Available to start September 2015

Inspection of austenitic welds in stainless steels and nickel alloys is a critical area of activity for both the nuclear and oil & gas industries, and also the aerospace industry in niche areas.

The solidification of the weld leaves an inhomogeneous anisotropic weld which adversely affects inspection performance – primarily in characterisation of the flaw type, its positioning within the weld and sizing. Work done to date has made significant advances in detection performance through the use of twin-crystal phased array probes in transmit-receive longitudinal (TRL) configuration. However, sizing and characterisation of the detected flaws is key to decision making in nuclear power plants and oil & gas components.

TWI has made advances in addressing this issue and this PhD will take forward those concepts to aid in developing a viable inspection system for austenitic welds.

This project will be carried out as part of the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Embedded Intelligence and is co-sponsored by National Structural Integrity Research Centre (NSIRC).

This Centre, in collaboration with NSIRC, offers an attractive package, including a tax free stipend of up to £17k pa (equivalent £24k tax free), in addition to full University PhD registration fees for British and EU candidates. Due to UKBA Visa regulations applications from overseas students cannot be accepted for this position. Additionally, there is a generous personal development budget of £10,000for the specific training needs of the successful candidate.

The Centre offers a unique 4-year Ph.D. programme, drawing on expertise in postgraduate teaching and research supervision in the fields of sensors, system design, embedded software and systems, manufacturing systems, novel manufacturing processing, applications engineering and systems services. The PhD candidate will be supported by the state-of-the-art facilities at NSIRC andLoughborough University.

A high calibre candidate with first or upper second class (2:1) degree in mechanical, Electrical/Electronics or Civil/Structural Engineering, Material Science, Metallurgy or Physics. Candidates with suitable work experience and strong capacity in numerical modelling and experimental skills are particularly welcome to apply.

Further information can be obtained from Dr Donna Palmer, e-mail: cdt-ei<στο>lboro.ac.uk

For more information about The National Structural Integrity Research Centre, visit www.nsirc.co.uk

Please direct general enquiries to: enquiries<στο>nsirc.co.uk

The deadline for applications is 30^th April 2015.

Please quote Ref No.: 2015CDTEI_NSIRC6 on your application. Apply here