Shubham Sharma joined the  research group during September 2025. His research work will focus on reversible pump-turbine and the thruster technology within hydropower. He will work under the on-going research project, store2hydro, financed by European Commission.

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Gabriele Gaiti joined the research group in August 2021. He conducts fundamental research on fluid-structure interactions, focusing on hydrodynamic damping on hydrofoils. Gabriele has developed a circular blade cascade for damping and vibration measurements, enabling the measurement of pressure, velocity, and strain in hydrofoil test sections. Additionally, he is conducting numerical simulations of one-way fluid-structure interactions on hydrofoils. For more detailed information, please visit the dedicated project page.

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Dadi Ram Dahal joined the research group in September 2022. He conducts fundamental research on fluid-structure interactions, with a focus on the boundary layer on resonating surfaces. Dadi has developed test rigs for boundary layer research, enabling the measurement of pressure, velocity, and strain in hydrofoil test sections. Additionally, he is conducting numerical simulations of one-way and two-way fluid-structure interactions on geometrical shapes such as circular discs and rectangular plates. For more detailed information, please visit the dedicated project page.

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Johannes Djupesland is a PhD candidate working full-time on the Store2Hydro project. He joined the research group in January 2024, shortly after the project’s inception. Johannes conducts research on reversible pump-turbines, focusing on IEC standard model tests in the Waterpower Laboratory. His work includes the design and optimization of thrusters for model pump-turbines. Johannes is a key contributor to Task 2.1, playing a crucial role in advancing the project’s objectives.

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Francesco Albicini is a PhD candidate working full-time on RenewHydro RP1.2 research project. He joined the project in March 2025. Francesco is aimed to study unsteady blade loading during the intermittent operations of the Francis turbine in the laboratory. He will study unsteady pressure loading, strain and stress on the turbine blades. Finally, he will use this data to develop rainflow counting algorithm for the intermittent operations to estimate the fatigue damage on the blades and potential inception of crack on the blades.

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Pawan Lal Bijukchhe is a PhD candidate working full-time on RenewHydro RP2.2 research project. He joined the project during August 2025. Pawan is aimed to design and optimize the reversible pump-turbine and the booster pump for the Norwegian hydropower systems. He will use machine learning and other optimization techniques that combines pump-turbine and the booster pump. He will also focus on automated optimization considering the large variability of the hydropower head and discharge.

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