PhD Candidate in inverse methods for estimation of tension in mooring lines

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About the job

For a position as a PhD Candidate, the goal is a completed doctoral education up to an obtained doctoral degree.

We have a vacancy for a PhD candidate, as part of the collaboration project “MooRoWind” involving the Department of Marine Technology, the Department of Structural Engineering and the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. The project addresses two critical challenges in scaling up the use of floating wind turbines (FWT): (1) the fatigue life of mooring lines for increasingly larger turbines in harsh environments, and (2) the need for upgraded harbour infrastructure to support the industrialization of FWTs. These two challenges are critical barriers to the scalability, cost-effectiveness, and sustainability of offshore wind systems.

The present position will be located in the Department of Marine Technology. The objective of the PhD study is to improve the estimation of loads in the mooring systems of floating wind turbines. Due to the highly fluctuating nature of the environmental loads (wind, wave and current), these loads exhibit strong variations in amplitude and cover a wide range of frequencies. They result in extreme loads and fatigue damage that could cause failure, and significant replacement costs. Loads and resulting fatigue damage should therefore be monitored, by using as few sensors as possible to keep the related costs and maintenance needs to a minimum. The proposed PhD study will formulate and solve an inverse problem leading to reliable tension estimation, as well as verifying and validating the proposed approach.

Your immediate leader is the Head of Department and supervising professor.

Duties of the position

• Modelling of floating wind turbine mooring lines based on chains and synthetic materials, including all environmental loads.
• Formulation of an inverse problem for estimation of mooring line tensions based on incomplete measurements  (e.g. GPS, inertial measurement unit (IMU), partial or imperfect line tension measurements).
• Implementation and resolution of the problem using existing software packages, and/or performing required software development.
• Verification the obtained methods against simulated data and validation against available field measurements.
• Completion of coursework during the initial part of the employment period.

Required selection criteria

• You must have a professionally relevant background in marine technology, mechanical engineering, applied mathematics, or equivalent.
• Your education must correspond to a five-year Norwegian degree program, where 120 credits are obtained at master's level.
• You must have a strong academic background from your previous studies and an average grade from the master's degree program, or equivalent education, which is equal to B or better compared with NTNU's grading scale. If you do not have letter grades from previous studies, you must have an equally good academic basis. If you have a weaker grade background, you may be assessed if you can document that you are particularly suitable for a PhD education.
• You must meet the requirements for admission to the faculty's doctoral program 
• You should have a strong theoretical background in structural dynamics and  mathematics.
• Excellent written and oral English language skills
• You should have programming skills in Julia, MATLAB, C, Python, or similar

The appointment is to be made in accordance with Regulations on terms of employment for positions such as postdoctoral fellow, Phd candidate, research assistant and specialist candidate and Regulations concerning the degrees of Philosophiae Doctor (PhD) and Philosodophiae Doctor (PhD) in artistic research national guidelines for appointment as PhD, post doctor and research assistant 

Preferred selection criteria

Personal characteristics

• Strong analytical and mathematical skills
• Enthusiastic, able to adapt and learn
• Highly motivated and scientifically curious
• Positive attitude and interested in teamwork
• Ability to take initiative and to work independently

We offer

• exciting and stimulating tasks in a strong international academic environment
• an open and inclusive work environment with dedicated colleagues
• favourable terms in the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund
employee benefits

Salary and conditions

As a PhD candidate (code 1017) you are normally paid from gross NOK 532 200 per annum before tax, depending on qualifications and seniority. From the salary, 2% is deducted as a contribution to the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund.

The period of employment is 3 years.

Appointment to a PhD position requires that you are admitted to the PhD programme in Engineering within three months of employment, and that you participate in an organized PhD programme during the employment period.

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The engagement is to be made in accordance with the regulations in force concerning State Employees and Civil Servants, and the acts relating to Control of the Export of Strategic Goods, Services and Technology. Candidates who by assessment of the application and attachment are seen to conflict with the criteria in the latter law will be prohibited from recruitment to NTNU. After the appointment you must assume that there may be changes in the area of work.

It is a prerequisite you can be present at and accessible to the institution daily.

About the application

The application and supporting documentation to be used as the basis for the assessment must be in English.

Publications and other scientific work must be attached to the application. Please note that your application will be considered based solely on information submitted by the application deadline. You must therefore ensure that your application clearly demonstrates how your skills and experience fulfil the criteria specified above.

The application must include:

• CV and certificates
• transcripts and diplomas for bachelor's and master's degrees.
• A copy of the master's thesis. If you recently have submitted your master's thesis, you can attach a draft of the thesis. Documentation of a completed master's degree must be presented before taking up the position.
• A brief project proposal (1 page) summarizing your interpretation of the problem and your suggestion on how to approach and solve it.
• Name and contact information of three referees
• If you have publications or other relevant research work

If all, or parts, of your education has been taken abroad, we also ask you to attach documentation of the scope and quality of your entire education, both bachelor's and master's education, in addition to other higher education. Description of the documentation required can be found here. If you already have a statement from Norwegian Directorate for Higher Education and Skills, please attach this as well.

We will take joint work into account. If it is difficult to identify your efforts in the joint work, you must enclose a short description of your participation.

In the evaluation of which candidate is best qualified, emphasis will be placed on education, experience and personal and interpersonal qualities. Motivation, ambitions, and potential will also count in the assessment of the candidates.

NTNU is committed to following evaluation criteria for research quality according to The San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment - DORA.

General information

NTNU believes that inclusion and diversity is our strength. We want to recruit people with different competencies, educational backgrounds, life experiences and perspectives to contribute to solving our social responsibilities within education and research. We will facilitate for our employees’ needs.

NTNU is working actively to increase the number of women employed in scientific positions and has a number of resources to promote equality.

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The city of Trondheim is a modern European city with a rich cultural scene. Trondheim is the innovation capital of Norway with a population of 200,000. The Norwegian welfare state, including healthcare, schools, kindergartens and overall equality, is probably the best of its kind in the world. Professional subsidized day-care for children is easily available. Furthermore, Trondheim offers great opportunities for education (including international schools) and possibilities to enjoy nature, culture and family life and has low crime rates and clean air quality.

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As an employee at NTNU, you must at all times adhere to the changes that the development in the subject entails and the organizational changes that are adopted.

A public list of applicants with name, age, job title and municipality of residence is prepared after the application deadline. If you want to reserve yourself from entry on the public applicant list, this must be justified. Assessment will be made in accordance with current legislation. You will be notified if the reservation is not accepted.

If you have any questions about the position, please contact  Adj. Prof. Thomas Sauder, email thomas.sauder@ntnu.no. If you have any questions about the recruitment process, please contact Marit Gjersvold, e-mail: marit.gjersvold@ntnu.no.

If you think this looks interesting and in line with your qualifications, please submit your application electronically via jobbnorge.no with your CV, diplomas and certificates attached. Applications submitted elsewhere will not be considered. Upon request, you must be able to obtain certified copies of your documentation.