Cécile Münch-Alligné was born in Strasbourg in 1979. She graduated in hydraulic and mechanical engineering from the INPG Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Hydraulique et Mécanique de Grenoble in 2002 and obtained her PhD in Fluid Mechanics and Transfers from the INPG in 2005. She wrote her PhD thesis on Large Eddy Simulation. She then worked as a scientific assistant in the EPFL Laboratory for Hydraulic Machines for four years, during which she worked on numerical flow simulation in turbomachines. She has been teaching hydropower at the HES-SO Valais-Wallis since September 2010. The hydropower research team she has built has been carrying out many local, national and international projects. She is heading the Hydroelectricity team, which is a member of the Swiss Competence Center for Energy Research – Supply of Electricity (SCCER-SoE) and of the Swiss Competence Center for Energy Research – Future Swiss Electrical Infrastructure (SCCER-FURIES). She is a board member of the SCCER-SoE and of the Federal Energy Research Commission (CORE).

Secteurs d’activité

Machines hydrauliques
Grande et petite hydraulique

Compétences

Modélisation et simulation numérique des fluides
Design et optimisation des turbines hydrauliques
Estimation de potentiels
Turbulence
Interaction fluide-structure

Projets principaux réalisés et en cours

SCCER-SoE
"Swiss Competence Center for Energy Research – Supply of Electricity" is a national competence center to develop fundamental research and innovative solutions in the domains of GeoEnergies and HydroPower granted by the Swiss Commission for Technology and Innovation (CTI). HES-SO Valais-Wallis is in charge of the development of new turbines for harvesting energy from existing hydraulic infrastructure fresh water supply network.
> Leader of WP3.2 : Innovative technologies for Hydropower, member of the board

SCCER-FURIES
"Swiss Competence Center for Energy Research – Future Swiss Electrical Infrastructures" joins the competences of the top Swiss academic and industrial actors in the area of power / energy systems granted by CTI. HES-SO Valais-Wallis will contribute to the task “Control of massive DG and distributed storage” of WP1 "Regional multi energy grids". In particular, this contribution will be focused on the development of concurrent hydraulic, mechanical and electrical engineering of small units featuring fast dynamics and low CAPEX.

DUO TURBO
"Providing Industrial and Competitive Family of Low-CAPEX Integrated Plug-and-Play Energy Recovery Stations” is a 3 years project funded by KTI involving HES-SO Valais-Wallis, EPFL and three industrial partners. The project focuses on turning a counter rotating micro-turbine proof of concept into a range of standard energy recovery stations able to harvest energy on drinking water networks. (1 Million for 3 years)
> Project manager

HYPERBOLE
"HYdropower plants PERformance and flexiBle Operation towards Lean integration of new renewable Energies", is a 42 months European FP7 project involving EPFL as leader, ALSTOM, ANDRITZ, VOITH, Power Vision Engineering, UPC, Uni Stuttgart, INESC Porto and HES-SO Valais-Wallis. In this project, the HES-SO Valais-Wallis is involved in numerical simulation of the vortex rope at full load in a Francis turbine.

HydroNET 2
"Modern methodologies for design, manufacturing and operation of hydropower plants", is a 3 years project supported by CCEM and SER involving EPFL, EAWAG, EMPA, HSLU and HES-SO Valais-Wallis with the financial support of Swisselectric Research. In this project, the HES-SO Valais-Wallis is in charge of Large Eddy Simulation of the Tip Vortex.
> Sub-task leader

Hydro VS
"Valorisation de la production d'énergie des infrastructures hydrauliques existantes” is a 5 years project supported by The Ark Energy initiative funded by the Ark Foundation (VS) evolving EPFL and HES-SO Valais-Wallis. In this project, HES-SO Valais-Wallis is in charge of the development of an iso-kinetic turbine for river and involved in the development of a micro-counter-rotating turbine in a close collaboration with EPFL.
> Leader of the HES-SO Valais-Wallis WP’s

Arbaz
"Station de transfert d'énergie par pompage et turbinage à Arbaz : étude de l’installation, de l'intégration et de la gestion optimale du réseau" is a 1 year project supported by The Ark Foundation involving EPFL, CREM, Cimark and HES-SO Valais-Wallis. In this project, the HES-SO Valais-Wallis is studying the feasibility of a micro pumped storage power plant.
> Leader of the project

Clean City
This 2-years project is supported by the HES-SO and involved HES-SO Genève, HES-SO Fribourg and HES-SO Valais-Wallis. The HES-SO Valais-Wallis is in charge of flow numerical simulations of pollutant dispersion around a cubic building using a opensource code OpenFOAM.

Principales publications

ARTICLES

2021

Turbine mode start-up simulation of a FSFC variable speed pump-turbine prototype – Part I: 1D simulation - Link to the publication
Alligné S., Béguin A., Biner D., Münch-Alligné C., Hasmatuchi V., Hugo N., Avellan F., Dujic D., Nicolet C.
IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, IOP Publishing, 2021, 774, 012052
Turbine mode start-up simulation of a FSFC variable speed pump-turbine prototype – Part II: 3-D unsteady CFD and FEM - Link to the publication
Biner D., Alligné S., Hasmatuchi V., Hugo N., Avellan F., Dujic D., Münch-Alligné C.
IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, IOP Publishing, 2021, 774, 012070
Numerical simulations of Pelton turbine flow to predict large head variation influence - Link to the publication
Alimirzazadeh S., Decaix J., Avellan F., Crettenand S., Münch-Alligné C.
IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, IOP Publishing, 2021, 774, 012033
Production flexibility of small run-of-river power plants: KWGO smart-storage case study - Link to the publication
Münch-Alligné C., Decaix J., Gaspoz A., Hasmatuchi V., Dreyer M., Nicolet C., Alimirzazadeh S., Zordan J., Manso P., Crettenand S.
IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, IOP Publishing, 2021, 774, 012037
CFD simulations of a Y-junction for the implementation of hydraulic short-circuit operating mode - Link to the publication
Decaix J., Biner D., Drommi J-L., Avellan F., Münch-Alligné C.
IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, IOP Publishing, 2021, 774, 012013
Augmenter la flexibilité de l’hydroélectricité - Link to the publication
Hasmatuchi V., Decaix J., Titzschkau M., Münch-Alligné C.
Bulletin Electro-Suisse, Février 2021
Investigation of the Time Resolution Set Up Used to Compute the Full Load Vortex Rope in a Francis Turbine - Link to the publication
Decaix J., Müller A., Favrel A., Avellan F., Münch-Alligné C.
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11, 1168

2019

On-board measurements at a 100 MW high-head Francis turbine - Link to the publication
Titzschkau M., Hasmatuchi V., Decaix J., Münch-Alligné C.
Wasserwirtschaft, Special Issue 1/2019
Experimental and numerical investigations of a high-head pumped-storage power plant at speed no-load - Link to the publication
Decaix J., Hasmatuchi V., Titzschkau M., Rapillard L., Manso P., Avellan F., Münch-Alligné C.
IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, Volume 240 (082014), March 2019

> All articles before 2019

CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS

2020

Two-dimensional numerical investigation of the cavitation sheet over a NACA 16-012 - Link to the publication
Decaix J., Münch-Alligné C.
Proceedings of International Conference of Numerical Analysis and Applied Mathematics ICNAAM, 2019, AIP Publishing, 2293, 030025
Towards the non-intrusive detection and monitoring of cavitation in hydraulic machines
Hasmatuchi V., Pedroni F., Biner D., Decaix J., Blommaert G., Münch-Alligné C.
Proceedings of the Hydro2020, Strasbourg, France

2019

Hydropower in urban drinking water distribution networks
Samora I. A., Essyad K., D. Biner D., Münch-Alligné C.
Proceedings of the Hydro2019, Porto, Portugal
Introducing flexibility in alpine small hydropower plants using smart storage
Zordan J., Manso P. A., Gaspoz A., Münch-Alligné C., Crettenand S.
Proceedings of the Hydro2019, Porto, Portugal
Pushing the envelope: Switzerland’s approach to unlocking hidden hydropower potential
Müller A., Münch-Alligné C., Nicolet C., Denis V., Avellan F.
Proceedings of the Hydro2019, Porto, Portugal
Detection of harsh operating conditions on a Francis prototype based on in-situ non-intrusive measurements
Hasmatuchi V., Pacot O., Decaix J., Titzschkau M., Rapillard L., Münch-Alligné C.
Proceedings of the Hydro2019, Porto, Portugal
Hydro-structural stability investigation of a 100 MW Francis turbine based on experimental tests and numerical simulations - Link to the publication
Decaix J., Hasmatuchi V., Titzschkau M., Rapillard L., Münch-Alligné C.
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 2019
Numerical investigation of solutions to suppress the inlet vortex of an existing booster pump - Link to the publication
Decaix J., A. Gaspoz A., D. Fischer D., C. Münch-Alligné C.
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 2019
DuoTurbo: A New Counter-Rotating Microturbine for Drinking Water Facilities
Biner D., Andolfatto L., Hasmatuchi V., Rapillard L., Chevailler S., Avellan F., Münch-Alligné C.
International Conference on Innovative Applied Energy (IAPE'19), Oxford City, United Kingdom, March 14-15, 2019

> All conference proceedings before 2019