PhD Studentship in Structural Dynamics

Post status: Full Time – 4 Years

Location:

Museum Building
Trinity College Dublin, the University of Dublin
College Green, Dublin 2, Ireland

Reports to: John Hickey

Terms & Conditions:

• PhD Stipend of €25,000 per annum
• Must agree to participate in the pilot rollout of Trinity’s Supervisor: Research Student Agreement.
• Start in September 2025

Hours of work: 37.5 hours per week

Closing date: 12 Noon (GMT), 1^st May 2025

NOTE: Applicants must have been resident in an EU member state for 3 out of the last 5 years to be eligible for EU fees

Post Summary

The Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering at Trinity College Dublin (TCD) are seeking a PhD student in Structural Dynamics examine the design of Inerter devices for use in Offshore Wind Turbines (OWTs).

To meet increasing demands for low-cost renewable energy, OWTs are becoming increasingly tall and being moved farther offshore in search of stronger winds. However, this means that the structural design becomes more complicated as these new OWTs are required to operate in harsher environments where they are susceptible to excessive vibration.

One potential solution to this challenge that has received academic attention in recent years is the use of inerter devices. An inerter is a mechanical device that can act as a vibration absorber, in a similar manner to more classical damping devices. However, inerters can potentially achieve similar levels of vibration suppression at a much-reduced mass. This is potentially beneficial for applications where there is a need to keep mass low, meaning they represent a promising technology for OWTs.

Despite this promise, further research is needed if inerters are to go from a conceptual idea to widespread application, there is a need for more. This PhD project will attempt to address this though a combination of experimental investigation and numerical modelling.

Standard Duties and Responsibilities of the Post

The appointed applicants will undertake academic research. These will include development of state-of-the-art numerical models, planning, managing and implementing an experimental testing campaign and liaising with technical staff as well as dissemination of research outputs.

Funding Information

This project is funded for 4 years by the Trinity Research Doctorate Research Award 2025-26. The award covers PhD fees (EU or non-EU) and a stipend of €25,000 per annum.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Excellent academic performance and grades at undergraduate level and/or Master’s level is considered essential.

Knowledge & Experience (Essential & Desirable)

Applicants from any background across Engineering or Mathematics are welcomed, provided they can demonstrate:

• Working knowledge of structural dynamics and vibrations (Essential).
  • Ideally this will be demonstrated by the candidate having successfully completed a Master’s or high-level Undergraduate module in structural dynamics.
• Experience developing code using PYTHON, MATLAB, or similar, software (Essential)
• Experience in computational modelling (Desirable)
• Experience in experimental testing (Desirable)

Application Procedure

Applicants should submit a full Curriculum Vitae and the names and contact details of 2 referees (including email addresses), to john.hickey@tcd.ie prior to 12 midday on May 1^st 2025.

Further information can be found here.

Advert information