Soil behaviours scholarship

This studentship will afford the student a chance to go deep in the areas of fluid-soil-structure interaction, scouring and costal protection.

• Qualification Type: PhD
• Hours: Full Time
• Title of project: Hydrodynamics of Novel Scour Protection Countermeasures for Monopile Offshore Wind Turbine Foundation

Applications are invited for a PhD studentship in the Department of Engineering. The successful candidate will have the opportunity to work the numerical modelling of soil behaviours near a monopile foundation subjected to wave-current co-existing environment and development of mitigation technique for the scour protection.

The offshore wind industry has experienced significant growth in recent years, and continues to expand both in the UK and worldwide.

Nearly all installed offshore wind turbines (OWTs) are mounted on fixed bottom support structures, e.g. monopiles. Scour development around monopile foundations for OWTs has been identified as an important challenge.

Typically, these foundations are installed in a shallow-water area, where waves and currents coexist, causing the oscillation flow.

The oscillation flow results in a large-scale horseshoe vortex near the seabed and wake vortices behind the monopile, initiating and enhancing scouring. Although recent research indicates that the wave-trough-induced pore pressure exerts an upward stress on the sediment and accelerates the scour process, the existing work does not explicitly consider the wave effect.

This project proposes a novel concept for a scour protection countermeasure for monopile foundations subjected to waves and currents. It consists of a flow-altering section near the seabed and a wave energy converter (WEC) near the free surface to supress the wave action.

The associated hydrodynamics will be characterised using the numerical tool, qaleFOAM, with further development for modelling sediment transports.

The proposed research will afford the student a chance to go deep in the areas of fluid-soil-structure interaction, scouring and costal protection. These skills are expected to be sought after highly by the industry and can also provide a robust foundation for an academic career.

The results of a successful doctoral thesis are expected to be of interest to the offshore renewable energy and coastal protection sectors at large. The student will be encouraged to publish results of their research at leading international conferences and in top-tier aeronautical journals.

They will be encouraged to communicate directly with potential or actual industrial partners.

The candidate should have an upper second-class BSc/BEng/MEng (or equivalent, or higher) degree in hydraulic, marine, coastal or offshore engineering. They should demonstrate aptitude for original research.

The candidate should possess a good understanding of fluid mechanics, soil mechanics and wave-structure interaction.

A candidate who demonstrates exceptional aptitude in one or more of these areas (as evidenced, for instance, through strong academic credentials or research papers in reputable, peer-reviewed journals/conferences) may be accorded preference.

The successful candidate should be able to code comfortably in Fortran or C++.

A doctoral candidate is expected to meet the following pre-requisites for their PhD:

• Demonstrate a sound knowledge of their research area
• Achieve and demonstrate significant depth in at least a few chosen sub-areas relevant to their primary research area
• Demonstrate the ability to conduct independent research, including a critical assessment of their own and others’ research

Having published high-quality papers in reputable peer-reviewed conferences and journals will be an advantage for the candidate