Student Projects
Student projects at IFD are usually closely related to current research projects and are supervised by our doctoral students, lecturers and professors. Some projects are conducted in collaboration with academic and industrial partners.
The Process
At IFD we try to assign the projects according to the students' preferences. To make sure that you get the project of your choice, it is best to contact us as soon as possible and preferably a few weeks before the semester starts. For a list of available projects, see the list below.
On the first Friday of each semester, IFD organizes an information event for students who are starting a project at IFD. The event is a great opportunity to meet other students, IFD faculty members, and supervisors. Moreover, detailed information about how student projects are conducted at IFD is given (Download student project guidelines (PDF, 3.3 MB)). Specifics about the event are provided by student supervisors.
Presentations of Bachelor, semester and CSE seminar thesis projects usually take place during the last week of the semester in the room ML H 51 ("Treibhaus"). Master thesis presentation dates are setup individually depending on the corresponding starting dates. Selected posters of projects are showcased on the H-floor of the ML building (poster templates for Download LaTeX (ZIP, 551 KB) and Download MS Word (DOCX, 353 KB) are available).
Profiling the Freefall Dynamics of Snowflakes in the Turbulent Atmosphere using UAVs
Understanding the complex interplay between the morphology of frozen precipitation and its fall behavior through the atmosphere is crucial in understanding the dynamics of natural snowfalls. This project aims to combine two novel airborne snow imaging platforms developed at the Institute of Fluid Dynamics. The first platform involves a small, flexibly deployable, commercial drone with a searchlight that can acquire large amounts of snowflake images for statistical characterization. The second platform encompasses a much larger research-type drone that carries an advanced long-range microscopy platform to capture high-resolution snowflake snapshots paired with meteorological data in hovering flight. Using automated flight paths, the two systems will be used in parallel for atmospheric profiling in the Swiss Alps up to 100 meters above ground level during the snowflakes’ most turbulent end-of-life time at descent through the atmospheric surface layer. This will provide invaluable insight into the variability of single snowflake dynamics through the atmosphere; with numerous applications in weather forecasting and climate projection models.
Keywords
Natural Snowfall, Snowflake Dynamics, Particle Imaging, Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles, Atmospheric Profiling
Labels
Semester Project , Internship , Bachelor Thesis , Master Thesis , ETH Zurich (ETHZ)
Description
Goal
Contact Details
More information
Open this project... call_made
Published since: 2025-05-30 , Earliest start: 2025-08-01 , Latest end: 2026-05-31
Organization Group Coletti
Hosts Muller Koen
Topics Information, Computing and Communication Sciences , Engineering and Technology , Earth Sciences , Physics
Volumetric Imaging of Natural Snowfall Clustering Dynamics in the Field
The interaction between natural snowfall and atmospheric wind conditions can lead to complex snow clustering dynamics mediated by turbulence. For example, the formation of columnar structures such as those present in particle-laden flows, and gusting waves in case of extreme weather conditions. How do such complex systems composed of millions of snowflakes lead to structure in the presence of a large variety of (chaotic) atmospheric turbulence conditions? What is the role of polydispersity at the start of a snowfall event? What kind of structures form depending on the snow mass loading, the types of frozen hydrometeors present, and the atmospheric turbulence intensity levels? This project will perform field imaging experiments over a 10x10x10m volume using a novel developed 16-camera outdoor imaging system that can track individual snowflakes over large distances. Measurements will be performed at a professional field site in Davos, where a holography setup will co-locate snowflake characterization. During the project, the student will join forces at the DLR in Göttingen and track snowflakes using state-of-the-art ‘Shake-the-Box’ Lagrangian particle tracking methodology.
Keywords
Natural Snowfall, Three-dimensional Tracking, Clustering Dynamics, UAVs, Field Experiments
Labels
Semester Project , Internship , Bachelor Thesis , Master Thesis , ETH Zurich (ETHZ)
Description
Goal
Contact Details
More information
Open this project... call_made
Published since: 2025-05-30 , Earliest start: 2025-08-01 , Latest end: 2026-05-31
Organization Group Coletti
Hosts Muller Koen
Topics Information, Computing and Communication Sciences , Engineering and Technology , Earth Sciences , Physics
Planar Imaging the Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Natural Snowfalls in the Field
The interaction between natural snowfalls and atmospheric wind conditions can lead to complex snow clustering dynamics mediated by turbulence. For example, the formation of columnar structures such as those present in particle-laden flows or gusting waves in case of heavy weather conditions. How do such complex and coherent structures composed of millions of snowflakes form in the presence of a large variety of atmospheric turbulence conditions? What are their spatio-temporal evolutions at interaction with the smallest and largest of length scales present in the atmospheric surface layer? This project will be performing planar imaging of snowfall formations in the field by using a novel developed large-scale imaging system encompassing 16 cameras and powerful stadium illumination. This system can track individual snowflakes over a 60-by-15 meter field of view to study their spatio-temporal dynamics passing along with the atmosphere. Measurements will be performed at a professional field site in Davos that co-locates eddy covariance measurements for flow characterization, while a scientific holography setup will need to be installed for snowflake characterization.
Keywords
Natural Snowfall, Particle Tracking Velocimetry, Transport Dynamics, UAVs, Field Experiments
Labels
Semester Project , Internship , Bachelor Thesis , Master Thesis , ETH Zurich (ETHZ)
Description
Goal
Contact Details
More information
Open this project... call_made
Published since: 2025-05-30 , Earliest start: 2025-08-01 , Latest end: 2026-05-31
Organization Group Coletti
Hosts Muller Koen
Topics Information, Computing and Communication Sciences , Engineering and Technology , Earth Sciences , Physics
Documents
- Download vertical_align_bottom Guidelines (PDF, 3.3 MB)
- Download vertical_align_bottom Report template LaTeX (ZIP, 1.3 MB)
- Download vertical_align_bottom Report template MS Word (DOC, 28 KB)
- Download vertical_align_bottom Miniposter template LaTeX (ZIP, 551 KB)
- Download vertical_align_bottom Miniposter template MS Word (DOCX, 353 KB)