Staff

profile

Current Position

Full Professor, Chair of Propulsion and Power
Director of the Aerospace Engineering Graduate School

Biography

Degrees

M.Sc. in Aerospace Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Italy, 1991.
M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, USA, 1995.
Ph.D. in Energy Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Italy, 1996.

Work Experience

2013-current, Full Professor, Propulsion and Power, TU Delft, The Netherlands.
2002-2013, Associate Professor, Renewable Energy Systems, TU Delft, The Netherlands.
2005-2006, Interim Head of the Energy Technology Section, TU Delft, The Netherlands.
1997-2002, Assistant Professor, Fluid Machinery, University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy.
1996-2003, Founder and Partner of AustEx - Exergy Management s.r.l., Milano, Italy.
1995, Research Assistant, Engineering Thermodynamics, Stanford University, California.
1991-1996, Energy Engineering consultant, Studio Tecnico SPELL, Milano, Italy.

Publications List (Selected or Complete)

Selected articles

P. Colonna, E. Casati, C. Trapp, T. Mathijssen, J. Larjola, T. Turunen-Saaresti, and A. Uusitalo. Organic Rankine cycle power systems: From the concept to current technology, applications, and an outlook to the future. J. Eng. Gas Turb. Power, 137(10):100801–100820, 2015. DOI

F. Casella and P. Colonna. Dynamic modeling of IGCC power plants. Appl. Therm. Eng., 35:91–111, 2012. DOI

P. Colonna, J. Harinck, S. Rebay, and A. Guardone. Real-gas effects in organic Rankine cycle turbine nozzles. J. Propul. Power, 24(2):282–294, 2008. DOI

C. Zamfirescu, A. Guardone, and P. Colonna. Admissibility region for rarefaction shock waves in dense gases. J. Fluid Mech., 599:363–381, 2008. file:///Users/piero/Dropbox/My_Papers/Zamfirescu2008Admissibilityregionrarefaction.pdf DOI

P. Colonna and H. van Putten. Dynamic modeling of steam power cycles. Part I – modeling paradigm and validation. Appl. Therm. Eng., 27(2–3):467–480, 2007. file:///Users/piero/Dropbox/My_Papers/Colonna2006DynamicModelingof.pdf DOI

P. Colonna and A. Guardone. Molecular interpretation of nonclassical gas dynamics of dense vapors under the van der Waals model. Phys. Fluids, 18(5):056101–1–14, 2006. file:///Users/piero/Dropbox/My_Papers/Colonna2006_Molecularinterpretationof.pdf DOI

P. Colonna, N. R. Nannan, A. Guardone, and E. W. Lemmon. Multiparameter equations of state for selected siloxanes. Fluid Phase Equilib., 244:193–211, 2006. DOI

Google Scholar

Expertise

Technologies

Organic Rankine Cycle Power Systems
Supercritical CO2 Brayton Cycle Power Systems
Unconventional Turbomachinery

Methods

Automated turbomachinery fluid dynamic design
(Dynamic) system modeling and simulation
Integrated process/components design optimization

Science

Non Ideal Compressible Fluid Dynamics (NICFD)
Thermodynamic Properties of Pure Fluids and Mixtures

Awards

1995, Rotary International Ambassadorial Scholarship, Milano, Italy.
The grant funded the Master studies at Stanford University.

1996, Italian Ministry of the University and Scientific research, post-doctoral fellowship, Milano, Italy.

2004, NWO VIDI grant, personal grant from the Dutch Science Foundation for the project BZT Fluids for energy conversion applications.

2004, TU Delft grant for visiting scholars.
The grant funded a 6 months visit of Prof. dr. ir. A. Guardone of Politecnico di Milano, Italy.

2008, TU Delft grant for visiting scholars.
The grant funded a one-year visit of Prof. dr. ir. S. Rebay of the University of Brescia, Italy.

2008, Best Paper Award of the ASME International Mechanical Engineering Conference and Exhibition (IMECE), 11-15 Nov., Seattle, WA, 2007.

2009-2010, Best lecturer award of the Master programs "Sustainable Processes and Energy technologies" and "Solid and Fluid Mechanics" of the Delft University of Technology.

2011-2012, Best lecturer award of the Master programs "Sustainable Processes and Energy technologies" and "Solid and Fluid Mechanics" of the Delft University of Technology.

Hobbies

Music, literature, photography, gardening, skiing, trekking and sailing

Projects

Selected projects

CC-Powertrain for trucks
Mini-ORC turbogenerator for 0-energy buildings
BZT fluids for small power systems
Non-ideal Compressible Fluid Dynamics for Turbomachinery
Novel ECS for aircraft
CC-engine and CC-APU for next-generation aircraft
sCO2 power cycle for waste heat recovery
Thermal Energy harvesting on board of aircraft
Methods for ultra-compact aerospace heat exchangers design
Mixtures as working fluids for ORC systems

Other Positions and Memberships

Associate Editor, ASME Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power (July 2013 - July 2015)
Editor, Special JEGTP 2013 Issue on ORC Power Systems
Chairman, ASME International Gas Turbine Institute (IGTI) board (2016-2017)
Vice Chairman, ASME International Gas Turbine Institute (IGTI) board (2014-2015)
Chairman, ORC Power Systems committee of the IGTI (2012-2015)
Vice Chairman, Board of the Knowledge Center of Organic Rankine Cycle Technology (KCORC) (2017-2019)
Chairman, Board of the Knowledge Center of Organic Rankine Cycle Technology (KCORC) (2020)
Member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) since 2000
Chairman, ORC 2011 International Seminar
Chairman, ASME ORC 2013 Conference
Honorary Chairman, ASME ORC 2015 Conference, ORC 2017, ORC 2019
Member of the Advisory Board of the Global Propulsion and Power Society since 2018
Associate Editor of the Journal of the Global Propulsion and Power Society since 2018.
Member of the Board of the SU2 Foundation since 2021

A bit about myself

I was interviewed by our marketing and information department when I was appointed professor: the transcript of the interview is displayed on the TU Delft Aerospace Engineering website here.

My inaugural lecture can be seen here.

I am a passionate lecturer of Thermodynamics and organized an International Symposium titled Teaching and Learning Thermodynamics in a Time of Change. A taste of it in these videos

Supervision of Doctoral Students

Former Doctoral Students

Prof. Dr. Paolo Silva (Associate Professor, Politecnico di Milano)
Dr. Falk Ahnert (Head of Global Development Support, Wintershall)
Dr. Hans van Putten (Senior Researcher/Advisor, Project Manager at Deltares)
Dr. Ryan Nannan (Dean of the Mech. Eng. Dept., Anton De Kom University, Board Member at Staatsolie Maatschappij Suriname)
Dr. John Harinck (Program manager, Institute for Sustainable Processes)
Dr. Emiliano Casati (PostDoc researcher, ETH Zurich, PREC group, Emiliano is one of the recipient of the European individual fellowship Marie S. Curie-Global)
Dr. Carsten Trapp (Senior Analyst, Structuring & Valuation, Vattenfall)
Dr. Enrico Rinaldi (Software Engineer, COMSOL)
Dr. Tiemo Mathijssen (Expert, meteorological instrumentation, Koninklijk Nederlands Meteorologisch Instituut - KNMI)
Dr. Sebastian Bahamonde (Simulation Engineer, ASML)
Dr. Salvatore Vitale (Software Engineer, ING)
Dr. Lucia Azzini (Thermal Engineer, GE Avio Aero)
Dr. Antonio Rubino (Data Science Application Engineer, Dutch Analytics)
Dr. André Perpignan (R&D Engineer, Siemens Heat Transfer Technology)