PIETRO PAOLO CIOTTOLI

Personal data
Date & Place of Birth: 21 Aug 1983, Faenza (Ra)
Phone:   +39 0644585895
Mobile: +39 3208427398
E-mail: pietropaolo.ciottoli@uniroma1.it
web page: https://phd.uniroma1.it/web/CIOTTOLI-PIETRO-PAOLO_nC2622_EN.aspx
Current Position

1/09/2024 to present
Associate Professor of Aerospace Propulsion, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Sapienza University of Rome
Università di Roma La Sapienza. Numerical modeling of flows of interest to aeronautical and space propulsion, SC 09/A1 SSD ING-IND/07
(Abilitazione scientifica nazionale a professore di prima fascia, SC 09/A1 from 17/12/2023).

Other assignments

01/07/2018 - 24/11/2019 Borsista di Ricerca - Numerical simulation of overexpanded nozzles by DES methodology - Università di Roma La Sapienza, Dipartimento di Ingegneria Meccanica e Aerospaziale, SC 09/A1 SSD ING-IND/07

01/09/2011 - 30/09/2011
Combustion modeling in turbulent coaxial jets. Università di Roma La Sapienza, Dipartimento di Ingegneria Meccanica e Aerospaziale, SC 09/A1 SSD ING-IND/07

Reseach Activiites in International Istitutions

April 2016
Research activity at the Clean Combustion Research Center (CCRC),
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, Saudi
Arabia, project ”High Fidelity Computation for Extreme Combustion,” to develop LES models to investigate the effects of pressure on the behavior of syngas/air flames. Invited by Prof. Hong G. Im in April 2016.

Academic Roles

December 2019 to present
Member of the Teaching Board of the Ph.D. course in Aeronautical and Space Engineering, University of Rome La Sapienza.

December 2019 to date
Responsible member of the Working Group "High School Orientation" at the Consiglio d’area di ingegneria aerospaziale, University of Rome La Sapienza.

July 2014 to May 2018
Elected representative of the research fellows at the Council of the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Rome La Sapienza.

April 2017 to May 2018
Elected representative of the research fellows at the Council of the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Rome La Sapienza.

Teaching

Graduate courses:

March 2024 to present: Hypersonic Propulsion [3CFU], SSD ING/IND-07, Master of Science in Space and Astronautical Engineering, University of Rome La Sapienza.

September 2020 to present: Gas turbine combustors [3CFU], SSD ING/IND-07, Master of Science in Aeronautical Engineering, University of Rome La Sapienza.

September 2019 to present: Environmental impact of aircraft engines [3CFU], SSD ING/IND-07, Master of Science in Aeronautical Engineering, University of Rome La Sapienza.

February 2018 to present: Aeronautical propulsion systems [3CFU], SSD ING/IND-07, Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering, University of Rome La Sapienza.

February 2018 to January 2020: Fortran programming course [1CFU], Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering, University of Rome La Sapienza.
January 2017 to present: Aeronautical Propulsion Laboratory [3CFU], SSD ING/IND-07, Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering, University of Rome La Sapienza

September 2016 to December 2019 Supplementary teaching activities for the course of Aerospace Propulsion, SSD ING/IND-07, Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering, University of Rome La Sapienza.

PhD courses

March 2020: Spray combustion modeling for aeronautical propulsion systems [3CFU], PhD course in Aeronautical and Space Engineering, University of Rome La Sapienza.

May 2019: Introduction to design of experiment and single and multi-objective optimization, Doctoral Program in Aeronautical and Space Engineering, University of Rome La Sapienza.

Second-level master courses:
January 2019 to present Introduction to Turbulent Combustion, Series of lectures for second level Master in Space Transportation Systems, University of Rome La Sapienza.

January 2015 to present:
Numerical modeling of LRE thrust chambers, Series of lectures for the second level Master in Space Transportation Systems, University of Rome La Sapienza.

January 2015 to December 2017 Fortran programming course, Series of lectures for the second level Master in Space Transportation Systems, University of Rome La Sapienza.

Supervisor of thesis and PhD

October 2021 to today

Doctoral thesis advisor, PhD Program in Aeronautical and Space Engineering, University of Rome La Sapienza.

Present time: PdD thesis advisor of 6 phD students working in the field of Two-phase flow modeling, Pintle injector design, Uncertainty Quantification, Thermodynamics of non-ideal mixtures.

September 2017 to present
Combustion thesis advisor, Master of Science in Aeronautical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering, University of Rome La Sapienza from September 2017 to date
Thesis advisor in Combustion, Degree in Aerospace Engineering, University of Rome La Sapienza.

September 2013 to present
Doctoral thesis advisor, PhD in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics and PhD in Aeronautical and Space Engineering, University of Rome La Sapienza.

Bibliometric indicators
Source Scopus, date 15/05/2025
Documents 64 (articles in journals 37)
Hirsch index 17
Total number of citations 730

Research Funding.
May 2017 Sapienza Avvio alla Ricerca, CSP-based chemical kinetics mechanisms simplification strategy for non-premixed combustion: an application to hybrid rocket propulsion, PI P.P. Ciottoli, University of Rome La Sapienza
May 2015 Avvio alla Ricerca, Coupling Strategies for Conditional Moment Closure and Large Eddy Simulation of Compressible Reactive Flows, PI P.P. Ciottoli, University of Rome La Sapienza

Research Projects

October 2024 to Present: Principal Investigator, Sviluppo Modellistica di Combustione in OpenFoam (AVIO spa Colleferro). Duration: 24 months.

July 2023 to Present: Principal Investigator, PRIN (Progetto di ricerca di interesse nazionale) Title: NextGenSProDesT Next Generation Space Propulsion Design Techniques. Project number: 2022B2X937. Duration: 24 months.

July 2023 to Present: WP Manager WO ESA STS-PN, ESA Contract N. 4000141038/23/IT/RAS CUP: J58G21000020007. Task 3 High-fidelity simulation of turbulent reacting multiphase flows. Duration: 36 months

September 2021 to October 2023: WP manager of Finite-Rate Chemistry in the contract:
EPSS validation activities for chemical propulsion systems (EVACPRO) - ESA Contract No. 4000136329/21/NL/MG PI F. Nasuti, title: Models Identification for LOX/CH4 Injection and Finite-Rate Chemistry, Turbomachinery Transient and Pyrolysis and Coking Phenomena in Cooling Jackets.

November 2018 to Present: WP manager of the Spray Modeling section in the project Development of combustion CFD models on OpenFOAM platform (AVIO spa Colleferro), Formulation and development of numerical tools for CFD simulations reactants for real fluids, PI Prof. M. Valorani, University of Rome La Sapienza.

June 2019 to May 2021 Center Competitive Funds (CCF) 2019 sub-award agreement KAUST- University of Rome La Sapienza OSR 1975-35 CCF, High-Pressure Spray Modeling, Modeling of Turbulent Sooting Flames and Machine Learning, and Model Reduction for Turbulent Combustion Simulations. PI Prof. M. Valorani, University of Rome La Sapienza.

June 2018 to May 2019: Industry consortium of fuel combustion (OSR-2018-CARF-1975-03 Sub-award Agreement ), Advanced diagnostics for reagent numerical simulation analysis, PI Prof. M. Valorani, University of Rome La Sapienza.

June 2014 to June 2018:
High Fidelity Computation for Extreme Combustion (CCRC, Kaust, Saudi Arabia), Formulation and development of advanced diagnostic tools for analysis of high fidelity reagent DNS simulations PI Prof. M. Valorani, University of Rome La Sapienza.

September 2014 to June 2016 Characterization of combustion and heat transfer phenomena in combustion ca- mere for cryogenic LOx/CH4 (AVIO) engines, Development of a CFD code for LES of supercritical reactant flows, PI Prof. M. Valorani, University of Rome La Sapienza.

January 2010 to December 2012: ISP1 (European FP7), In-Space Propulsion 1 (ONERA, DLR, EADS), Numerical simulation of oxygen/methane thrust chamber, PI Prof. M. Onofri, University of Rome La Sapienza.
Education and Training

Experience and Education

17/12/2023
National scientific qualification for the position of Full professor, SC 09/A1 valid until17/12/2034 (art. 16, comma 1, Legge 240/10)

10/11/2020,
National scientific qualification for the position of Associate professor, SC 09/A1, valid until 10/11/2029 (art. 16, comma 1, Legge 240/10)

01/09/2019 to 31/08/2024
Assistant Professor (RTDB), Aerospace Propulsion engineering, 09/IIND-01 IIND-01/G (ex SC 09/A1 SSD ING-IND/07)

25/11/2019 to Aug 31
Research Fellow (RTDA), Modeling and Numerical Analysis of Reacting Flows in Thrust Chambers of Liquid Rocket Engines’, SC 09/A1 SSD ING-IND/07

Post-Doc Activities
01/06/2016 to 31/05/2018. Time scale analysis of reaction-diffusion systems. Università di Roma La Sapienza, Dipartimento di Ingegneria Meccanica e Aerospaziale,SC 09/A1 SSD ING-IND/07

01/06/2015 - 31/05/2014. Development of turbulence models for the prediction of heat fluxes over rough walls through a DNS database. Università di Roma La Sapienza, Dipartimento di Ingegneria Meccanica e Aerospaziale, SC 09/A1 SSD ING-IND/06

01/06/2014 - 31/05/2015 Modeling of reactive flows in methane-oxygen LRE thrust chamber. Università di Roma La Sapienza, Dipartimento di Ingegneria Meccanica e Aerospaziale, SC 09/A1 SSD ING-IND/07

01/03/2013 - 28/02/2014
Modellistica di flussi reagenti in camera di spinta di LRE a metano- ossigeno. Università di Roma La Sapienza, Dipartimento di Ingegneria Meccanica e Aerospaziale, SC 09/A1 SSD ING-IND/07

November 2009 to December 2013: PhD (Ph.D.) Course: Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, Dima - University of Rome La Sapienza

Doctoral thesis: "Conditional Moment Closure for LES of Compressible Reactive Flows" Supervisor: Prof. M. Valorani, Tutor: Prof. C.M. Casciola.

February 2020: Course Machine Learning for Fluid Mechanics: Analysis, Modeling, Control and Closures - Von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics, ULB, Belgium, February 24-28, 2020

October 2009: Master's Degree in Aeronautical Engineering - University of Rome La Sapienza. Master thesis:
"Simulations of heat transfer at the wall of the combustion chamber of the combustion chamber of liquid propellant endoreactors" Supervisor: Prof. M. Onofri
Co-rapporteurs: Ing. D. Bianchi, Ing. M. Pizzarelli

February 2006 Three-year degree in Aerospace Engineering - University of Rome La Sapienza, Three-year degree thesis: "Choice of the wing profile of an aircraft according to the mission profile" Supervisor: Prof. N. de Divitiis