From 4 to 6 September 2024, the 79th National Congress of the Italian Thermotechnical Association (ATI) was held in Genoa, during which Francesca Iapaolo, a student on the PhD course in Energy and Nuclear Science and Technology (STEN) at the Department of Energy of Politecnico di Milano, was awarded the prestigious AIMSEA Prize for the best poster. Her work, entitled “Experimental characterisation of the isothermal flow field in a H2-air double swirl burner”, explores the influence of the swirl degree on the flow field in a double swirl burner for hydrogen under isothermal conditions. The results of this study pave the way for future burner evaluation under reactive conditions and will provide important reference data for the validation of numerical CFD simulations.

The award jury was composed of Professors Ivan Arsie, Angelo Algieri and Mario Luigi Ferrari, who chose Iapaolo’s work for its scientific relevance and technological innovation.