PhD student in Lightweight Structures- KTH Sweden
KTH School of Engineering Sciences seeks a PhD student in Lightweight Structures
KTH is the largest technical university in Sweden. Education and research cover a broad spectrum within natural sciences and engineering, as well as architecture, industrial engineering and management, urban planning, work science and environmental engineering. KTH has 13.344 full-time equivalent students of whom 6.955 at Bachelor (first) level and 5.545 at Master (second) level. In addition 1.314 full-time equivalent students at doctoral studies (third) level and 3.900 employees.
The School of Engineering Sciences carries out a wide range of research at the international front line, from fundamental disciplines such as physics and mathematics, to engineering mechanics with applications such as aeronautics and vehicle engineering. We also offer University degree programs in Engineering Physics, Vehicle Engineering, 'Engineering and Education', and 'Open Entrance', as well as a number of International Masters Programmes.
Lightweight vehicles do not only consume less energy but one also use less material to manufacture them. But how can you design a lighter vehicle structure without reducing its crashworthiness, stiffness, noise and vibration properties and at the same time maintain/decrease its manufacturing cost and environmental impact?
These are some of the questions we aim to answer within the Centre for ECO2 Vehicle Design where we now are looking for two motivated and talented PhD students to join our team.
PhD in Lightweight Structures: Your task will be to use innovative structural design to create high performing structures using cost-effective and environmentally friendly material systems. Detailed description is given below.
PhD in Environmental Strategies: Your task will be to assess the environmental impacts of different material systems and structures and to develop methods and tools for integrating environmental concerns throughout the product realisation chain.
Project Description – Lightweight Structures
As a PhD-student in Lightweight Structures you will develop structures and materials which can potentially reduce the weight of a component but still fulfil any given requirements on its mechanical properties.
Within this specific project the aim is to use environmentally friendly and cost-effective material systems to develop lightweight vehicle components (for e.g. cars, trucks and trains). One major issue with today’s available environmentally friendly material systems is however that their material properties are not good enough to meet the stiffness and strength requirements of a typical vehicle component. The challenge is to use innovative structural design to enhance the properties of the structure and thus fulfil the mechanical requirements. Your task will be to characterize the material properties for specific material systems, design and evaluate different structurally efficient concepts and conduct multidisciplinary optimization (considering costs, environmental impact and mechanical properties). Your research results will be used to design and manufacture real vehicle components together with our industrial partners. The project involves both theoretical and experimental tasks as well as cooperation with other scientific disciplines.
Eligibility and Assessment Criteria
The potential candidate must have a master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Vehicle Engineering, Engineering Physics or a corresponding degree. Basic knowledge in solid mechanics and materials is required and a specialisation in solids and structures, mechanics and/or composite materials is an asset.
The candidate should be highly motivated for doing scientific research and should have well developed analytical and problem solving skills as well as an interest and curiosity for different types of mechanical constructions. Hands-on experience from manufacturing with composite materials and/or metal structures is an asset.
Application
The application must include following documents:
1. Compulsory cover sheet, see http://mojo.flyg.kth.se/lws/Other/CoversheetPhD-LWS.doc
2. CV (maximum 2 pages) including education and relevant academic/work experience
3. Cover letter (maximum 1 page)
4. Official record of transcripts and copy of degree certificate
Above described documents should be attached as word or pdf files.
Attention: For this application you need to fill out a compulsory cover sheet which is downloaded from http://mojo.flyg.kth.se/lws/Other/CoversheetPhD-LWS.doc
Applications should be emailed to Birgitta Nordling
bnor@kth.se
Please indicate reference number S-2010-0619 in the e-mail subject.
Deadline for application is 2010-10-11
Contact:
Malin Åkermo, bitr lektor
Phone: 070 320 6445
eMail: akermo@kth.se
