Looking to list your PhD opportunities? Log in here.
About the Project
Modern wind turbine blades are large structures, with complex geometries and they are subjected to a large number of aerodynamic loading cases and design constraints. Many new wind farms are under constructions and many more are planned for the future. In this context the efficiency and reliability of wind turbine blades are paramount. The topic of this project is to study ways to optimise the structural design of the blades to reduce their weight and increase their reliability.
Structural optimisation techniques are frequently used as part of the design process for many applications, but the numerous design constraints that wind turbine blades are subjected makes it a hard problem. Also, the newest designs involve composite materials which add an extra layer of complexity to the problem but also new ways to optimise the design. Composite materials are characterised by a mesoscopic structure that can be highly customised opening the door to optimisation methods. This project will deliver novel numerical techniques that allow engineers to better design wind turbine blades. In the scope of this project, the methods are applied to blade designs and the results of the optimisation process are analysed and assessed.
This PhD scholarship is offered by the Aura Centre for Doctoral Training in Offshore Wind Energy and the Environment; a partnership between the Universities of Durham, Hull, Newcastle and Sheffield. The successful applicant will undertake a PG-Dip training year at the University of Hull before completing their PhD research at Durham University.
For more information visit www.auracdt.hull.ac.uk. Or if you have a direct question about the project, please email auracdt@hull.ac.uk and we will forward the query to the relevant supervisor. Please do not contact the project supervisors directly.
The Supervisors are:
Dr Stefano Giani, Durham University
Prof Will Coombs, Durham University
Entry requirements
If you have received a First-class Honours degree or a 2:1 Honours degree and a Masters (or the international equivalents) in Engineering or Maths and have a good knowledge of finite element methods, with the ability to code in MatLab or similar programming language, we would like to hear from you.
Applications are made via an online form. Visit the Aura CDT website for more information:
https://auracdt.hull.ac.uk/optimisation-of-the-internal-structure-of-wind-turbine-blades/
Funding Notes
Email Now
Why not add a message here
The information you submit to University of Hull will only be used by them or their data partners to deal with your enquiry, according to their privacy notice. For more information on how we use and store your data, please read our privacy statement.

Search suggestions
Based on your current searches we recommend the following search filters.
Check out our other PhDs in Hull, United Kingdom
Check out our other PhDs in United Kingdom
Start a New search with our database of over 4,000 PhDs

PhD suggestions
Based on your current search criteria we thought you might be interested in these.
PhD vacancy (4 years) on computational mechanics of thick adhesive joints in large wind turbine blades
Ghent University
PhD Scholarship in Computer Modelling of Irregular Nonlinear Surface Waves and their Effects on Offshore Wind Turbine Structures
University of Hull