Dr A Rona, Prof E H Georgoulis
No more applications being accepted
Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)
About the Project
This project aims to develop advanced numerical tools to aid the mechanical design of components using α+β titanium alloys, in particular the very popular (Ti6Al4V). These alloys are widely used in the manufacturing of components for the automotive and aerospace industries, due to their high strength to weight ratio, high fracture toughness, and good corrosion resistance at temperatures of up to 400 Celsius.
The extensive use of these alloys in critical industrial and military applications, such as in fan blades of jet engines and in the armour of ground combat vehicles (in combination with ceramics), means that there is a timely and pressing need for cost-effective tools that can predict the component residual life.
The specific objective of this research is to understand, model, and tailor the mechanical response of α+β titanium alloys over a wide range of strain rates and temperatures. The main interest is in modelling the mechanical response of these alloys under high rates of deformation and under cyclic/dwell fatigue, up to failure.
Based on past experimental observations documented in the literature, improved constitutive methods will be sought and implemented to model the observations from the computational mechanics point of view and to help designers design components with a better understanding of the failure modes and of the expected lifetime of components.
The Crystal Plasticity Finite Element Method (CPFEM), which in the study of metallic alloys, has improved over the years. This method will be used to describe the mechanical anisotropy and the material heterogeneity via micro-mechanism-based constitutive laws. This would be informed from multiple length scales, ranging from sub-grain level to the polycrystalline level.
The accuracy of the CPFE models and their capability to predict the response of a polycrystalline material are dependent upon mainly three factors:
The creation of a virtual but realistic polycrystalline aggregate model;
The utilization of a robust element formulation for finite element calculations;
The description of the material response with a proper constitutive law.
The successful PhD candidate will address all three aspects, supported by a multi-disciplinary supervisory team, with complementary backgrounds in numerical analysis, numerical modelling using high-performance computing, and multi-scale computer simulation techniques. This research project is set into the context of the Department of Engineering, University of Leicester, who has a strong Mechanics of Materials research track record.
Funding Notes
IMPaCT students are fully funded studentships which include:
• A full UK/EU fee waiver for 4 years
• An annual tax free stipend of £14,777 (2018/19)
• Possibility of additional top up for industry sponsored projects.
• Generous Research Training Support Grant.
Studentships are open to UK Home / EU applicants who meet the residency criteria which is set out by the Research Council EPSRC.
A limited amount of partial funding is available for exceptional international applicants who are highly qualified and motivated. Due to the nature of this funding, the CDT would only be able to cover the cost of the Home/EU fees and therefore the applicant would need to either find alternative funding or self-fund the fee difference
References
F. Roters, P. Eisenlohr, L. Hantcherli, D.D. Tjahjanto, T.R. Bieler, D. Raabe, Overview of the constitutive laws, kinematics, homogeneization and multiscale methods in crystal plasticity finite element modelling: Theory, experiments, applications. Acta Materialia, 58(4), 2010, 1152-1211, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2009.10.058
A. Cangiani, E.H. Georgoulis, P. Houston, hp-Version discontinuous Galerkin methods on polygonal and polyhedral meshes, Math. Models Methods Appl. Sci. 24, 2009 (2014), https://doi.org/10.1142/S0218202514500146