PhD position available on Contact & Frictional Joints in Gas Turbines, fully funded

This studentship has now been filled, but there may be further similar studentships to follow.

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A fully funded PhD studentship will be available shortly,
for a project at the University of Exeter (UK) in collaboration with the University of Bristol and Rolls-Royce Plc. A sister
project will run at the same time in the Univeristy of Bristol, supervised by
Dr Fabrizio Scarpa (Dept of Aerospace Engineering, University of Bristol).
Together they form part of a larger project called SILOET, in total worth 90M
GBP and funded by the Technology Strategy Board (UK) and Rolls-Royce Plc.
SILOET (Strategic Investment in LOw-carbon Engine Technology) is designed to
accelerate the development and introduction of low carbon aircraft engine
technology. The results from this programme are expected to deliver a 2%
improvement in engine fuel economy and enable delivery of the Advisory Council
on Aeronautics Research in Europe goals. The
industrial partner, Rolls-Royce, is a global leader in providing integrated
power systems for use on land, at sea and in the air.

The supervisory team from the Universities of Exeter and Bristol and Rolls-Royce
have worked together closely for the past 4 years on vibration & damping
and other related problems in aero-engines. This PhD programme will explore
contact and friction issues in gas turbines, using Finite Element Modelling and
analytical modelling to understand the behaviour of such joints.

The studentship is funded by Rolls-Royce plc and the TSB (Technology
Strategy Board) under the SILOET programme. The funding will include the cost
of registration fees for an EU national.. Applicants with other nationalities
will ahve to secure further funding to top up registration fees, approximately
9k GBP per year). The successful applicant will receive a tax free maintenance
bursary of between 14.5k - 16k GBP per year

Entry Requirements: The project is suitable for motivated graduates with strong
technical backgrounds in Engineering, Physics or other associated disciplines.
Applicants must have either a 1st, or upper second class degree or equivalent,
an appropriate MSc and will preferably have some expertise in FE modelling.

Contact in the first place should be to Prof Chris Smith
c.w.smith@ex.ac.uk