PhD student position in computational solid mechanics

You are invited to apply for a PhD student position in the project "Digital twins of reprofiled rails".

Information about the project
Your project will be part of the activities in the Competence Centre CHARMEC - CHAlmers Railway MEChanics. CHARMEC is the Swedish National Centre of Excellence in Railway Mechanics, established in 1995. CHARMEC is supported through Chalmers University of Technology, the Swedish Transport Administration (Trafikverket) and an industrial interest group comprising nine partners. The long-term CHARMEC research and knowledge bank aims at reducing the railway's costs for production, environment, operation and maintenance while improving safety, reliability and transport quality. Currently, some 25 research projects are carried out within CHARMEC.

In this PhD student project, a digital twin for the modeling of rail deterioration under traffic shall be developed and exploited for maintenance decisions. The main idea of the digital twin is to serve as a decision making tool for the need of regrinding of the rail. The digital twin aims at combining accurate predictions with fast (i.e. faster than real time) and memory-efficient computations and will be continuously updated by the aid of reference simulations and field measurements.

More precisely, the digital twin shall predict (i) how the geometry of rail cross-sections changes due to plastic deformation and wear, (ii) when cracks initiate, and (iii) when the rail needs to be reground. To this end, a Proper Generalized Decomposition (PGD) framework in the context of finite element simulations of plasticity and wear shall be developed. Simulation results will be updated by and compared with experimental field data.

The PhD student position is to be placed at the Division of Material and Computational Mechanics (Department Industrial and Materials Science). The work will be carried out in close collaboration with researchers at the Division of Dynamics (Department Mechanics and Maritime Sciences).

Major responsibilities
Your major responsibility as a PhD student is to pursue your own doctoral studies related to the project. The major goal of the project is to develop methodologies for the fast simulation of rail deterioration under traffic. This includes the development of the mechanical models and the numerical procedures as well as the implementation in a finite element code. You are expected to develop your own scientific concepts and communicate the results of your research verbally and in writing. Your research activities will contribute to enhanced knowledge in the scientific field, in particular by presenting your results in scientific journals and at international conferences.

In addition to the research project, you will also take courses on the advanced level within the Graduate school of Solid and Structural Mechanics. The position also includes teaching courses within Chalmers' undergraduate level, or performing other duties at the department, corresponding to up to 20 percent of working hours.

Position summary
Full-time temporary employment. The position is limited to a maximum of five years.

Qualifications
We expect you to have a MSc in Applied Mechanics, Structural or Mechanical Engineering with an emphasis on solid/structural mechanics, or Engineering mathematics/physics. Knowledge in solid mechanics and FEM (including programming thereof) is required.

Education in computational mathematics, numerical analysis and programming is meritorious. Moreover, experience in research projects involving reduced order modeling implementation is meritorious.

Since communication of knowledge results towards academic and industrial partners is a central part of the work, communicative skills in English (oral as well as in writing) is vital. Furthermore, it will also be expected that you can take on responsibilities within the project, have the ability to take own initiatives and, when needed, work independently. At the same time, being a successful researcher also involves working with others as well as disseminating the results within existing and new networks, both within academia but also to industry and society. Therefore, networking skills, team work skills and quality assurance are important.

Knowledge of the Swedish language is desirable but not a requirement. Chalmers offers Swedish courses. To qualify as a PhD student, you must have a master's level degree corresponding to at least 240 higher education credits in a relevant field.

Chalmers continuously strives to be an attractive employer. Equality and diversity are substantial foundations in all activities at Chalmers.

READ MORE AND APPLY HERE

Application deadline: 11th October, 2020

For questions, please contact:
Associate Professor Ralf Jänicke
Material and Computational Mechanics
E-mail: ralf.janicke@chalmers.se
Phone: +46(0) 31 772 6397

*** Chalmers declines to consider all offers of further announcement publishing or other types of support for the recruiting process in connection with this position. ***