab.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Photo_Michel_Cervantes.jpg 554w, https:\/\/hydroalpslab.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Photo_Michel_Cervantes-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 554px) 100vw, 554px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ltu.se\/en\/staff\/c\/michel-cervantes\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.ltu.se\/en\/staff\/c\/michel-cervantes<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In particular, he is :<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Initiator and coordinator of international workshops <strong>Francis-99<\/strong>, the world reference for CFD validation of Francis turbines <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>European project coordinator <strong>RevHydro<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Supervisor of more than 20 doctoral students and coordinator of the Swedish Doctoral School in Hydroelectricity<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>His work focuses on :<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Vortex dynamics in draft tubes<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Extending the flexible operating range of turbines<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The development of innovative performance diagnosis methods<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Aim of the visit: to develop and validate the RPT method<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The project funded by the SNSF concerns the development and validation of a <strong>Reformulated Pressure-Time Method (RPT)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why is this important?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>In hydroelectric power stations :<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Le <strong>flow<\/strong> is the key parameter for calculating efficiency (IEC 60041).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>La <strong>internal roughness<\/strong> of pipes and turbines changes over time (sediment erosion, cavitation, deposits), having a direct impact on energy losses.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>There are currently no <strong>no standard method for simultaneously measuring flow rate and roughness in normal operation<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The innovation of the RPT method<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The method developed by Prof. Cervantes allows :<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Measures <strong>non-intrusive<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Without stopping the machine completely<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>During normal load variations<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>With simultaneous estimation of flow rate and roughness via optimisation<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A three-phase experimental programme<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The trip will be organised into three periods in 2026:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Familiarisation and experimental design<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Experimental campaign on the Hydro Alps La hydraulic test bench<strong>b<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Full-scale prototype tests on Swiss hydropower plants<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Le Hydro Alps Lab a le plaisir d\u2019accueillir le Prof. Dr. Michel Cervantes, professeur \u00e0 la Lule\u00e5 University of Technology (LTU), Su\u00e8de, pour un s\u00e9jour scientifique de six mois en 2026 dans le cadre d\u2019un programme SNSF Scientific Exchanges soutenu par le Fonds National Suisse. Cette mobilit\u00e9 scientifique vise \u00e0 renforcer la collaboration strat\u00e9gique entre [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1855,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-actualite"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hydroalpslab.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hydroalpslab.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hydroalpslab.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hydroalpslab.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hydroalpslab.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1854"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/hydroalpslab.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1854\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2006,"href":"https:\/\/hydroalpslab.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1854\/revisions\/2006"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hydroalpslab.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hydroalpslab.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hydroalpslab.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hydroalpslab.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}