Contact Dr Mounia Karim
- Tel: +44 (0) 1234 750111 x2795
- Email: M.Karim@cranfield.ac.uk
- ORCID
Areas of expertise
- Precision Engineering
- Surface Engineering
Background
Dr Mounia Karim gained her MSs from Cadi Ayyad University of Marrakech- Morocco in Energetics, Electronics and Automation. Following this MSc, Dr Karin joined the Moroccan foundation for advanced Science, Innovation and Research –MAScIR- in 2012 to work on her PhD thesis in collaboration with the National Institute of Solar Energy INES-CEA, France. The thesis entitled “Evaluation of the Mechanical surface damage of solar reflectors used in CSP plants under Moroccan climate” was defended in Cadi Ayyad University and have been awarded as the best PhD thesis in Physics at the Faculty of Science as well as the Second best PhD thesis in Renewables in Morocco delivered by the Moroccan Agency for Solar Energy – MASEN. The thesis subject was related to the durability evaluation of several materials types used as reflectors in Concentrated Solar power plants. A special attention was given to the evaluation of the erosion phenomenon during the outdoor aging tests as well as during the indoor test using a sandblasting machine. In 2015, Dr Karim started her first job as Research fellow at MAScIR for three years. She was in charge of a European project Raiselife “Raising the lifetime of Functional Materials for Concentrated Solar Power Technology” financed by the European commission in the H2020 framework. Dr Karim was also in charge of a project with MASEN to evaluate the aggressiveness of several potential sites suitable for CSP installations.
Current activities
Dr Mounia Karim’s current research activities are related to durability of materials used in solar field of Concentrated Solar Power plants, CSP. Her interests include mainly the study of the erosion and soiling phenomena that can alter the good performance of mirrors reflectors. To address these research activities, it is mandatory to define firstly, the different parameters that are identified as influencing the degradation rate of the reflectors performance, before weighting their impact of each influencing parameter separately on the global yield of the solar installation.
Her current projects include:
FP7-ENERGY-2013-IRP, Project Number 609837, STAGE STE - "Scientific and Technical Alliance for Guaranteeing the European Excellence in Concentrating Solar Thermal Energy"
H2020-LCE-02-2015, Project number 654479, WASCOP - "Water Saving for Solar Concentrated Power"
H2020-LCE-11-2017, Project number 792103, SOLWATT – “Solving Water Issues for CSP Plants”
Publications
Articles In Journals
- Karim M, Almond H, Sansom C, Balta-Ozkan N, Mirzania P & King P (2020) The effect of concentrated solar power plants on the socio-economic and livelihood assets of the local community and environment, AIP Conference Proceedings, 2303 Article No. 150010.
- King P, Sansom C, Almond H, Karim M & Idiazabal L (2020) Simulation of the effect of dust barriers on the reduction of mirror soiling in CSP plants, AIP Conference Proceedings, 2303 Article No. 210004.
- Matal A, Karim M & Naamane S (2020) Development and calibration of an experimental test bench simulating solar reflectors erosion, Solar Energy, 201 (May) 724-731.
- Guerguer M, Karim M, Naamane S, Edfouf Z, Raccurt O & Delord C (2017) Soiling deposition on solar mirrors exposed in Morocco, AIP Conference Proceedings, 1850 (1) Article No. 130005.
- Karim M, Naamane S, Delord C & Bennouna A (2015) Laboratory simulation of the surface erosion of solar glass mirrors, Solar Energy, 118 (August) 520-532.
- Karim M, Naamane S, Delord C & Bennouna A (2015) Study of the surface damage of glass reflectors used in concentrated solar power plants, Energy Procedia, 69 106-115.
- Karim M, Naamane S, El Amrani EL Hassani I, Delord C, Belcadi S, Tochon P & Bennouna A (2014) Towards the prediction of CSP mirrors wear: Methodology of analysis of influencing parameters on the mirrors surface degradation: Application in two different sites in Morocco, Solar Energy, 108 41-50.
Conference Papers
- Karim M, Naamane S & Delord C (2016) Evaluation of the behaviour of different solar mirrors against soiling phenomenon. In: 2016 International Renewable and Sustainable Energy Conference (IRSEC), Marrakech, 14-17 November 2016.
- Edfouf Z, Guerguer M, Naamane S, Karim M, Zari N, Grirate H, Raccurt O, Delord C & Couturier R (2015) Research on component materials used for Moroccan CSP power plants: Mirrors ageing and thermal storage. In: 2014 International Renewable and Sustainable Energy Conference (IRSEC), Ouarzazate, 17-19 October 2014.
- Karim M, Naamane S, Delord C & Bennouna A (2015) Surface wear damage of glass solar mirrors in Moroccan desert environment. In: 2014 International Renewable and Sustainable Energy Conference (IRSEC), Ouarzazate, 17-19 October 2014.
