Funded PhD Studentship: Mesoscopic modelling and simulations of complex particulate systems

Swansea University is a UK top 30 institution for research excellence (Research Excellence Framework 2014), and has been named Welsh University of the Year 2017 by The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide.

This studentship is funded by Swansea University’s Zienkiewicz Centre for Computational Engineering (ZCCE) and Systems and Process Engineering Centre (SPEC).

Applications are invited for a doctoral position in mesoscopic modelling of complex particulate systems at the Zienkiewicz Centre for Computational Engineering (ZCCE). The focus of the project will be on accurate modelling and simulation of the dynamics and mechanical properties of micro/nano-particles interacting with complex media and under complex microflow conditions.

In the area of material design, complex particulate systems represent one of the main building-blocks for smart composites. In particular, an emerging technology based on so-called “shear thickening fluids” (STFs) -a concentrated suspension of nanoparticles with differentiated solid-like mechanical response upon application of stresses - is receiving increasingly attention for the development of novel hybrid fluid-materials with applications as selective dampers and shock absorber in the aerospace and textile industry.

The PhD candidate will work under the supervision of Dr. Marco Ellero on the developments and applications of mesoscopic particle-simulation methods, such as Dissipative Particle Dynamics (DPD) and Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH), to better understand and control the flow and rheology of dense complex suspensions.

The project will benefit from close collaboration with experimentalists at the Complex Fluids Group, Systems and Process Engineering Centre, Swansea University (Prof. Rhodri Williams) as well as collaborating partners at the Mesoscopic Modelling Group, Physics Department, UNED Madrid (Prof. P. Espanol).

Eligibility

Applicants are required to have a Master’s degree in related fields (Chemical, Mechanical, Aerospace Engineering or Physics). The following subject backgrounds are also considered: fluid mechanics, rheology, soft matter, particulate systems, computational fluid dynamics, mesoscopic particle methods.

Desirable experience and skills:

- Some preliminary knowledge of C/C++ or Fortran programming languages is required.
- Experience in parallel programming for HPC is desirable but not necessary.
- Some experience in particle methods such as smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH), dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) or molecular dynamics (MD) would be beneficial.

Due to funding restrictions, this studentship is open to UK/EU candidates only.

To be eligible for a full award a student must have no restrictions on how long they can stay in the UK and have been ordinarily resident in the UK for at least 3 years prior to the start of the studentship (not for the purposes of education).

Students from EU countries other than the UK are eligible for a fees-only award. To be eligible for a fees-only award, a student must be ordinarily resident in a member state of the EU; in the same way as UK students must be ordinarily resident in the UK.