A 42 months postgraduate studentship is available in the Impact Engineering Laboratory, Department of Engineering Science for investigation of the strain rate dependent behaviour of composite materials. This is a part of a wider collaborative project with a number of academic and industrial organisations which aims to develop novel capabilities for predictive multi-scale modelling of the behaviour of composite materials subjected to explosion and collision. The student will play the central role in developing algorithms and software for numerical simulation of mechanical behaviour of investigated composite materials. This will involve a variety of numerical modelling techniques to be developed and employed to simulate the observed and quantified behaviour at different length scales and at the range of strain rates. The methodology is likely to explore finite element based as well as isogeometric and mesh-free approaches towards successful multi-scale simulations. The developed capability will be incorporated within an existing, continually developing, integrated experimental-numerical research framework. The research student will work under the supervision of Prof Nik Petrinic and Dr Ettore Barbieri (Queen Mary University of London).
Award Value
The studentship covers University fees at the level set for UK/EU students plus provides a stipend (tax-free maintenance grant) of £16,500 p.a. for the first year, and at least this amount for a further year. The studentship covers the payment of college fees.
Eligibility
The project studentship is available to all applicants.
Candidate Requirements
Prospective candidates will be judged according to how well they meet the following criteria:
- Good first degree in engineering (mechanical, naval, aerospace, civil), materials science/engineering, or physics
- MSc in Computational Mechanics (Finite Element Method, element free)
- Proven affinity to solid mechanics and materials engineering
- Excellent computing skills and strong experience with computer aided design software and programming languages (Matlab, FORTRAN, C, or C++)
Application Procedure
To apply for this studentship:
- Candidates should send a covering letter (explaining your suitability for the study, what you hope to achieve from the D.Phil. and your research and/or professional experience to date) to studentship [at] eng.ox.ac.uk (studentship[at]eng[dot]ox[dot]ac[dot]uk)
- Candidates are expected to meet the Graduate Admissions criteria available at http://www.eng.ox.ac.uk/admissions/postgraduate/admissionscriteria.pdf and a full graduate application must also be made by the application deadline. Please quote Exeter as your first choice college. Further details about making a graduate application are available at http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/postgraduate/apply
Please quote NP-UW3 in all correspondence to the Department and in your graduate application.
Informal enquiries may be addressed to nik.petrinic [at] eng.ox.ac.uk (nik[dot]petrinic[at]eng[dot]ox[dot]ac[dot]uk). Please note that applications sent directly to this email address will not be accepted.
Application deadline: 7 May 2013. Interviews will be held 14 - 16 May 2013