[ztxie]

A PhD studentship is available in the AFM research group, School of Engineering Sciences (SES), which fully covers University tuition fees (at EU/UK level**) and provides a tax-free bursary of £16,000 per year for a 3.5-year duration.



Project description: Vortex shedding is a critical design consideration for slender structures such as long-span bridges, high-rise buildings and tele-communication masts. It can create large responses at relatively low wind speeds, leading to serviceability and fatigue concerns. Since vortex shedding is highly sensitive to the precise shape of the object, there are no established codes or standards that provide adequate evaluation of vortex shedding risks.
The aim of this project is to address the problem of the control of vortex shedding from a slender bluff body, and to develop a novel computational approach that will be available for use by Arup (http://www.arup.com/) on relevant bridge and building projects. It is anticipated that this tool will be used in early stages of a project to assess vortex shedding risks, which may be confirmed through wind tunnel testing at later stages.

Large Eddy Simulation (LES) and its derived varieties, e.g. hybrid LES, are the most promising tool for computing unsteady three-dimensional flows at high Reynolds numbers, and will be used in the project. To adequately capture fluid structure interaction “dynamic meshes” (or known as “moving meshes”) will be used as one of the major novel tools for this project. An LES model implemented in an open-source computational fluid dynamics code will be used.

This is an EPSRC CASE (Collaborative Awards in Science and Engineering) collaborative PhD project between Arup and University of Southampton. Arup (a global leading firm in engineering, design, etc) will act as the industrial supervisor. The successful applicant will be based predominantly at the University and will spend a minimum of 3 months working at Arup over the course of the project.
UK applicants (UK citizen or have settled or resident status) are eligible for full funding. EU and overseas applicants may be eligible if they have a relevant connection to the UK (see http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/funding/stude...igibility.aspx).
Entry requirements: Candidates will have a first class or upper second class degree (or its equivalent) in relevant disciplines, e.g. Applied Mathematics, Engineering and Physics.

The successful candidate will work with a group of highly motivated, first class research students in the areas of computational fluid dynamics, fluid-structure interactions.
How to apply: Please send by email to Dr Zheng-Tong Xie, z.xie@soton.ac.uk. An on-line application form (or hard copy version) with guidance notes can be accessed here: http://www.southampton.ac.uk/ses/pos...es/apply.page?
Please ensure you include a personal statement in your application, stating why you particularly want to do a PhD, why you think you are suited to a research degree and what particularly attracts you to this project.

[ztxie]

Thanks a lot.