The School of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering invites applications for a 3 year research PhD studentship commencing no later than September 2015. The proposed project addresses an industrial need to increase manufacturing efficiency and decrease waste through the use of state of the art data analysis and optimization. 

An international manufacturer of high pressure die castings for the automotive industry produces approximately two million castings each year, with a value of the order of £50M. A significantly high number of these castings end up being recycled due to quality issues. This represents a major amount of lost turnover. It is believed that this level of scrap can be reduced by better control of the manufacturing process. Although in principle high pressure die casting is a simple process, there are an enormous number of process variables that determine the outcome for each casting. The project will monitor these variables in the production environment and associate them, through part marking, with individual finished castings. These in turn will be assessed for quality. These actions will result in large quantities of qualitative and quantitative physics-based and experimental data. In order to determine the underlying causes for the scrap, a detailed and multivariate statistical analysis must be undertaken of these data. Outcomes include characterizations of the relationship between the input variables (temperatures, pressure, material composition, etc) and the resulting product (for example, casting porosity). Examining and understanding these relationships, through the use of advanced data analysis techniques, will allow optimisation of production parameters. Surrogate modelling of a die-casting simulation environment, coupled with subsequent data analysis and exploration, will further validate and enable predictive production capabilities.

As part of the project, the successful candidate will be expected to travel to Europe, Japan and possibly other parts of Asia and the USA. These trips will be used to visit the parent company as well as disseminate results at appropriate international conferences.  

Applicants should have or expect to obtain a first or upper second class honours degree, or equivalent, in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Mathematics, Operations Research, or similarly appropriate degree. Applications will be considered on a competitive basis with regard to the candidate’s qualifications, skills, experience and interests, together with the available funding mechanisms. Applicant must have excellent oral and written communication capabilities in English.

Applicants should be able to demonstrate an existing capability or interest in developing advanced mathematical and statistical analysis skills. Experience with programming in Excel and Matlab would also be advantageous.  

Further details of the project and instructions on how to make an application can be found on our 
website:- http://www.qub.ac.uk/mechaero.

Applications should be made electronically through the Queen’s online application portal at
http://go.qub.ac.uk/pgapply.

This studentship provides fees and a maintenance tax free grant of basic stipend of £13,863 with potential for enhancement to £18,500 (tax free) depending on the qualifications of the applicant, their commitment to demonstration duties, and recommendations of the interview panel. Please note that funding for this project only covers stipends and fees for UK nationals, due to current funding restrictions.

Informal inquiries may be addressed to Dr D Soban (email: d.soban<στο>qub.ac.uk).