Optimized and Reliable Seabed Anchor Systems for Floating Wind
Position description: Applications are invited for a fully funded 3-year PhD position in Geotechnical Engineering. The position starting date is Sep 2023.
Research project: The PhD position will involve laboratory testing and numerical simulations of seabed anchors to advance floating wind technologies. The west coast of Ireland, with its strong winds in waters deeper than 50 metres, provides an ideal location for testing floating wind. Additionally, Ireland aims to achieve 30 GW of floating wind capacity by 2050. The research will mainly focus on the Atlantic Marine Energy Testing Site (AMETS), located 16 km northwest of Belderra Strand. As part of this project, the successful candidate will participate in ongoing geological and geotechnical site investigations, perform centrifuge tests on anchor capacity using the facilities at ATU Sligo, and integrate seabed characterization and centrifuge testing data with machine-learning-enhanced numerical simulations to optimize the anchor systems. The candidate will have the opportunity to collaborate with a team of experts in geotechnical engineering, marine geology, and relevant industrial stakeholders.
Supervisors: Dr Budi Zhao, Dr Mike Long (Co-supervisor)
Collaborators: Dr Mark Coughlan & Dr Jennifer Keenahan (UCD), Dr Pat Naughton (ATU)
Location: University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
Application procedure: Applicants should submit their CV, transcript, and recommendation letters from two referees as a single .pdf document to budi.zhao@ucd.ie.
Application deadline: 14th April 2023
See the attached pdf for more details.