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Universidade de Vigo

Universidad de Vigo: Applied Geotechnologies Research Group & Energetic Technology Group

Universidad de Vigo, https://www.uvigo.es/, is a public University located in Galicia (Northwest of Spain). It comprises three campuses: the main one located in Vigo, and two more in Pontevedra (30 Km from Vigo) and Ourense (95 Km from Vigo). Universidad de Vigo has placed a considerable emphasis on R&D activities by way of numerous internal funded projects, as well as through its various services and research centres. This support has enormously increased the scientific output and the capacity to obtain external resources. In fact, Universidad de Vigo appeared in Shanghai ranking of best universities in 2011 and 2012.

Nowadays, the University of Vigo has about 22000 students and 260 research groups, whose activity has resulted in significant scientific production in the form of doctoral theses, publications, conference communications and registered patents. In the last three years more than 950 projects confirm the cooperation of the University with the enterprises and economic associations of the region (Galicia) and the nation (Spain). In the same way, more than 25 national and European patents have been applied by UVIGO in the last years. Moreover, Universidad de Vigo participates every year in the Framework Programme and other initiatives of the EU; more than 40 European Projects has been developed since the year 2007 (some of them coordinated by UVIGO), with a return of more than 20 million euros.

Researchers from Universidad of Vigo have built recognised and supported activities, and are well-known by colleagues through their participation in numerous national and international programmes, stays at prestigious European and American Universities, and visits of famous researchers from the international scientific community.

Two groups of Universidad de Vigo are engaged in the Enginency project: Energy Technology Group, http://gte.uvigo.es/, and Applied Geotechnologies Research Group, http://geotech.webs.uvigo.es/.

1) Energy Technology Group is skilled in:

• Own software development for thermal energy assessment and energy saving proposals in buildings.
• CFD simulation tools (ANSYS-Fluent, Star- CCM+, GT-Power ...), Trnsys, SPSS, own numerical models: C++, Matlab, ANSYS-Fluent UDF routines. Numerical Modelling.
• Thermochemical characterization of biomass thermal processes. TG/DSC and FTIR of solids, liquids and gases.
• Pilot biomass combustion plants development. Pilot co and three-generation plants development.

2) Applied Geotechnologies Research Group is experienced in:

• Geomatics: LiDAR, GNSS, Ground Penetrating Radar, Computer Vision, Infrared Thermography, Vision Metrology).
• Civil Engineering: inspection and monitoring of infrastructures, unnamed aerial marine and terrestrial vehicles.
• Energy efficiency: 3D thermographic inspection, BIM, energetic simulation.
• Structural Engineering: reverse engineering, health monitoring.
• Smart Cities: 3D modelling, GIS, urban inventories, traffic monitoring.
• Coastal Engineering: inspection and monitoring of coastal defences.

Fields of Activity
1) Applied Geotechnologies Research Group:
Actions in four areas: ‘Architecture and Building’, ‘Industry, Energy and Environment’, ‘Terrestrial and Maritime Infrastructure’ and ‘Cultural and Historical Heritage’. A summary of main activities is:

• Unmanned vehicles: Development of terrestrial, aerial and maritime integrating non-contact instrumentation (LiDAR, GNSS, IR Thermography, etc.)
• Software development: automatic processing and objet recognition. Applications
  to geometric and damage inspection of road infrastructure, geometric and thermographic behaviour of buildings, creation of models for simulation (energetic and structural).
• Integral processes: merging geometric models of visible and non-visible elements of structures.
• 3D modelling: cultural heritage sites , industrial factories, singular structures.
• Structural evaluation: historic structures, road infrastructure, bridges, ports.
• GIS-based software: development of customized software for wide range of fields of application

2) Energy Technology Group:
Main areas of activities are: ‘Thermal properties’, ‘CFD modelling’, ‘Biomass Combustion’, ‘Thermal engines and CHP’ and ‘Phase change materials applied to construction’. Relevant actions include:

• Optimized energetic evaluation of buildings: Development of hardware and software tools and methodologies for the energetic inspection, modelling and evaluation of buildings.
• Software development: Thermal processes such as combustion, heat exchange, and generally anything that has to do with thermal processes. Moreover, we have developed and validated our own models for the simulation of biomass combustion and buildings thermal energy assessment.
• Energetic services and assessment: Cogeneration and three-generation. Energy efficiency measures. PCM phase change material, Water storage tank, geothermal energy...
• Environmental: Study and control of emissions. Boilers, furnaces and thermal engines. Fabric and electrostatic filters development.
• Renewable energy (Biomass): Thermochemical properties determination. Boilers and furnaces CFD simulation. Energy savings and efficient improvements proposals. Combustion, Co firing. Own fixed bed models validated with experimental data. Slagging and fouling in boilers. CFD simulation and experimental validation.

Key Personnel
Prof. PhD PEDRO ARIAS (male) is a Professor at the Universidad de Vigo. He is currently a member of the International Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, ISPRS, in the Working Group I/Va: Mobile Scanning and Imaging Systems for 3D Surveying and Mapping. He has supervised more than 10 Doctoral thesis and co-authored more than 80 papers published in international scientific journals, for which he has an h Index of 10. He is habitual reviewer of scientific works for different editorial companies (Wiley-Blackwell, Elsevier, Springer, MDPI, Thomas Telford), and is an invited editor in DYNA journal.

Eng. PhD SUSANA LAGÜELA (fem.) is a researcher within the Applied Geotechnologies Research Group. Shefinished her PhD in 3D thermography in 2014 at the University of Vigo with Excellence Award, including research stays at the ETH Zurich, University of California Berkeley and ITC-CNR in Italy. She is author of more than 20 papers, and received the Prize to Young Researchers in New Technologies from the Council of Pontevedra, Spain (2011), and the Prize “Ermanno Grinzato” to Researchers Under 30 from the International Conference in Thermography, AITA2013. 

Prof. PhD. ENRIQUE GRANADA (male) is Assistant Professor at the Department of Thermal Engines. He obtained a PhD in Industrial Engineering in 1999. His teaching and research activity are focus on thermal engineering. His main research activities are renewable energy, energy efficiency, combustion, study and control of emissions, etc. He has computer skills in advanced scientific software (Hysys, Matlab, SPSS) and software development (windows environment). He is a member of the Spanish Expert Committee (Area Energy Management DG Research and Management of National R+D+i), expert of the Spanish National Agency for Assessment and Forecasting. He has a h-index 12, 49 JCR papers.

Prof. PhD. PABLO EGUIA (male) is Associate professor at the Department of Thermal Engines. PhD Industrial Engineering 2009 (thesis based on numerical methods to model energetic dynamic processes). Technical manager in "IDi Energía S.L." from 2008 to nowadays, where software and modelling tools were developed in the Trnsys environment with CFD supporting. Should be highlight the modelling and simulation of air stratification inside INDITEX S.A. logistic centers. Has been carried out educational and researching work around these issues using many other software tools like Energyplus, OpenStudio, GenOpt, Matlab, etc. 26 JCR-labelled papers were written about biomass combustion, stirling modelling, Network Simulation Method, CFD Simulation, Trnsys applications, etc.