Two PhD positions in Aalto University

Ice Mechanics Group at the Department of Mechanical Engineering of Aalto University is looking for two motivated doctoral students to work on numerical modeling and experiments on sea ice interacting with offshore wind farm. Novel numerical models for sea ice behavior and failure form a central part of the research by our group. Also we have a world unique experimental facility, Aalto Ice and Wave Tank.

Both open positions have a focus on research related to the main challenge for offshore wind developments in cold sea areas, the interaction between turbine units and sea ice moved by winds and currents: It is difficult to design cost-effective yet safe wind farms due to risks related to sea ice loads. Aim is to increase the feasibility and sustainability of wind energy harvesting on cold sea areas by using advanced numerical models.

The research for first is mainly performed by using numerical simulations. You will study how moving sea ice interacts with a single offshore wind turbine and with an ensemble of wind turbines, that is, an offshore wind farm. The study accounts for ice conditions affected by climate change. The work includes developing and combining accounting for sea ice behavior on different scales. Goal is to link an engineering-scale discrete element sea ice model for ice-structure interaction (tens to hundreds of meters in scale) with a local-scale continuum sea ice model describing the icy marine environment (kilometers to tens of kilometers).

Second position has emphasis on experiments and their analysis, but also the work may also include further development of an advanced ice load simulation tool for coupled ice-wind turbine interaction. Standard offshore wind turbines rely on monopile structure, which is a cylinder with a vertical cross-section, and for which loads can be mitigated by so-called ice cones. The ice cones will increase the loads on the support structure from waves and currents and their installation comes with high cost. In brief, the goal of your work will be to establish a guideline for optimizing offshore wind turbine foundations. Experiments are performed in our ice tank.

Detailed information on the two position, requirements, and desired skills can be found from:

https://www.aalto.fi/en/open-positions/doctoral-candidate-position-in-the-field-of-numerical-ice-mechanics

https://www.aalto.fi/en/open-positions/doctoral-candidate-position-on-cold-region-offshore-wind