fluid mechanics PhD Projects, Programs & Scholarships

Funded PhD Project (European/UK Students Only)

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project has funding attached for UK and EU students, though the amount may depend on your nationality. Non-EU students may still be able to apply for the project provided they can find separate funding. You should check the project and department details for more information.

The EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Fluid Dynamics is now recruiting to this fantastic PhD opportunity in partnership with Dupont Teijin Films.

Experimental Aerodynamics and Environmental Flows

University of Southampton
Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences

Research Group: Aerodynamics and Flight Mechanics

Dr C Vanderwel

Application Deadline: 31 August 2020

Funding Type

PhD Type

Competition Funded PhD Project (European/UK Students Only)

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project is in competition for funding with other projects. Usually the project which receives the best applicant will be successful. Unsuccessful projects may still go ahead as self-funded opportunities.

Supervisor. Dr Christina Vanderwel. Project description. There are two openings for PhD students to work on “Simulating urban air pollution in the lab”.

Fluid flows above and within porous materials

Prof D Pokrajac, Dr D Van der A

Applications accepted all year round

Funding Type

PhD Type

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project does not have funding attached. You will need to have your own means of paying fees and living costs and / or seek separate funding from student finance, charities or trusts.

Fluid mechanics problems often involve fluid flows over porous materials. Examples of practical applications include flow through atmospheric and aquatic vegetation, coastal structures, and movement of biological fluids through various tissues.

Characterisation of flow around a bivalve (Pecten Maximus) shell

Dr M Stewart, Prof V Nikora

Applications accepted all year round

Funding Type

PhD Type

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project does not have funding attached. You will need to have your own means of paying fees and living costs and / or seek separate funding from student finance, charities or trusts.

A number of studies have highlighted the ability of freshwater mussels to behave as so-called ecosystem engineers; actively modifying their local environment through mechanisms such as filtering and passively by modifying bed roughness.

Development of a low cost hyperspectral imaging device for remote sensing of environmental flows

Dr M Stewart, Dr S Cameron

Applications accepted all year round

Funding Type

PhD Type

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project does not have funding attached. You will need to have your own means of paying fees and living costs and / or seek separate funding from student finance, charities or trusts.

Hyperspectral imaging is widely used in industry and research but traditional commercial devices tend to suffer from high cost and low portability, as well as lacking information on the ultraviolet range of the spectrum or being unsuitable for underwater applications (Nevala and Baden, 2019).

The effects of vegetation on wave hydrodynamics in coastal environments

Prof T O'Donoghue, Dr D Van der A

Applications accepted all year round

Funding Type

PhD Type

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project does not have funding attached. You will need to have your own means of paying fees and living costs and / or seek separate funding from student finance, charities or trusts.

Seabeds covered with vegetation such as seagrass protect against coastal erosion due to their ability to attenuate wave energy and demobilise suspended sediments.

Secondary currents in rough-bed open-channel flows and their interrelations with the primary mean flow and turbulence

Prof V Nikora, Dr S Cameron

Applications accepted all year round

Funding Type

PhD Type

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project does not have funding attached. You will need to have your own means of paying fees and living costs and / or seek separate funding from student finance, charities or trusts.

Although the great significance of secondary flows for river processes has long been recognised, their origin, mechanics, effects, and interrelations with the primary mean flow and turbulence are still under debate and continue attracting close attention of hydrologists, geomorphologists, engineers, and, recently, stream ecologists.

The transport of alien particles under waves

Prof T O'Donoghue, Dr D Van der A

Applications accepted all year round

Funding Type

PhD Type

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project does not have funding attached. You will need to have your own means of paying fees and living costs and / or seek separate funding from student finance, charities or trusts.

While substantial fundamental research has been conducted in recent decades on sediment transport under waves (including research at the University of Aberdeen), little is known about the behaviour of alien particles dispersed within a sand bed mobilised by waves.

Very large scale motions (VLSM) in rough-bed turbulent open-channel flows: topology, statistics, dynamics

Prof V Nikora, Dr S Cameron

Applications accepted all year round

Funding Type

PhD Type

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project does not have funding attached. You will need to have your own means of paying fees and living costs and / or seek separate funding from student finance, charities or trusts.

Turbulence in open-channel flows such as rivers and canals plays a key role in transport of momentum, sediments, nutrients, and other substances.

Transport and fate of microplastics from rivers to the ocean

University of Southampton
Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences

Research Group: Water and Environmental Engineering

Dr G A M de Almeida

Application Deadline: 31 August 2020

Funding Type

PhD Type

Competition Funded PhD Project (European/UK Students Only)

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project is in competition for funding with other projects. Usually the project which receives the best applicant will be successful. Unsuccessful projects may still go ahead as self-funded opportunities.

Supervisor. Gustavo de Almeida & Sergio Maldonado (WEEG). Project description. Since the 1950’s the world has witnessed the dramatic increase in production and widespread consumption of plastics.

Understanding bedforms and their effect on the flow

University of Southampton
Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences

Research Group: Water and Environmental Engineering

Dr S Maldonado-Villanueva

Application Deadline: 31 August 2020

Funding Type

PhD Type

Competition Funded PhD Project (European/UK Students Only)

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project is in competition for funding with other projects. Usually the project which receives the best applicant will be successful. Unsuccessful projects may still go ahead as self-funded opportunities.

Supervisor. Sergio Maldonado (WEEG). Project description. Sand ripples and dunes are ubiquitous features found in the beds of rivers and coastal waters.

Biologically inspired underwater soft robotics

University of Southampton
Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences

Research Group: Fluid-Structure Interactions

Dr G Weymouth

Application Deadline: 31 August 2020

Funding Type

PhD Type

Competition Funded PhD Project (European/UK Students Only)

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project is in competition for funding with other projects. Usually the project which receives the best applicant will be successful. Unsuccessful projects may still go ahead as self-funded opportunities.

Supervisor. Gabriel Weymouth & Blair Thornton (Maritime Engineering). Project description. Animals glide effortlessly through amazing underwater acrobatics, while our best underwater vehicles fight against the water during the simplest accelerations and manoeuvres.

Sparsification of reduced order models for fluid and fluid-structure problems

University of Southampton
Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences

Research Group: Aerodynamics and Flight Mechanics

Dr A Da Ronch

Application Deadline: 31 August 2020

Funding Type

PhD Type

Competition Funded PhD Project (European/UK Students Only)

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project is in competition for funding with other projects. Usually the project which receives the best applicant will be successful. Unsuccessful projects may still go ahead as self-funded opportunities.

Supervisor. Andrea Da Ronch. Project description. This is a unique opportunity for an enthusiastic and self-driven student to join a vibrant team with a well-proved expertise in multi-disciplinary computational aero-sciences driven by the technologies needed for next-generation aerospace systems.

EPSRC DTP Studentship: Numerical study of complex fluid-structure interaction

Cardiff University
Cardiff School of Engineering

Dr Z Xie, Prof T N Phillips

Application Deadline: 30 June 2020

Funding Type

PhD Type

Funded PhD Project (European/UK Students Only)

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project has funding attached for UK and EU students, though the amount may depend on your nationality. Non-EU students may still be able to apply for the project provided they can find separate funding. You should check the project and department details for more information.

This studentship is a collaboration between the School of Engineering and School of Mathematics at Cardiff University. The academic supervisors are Dr.

Developing a multiscale description of complex fluids from the molecular to the continuum scales

University of Strathclyde
Department of Chemical and Process Engineering

Dr L Lue, Dr D Kivotides

Applications accepted all year round

Funding Type

PhD Type

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project does not have funding attached. You will need to have your own means of paying fees and living costs and / or seek separate funding from student finance, charities or trusts.

Engineers have traditionally used continuum equations to model processes, such as the Navier-Stokes equation for fluid flow. These methods require constitutive relations that encode the properties of the fluid; these are typically determined empirically and have limited predictive capabilities.