Aberdeen University, School of Engineering Mechanical Engineering PhD Projects, Programs & Scholarships

Dr P Dunning, Dr S Sriramula

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.

This project aims to advance the design of components made from fibre reinforced composite materials, by combining techniques in multiscale analysis, structural reliability and design optimisation.

Application of Nanotechnology in Drilling Engineering

Dr R Rafati, Dr A Sharifi

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.

Production from unconventional hydrocarbon resources, such as shale gas, shale oil, deepwater and arctic reservoirs requires advanced drilling and extraction technologies.

Bio-inspired joints for metal-composite structures

Prof M Kashtalyan, Prof I Guz

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.

Combining dissimilar materials such metals and fibre-reinforced composites in structural components has potential to reduce weight and improve structural performance in many applications.

Computational Framework for Metal Forming of High Strength Alloys

Dr Amir Siddiq, Dr M Kartal

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.

Conventional metal forming processes involve high cost and lead times because of design and manufacturing of product specific tooling for new materials and parts.

Continuous separation of conglomerate forming enantiomers using crystallization process

Dr A Majumder, Dr D Dionisi

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.

Enantiomers are the results of chirality or handedness of molecules which are the non-superimposable mirror images of each other.

Control of drill-string vibrations

Dr S S Aphale, Dr A ALIAKBAR JAMSHIDI FAR

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.

Drill-strings possess a rich nonlinear dynamic behaviour. Torsional vibrations are a main cause of concern and current area of research interest in the wider academic as well as industrial research community.

Durability analysis in hydrogen fuel cell vehicles

Dr M Aleyaasin, Dr A ALIAKBAR JAMSHIDI FAR

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.

In this project , the heavy duty hybrid electric vehicles is considered for the investigation. The propulsion in these trucks is based on parallel operation of a bank of lithium batteries and series of hydrogen fuel cells.

Efficient simulation of the effect of mixing and flow condition on product crystal qualities in a continuous crystallizer using coupled CFD-PBE approach

Dr A Majumder, Dr J Derksen

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.

The majority of the active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) used in the pharmaceutical industries are crystals of organic molecules.

Enhanced design and manufacture of cold-formed steel structures

Dr A Bagheri Sabbagh, Dr P Dunning, Dr Amir Siddiq, Dr P C Davidson

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.

Lightweight cold-formed steel (CFS) structures made of thin-walled sections are gaining popularity as a sustainable, affordable construction form for low- and medium-rise commercial and residential buildings.

Enhanced structural design for floating offshore wind turbines

Dr A Bagheri Sabbagh, Dr A Maheri

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.

Wind turbines are one of the renewable sources of energy which is becoming a sustainable alternative way to produce energy, and which is growing fast all around the world.

Enhancing the performance, condition, safety and reliability of offshore wind energy infrastructure systems using optimal design, inspections, structural health monitoring and structural control

Dr P Omenzetter, Dr P Dunning, Dr S S Aphale

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.

Wind turbines are exposed to frequent structural damage increasing the cost of wind energy generation. To drive these costs down, this project will develop new automated methods for detection of structural damage to wind turbines by examining vibration responses measured by sensors attached to the structure.

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.

Fractional-order control for precision mechatronic systems

Dr S S Aphale, Dr A ALIAKBAR JAMSHIDI FAR

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.

Integer-order control schemes aimed at high-precision positioning performance of mechatronic systems have been extensively researched thus far.

Hydraulically fractured reservoirs and optimising EOR processes

Dr A Sharifi, Dr R Rafati, Dr M Manzari

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.

Hydraulic fracturing is a method of producing hydrocarbons from shale reservoirs. Understanding the geomechanics of the reservoir is a key factor to predicting the fracture propagation and fluid flow in this type of rocks.

Hydrodynamics of Magnetic Responsive Foams

Dr R Rafati, Dr A Sharifi

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.

Multiphase flow systems such as foams contribute considerably to the world economy and have a wide range of applications from food, medical and fire-fighting to environmental treatment, mineral processing and oil and gas industries.

Integrated Aero/Hydro/Structural Analysis and Multi-objective Optimisation of Floating Wind Turbines

Dr A Maheri, Dr S Sriramula

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.

Floating wind energy is potentially a highly scalable future energy source. Almost 80% of the Europe wind resources are in waters with +60 m depth, where floating offshore wind turbines are deemed to be the natural solutions.

Investigating Long-term Effects of Seawater on Subsea Composite Properties

Prof M Kashtalyan, Prof I Guz

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.

Over the past 20 years, the use of composite materials in the oil and gas industry has seen a slower uptake subsea than in topside applications.

Investigation of enhanced oil recovery processes in complex fractured reservoirs

Dr A Sharifi, Dr R Rafati

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.

Oil recovery from fractured reservoirs is a complex process due to the presence of high-permeability fracture networks. Many processes that have been used successfully in sandstone reservoirs may not be economically feasible in fractured reservoirs.

Laser induced breakdown spectroscopy for subsea applications

Dr T Thevar, Dr K Nakkeeran

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.

Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) is a widely used technique to obtain the elemental constituents of a sample. The process uses a short pulse of focused laser light to evaporate a minute volume of a target substance by highly localized heating to temperatures greater than 5000 K.

LNG sloshing and Leidenfrost droplet dynamics – modelling gas-cushioned liquid-solid impacts with phase change

Dr P D Hicks, Dr M N Campbell-Bannerman

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.

The impact of liquefied natural gas (LNG) with the walls of its containing tank and the impact of droplets with very hot surfaces are two examples of liquid-solid impacts in which the liquid may be close to thermodynamic equilibrium with the surrounding gas/vapour.

Macroscopic capillary pressure in multi-phase porous media flows

Prof D Pokrajac, Dr Y Tanino

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 multi-phase flow in porous media is an established research field for decades, its theoretical background is still being developed.

Marine risers: experimental damage detection, monitoring and numerical modelling using digital twins

Dr P Omenzetter, Dr D Van der A, Prof E Pavlovskaia

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.

Marine risers are critical components of any offshore oil and gas production operations linking subsea field developments with production and drilling equipment atop fixed or floating facilities.

Modelling of joining technologies for novel metal matrix composites for offshore applications

Prof I Guz, Prof M Kashtalyan

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.

Metal matrix composites (MMCs) present remarkable properties by combining the properties of the metal matrix and of ceramic reinforcement.

Multi-objective Optimisation of Hybrid Renewable Energy Systems

Dr A Maheri, Dr S Sriramula

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.

In planning and sizing of hybrid energy systems the conflicting objectives cost and performance are to be optimised simultaneously via a multi-objective optimisation process [1-2].

Nonlinear topology optimisation of stiffened shell structures

Dr P Dunning, Dr A Maheri

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.

The aim of this project is to develop topology optimisation methods for the design of stiffened shell structures, considering nonlinear affects.

Optimising Mechanical Performance of Additively Manufactured (3D Printed) Titanium Alloys

Dr M Kartal, Dr Amir Siddiq

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.

Additive Manufacturing (AM), also known as 3D printing, is a common term used to describe the technology in which three-dimensional (3D) objects are fabricated by successive layers of material.

Predicting mechanical properties of nanocomposites with brush-like reinforcement

Prof I Guz, Prof M Kashtalyan

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.

The project will focus on creating the multi-scale three-dimensional models for accurate analytical prediction of the effect of reinforcement with bristled nanowires on the overall performance of the composite material, leading to the optimal usage of very expensive nanomaterials.

Raindrops, pesticides, and oil spills – droplet interactions with porous and textured surfaces

Dr P D Hicks, Dr Y Tanino

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.

Droplet interactions with porous and textured surfaces play a crucial role in many important physical processes including the spraying of plant leaves with…

Reliability of pipelines under spatially varying corrosion defects

Dr S Sriramula, Dr H Tan

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.

The integrity of pipelines is greatly affected by the initiation and progression of corrosion defects. It has been widely recognised that random variations in these characteristics can be rationally quantified with probabilistic approaches.

Stochastic response characterisation and reliability driven optimisation of floating wind turbines

Dr S Sriramula, Dr A Maheri

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.

As the wind turbine installations move to deep-water environments, there is an increasing focus on the design considerations for floating wind turbines (FWTs).