Excellence Award winner 2022
Dr. Marvellous J. Khala
His excellent PhD thesis "Characterising Powder Flow in Dynamic Processes", completed at the University of Surrey, United Kingdom, under the supervision of Professor Chuan-Yu (Charley) Wu achieved the best evaluation results in terms of innovativeness, breadth and depth of the study, quality of publications, and the transfer of know-how to industrial applications.
Marvellous Khala obtained his MEng in Chemical Engineering from the University of Sheffield, United Kingdom, and PhD degree in Chemical and Process Engineering from the University of Surrey, United Kingdom, followed by a Research Fellowship at the same university. Since February 2022, he holds the position of Research Associate at Newcastle University, United Kingdom.
The award was presented at the opening ceremony of the 9th World Congress of Particle Technology held in Madrid, Spain, on 18-22 September 2022.
The Award is generously sponsored by Jenike & Johanson Inc.
Excellence Award winner 2019
Dr. Matthew Arran
His excellent paper "Intermittency between avalanche regimes on grain piles", published in conjunction with your PhD studies on "Avalanching on dunes and its effects: Size statistics, stratification, & seismic surveys", achieved the best evaluation results in terms of breadth and depth of the research undertaken, scientific impact, innovation and quality of publication.
Matthew Arran obtained his MMath and PhD degrees in Applied Mathematics from St. Catharine's College, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom. Currently, he hold a Postdoctoral Research Position at the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, France. The research topic is: Experimental and computational study of the acoustic waves produced by granular flows.
The award was presented on 10 April 2019 at the International Congress on Particle Technology - PARTEC 2019 - in Nuremberg, Germany.
Intermittency between avalanche regimes on grain piles
M. I. Arran and N. M. Vriend
Abstract: We experimentally investigate discrete avalanches of grains, driven by a low inflow rate, on an erodible pile in a channel. We observe intermittency between one regime, in which avalanches are quasiperiodic and system spanning, and another, in which they pass at irregular intervals and have a power-lawsize distribution. Observations are robust to changes of inflow rate and grain type and require no tuning of external parameters. We demonstrate that the state of the pile’s surface determines whether avalanche fronts propagate to the end of the channel or stop partway down, and we introduce a toy model for the latter case that reproduces the observed power-law size distribution.We suggest direct applications to avalanches of pharmaceutical and geophysical grains, and the possibility of reconciling the "self-organized criticality" predicted by several authors with the hysteretic behavior described by others.
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevE.97.060901
Excellence Award winner 2016
Mr. Christopher Ness, M.Eng.
His series of excellent papers, published in conjunction with his PhD studies on "Suspension rheology and extrusion studied by discrete element simulations", achieved the best evaluation results in terms of innovativeness, breadth and depth of the study, quality of publications, and the transfer of know-how to industrial applications.
Christopher Ness obtained his Bachelor of Arts’ and Master of Engineering degrees from the University of Cambridge. He currently holds a doctoral position at the University of Edinburgh.
The award was presented on 20 April 2016 during the plenary session of the International Congress on Particle Technology - PARTEC 2016 - in Nuremberg, Germany.
Prof. Álvaro Ramírez Gomez (left) presents the Excellence Award certificate to Christopher Ness
on the occasion of PARTEC 2016
Excellence Award winner 2013
Dr. CARLOS GONZÁLEZ MONTELLAN0
His PhD thesis on
"Applications of the Discrete Element Method to the Study of Granular Materials Stored in Silos and Hoppers",
completed at the Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, Spain, under the supervision of Professor Francisco Ayuga achieved the best evaluation results in terms of innovativeness, breadth and depth of the study, quality of publications, and the transfer of know-how to industrial applications.
Carlos Gonzalez Montellano obtained his Bachelor's degree and PhD in Agricultural Engineering from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. He currently holds a position at the Department of Engineering, Westeel EMEA S.L, Madrid, and has further research activities in silos, numerical methods, finite element method, discrete element method, structural engineering and rural infrastructures.
The award was presented on 24 April 2013 during the plenary session of the International Congress on Particle Technology - PARTEC 2013 - in Nuremberg, Germany.
Excellence Award winner 2010
Dr.-ING. Johannes HÄrtl
His PhD thesis on
"A study of granular solids in silos with and without an insert",
completed at the University of Edinburgh, UK, in collaboration with POSTEC, Telemark University College, Norway, under the supervision of Professor Jin Y. Ooi, UK, and Professor Gisle G. Enstad, Norway, received the best evaluation results in terms of innovativeness, breadth and depth of the study, quality of publications, and the transfer of know-how to industrial applications.
Johannes Härtl received his Dipl.-Ing. degree in Civil Engineering from the Regensburg University of Applied Sciences, Germany, and his PhD from the University of Edinburgh, UK. Currently, he is working as a research engineer at BASF SE, Germany, on research projects concerning the treatment and storage of granular solids.
The award was presented during the banquet of the World Congress of Particle Technology (supported by PARTEC), held in Nuremberg, Germany, from 26 to 29 April 2010.
