Contributed by: Carrie Anne Barry, CarrieAnne.Barry@mu.ie
The Centre for Ocean Energy Research (COER) at Maynooth University, Ireland has further opportunities for well-qualified applicants interested in PhD level research.
Estimation and forecasting for wave energy applications, using moment-based methods.
A tax-free stipend of e18,500 is available, and PhD fees are also covered for the project. The project also provides adequate funding for equipment, materials and travel (conferences, courses, secondment, etc) and are tenable for a 4-year structured PhD. Applicants should be well qualified to bachelors or masters degree level in one of the following areas: mechanical/mechatronic engineering, electronic engineering, control engineering, or exceptional students in applied maths or hydrodynamics may be considered. The project will be supervised by Prof. John Ringwood (http://www.eeng.nuim.ie/jringwood/)
The project is described in more detail below: A variety of control algorithms have been developed for wave energy devices (WEDs), which provide optimal load force signals for a WED, given current and future knowledge of the excitation force on the device. However, the wave excitation force cannot be measured directly and future knowledge of the excitation force is required for the majority of WED controllers, which are non-causal.
This project will directly address the problem of excitation force estimation and prediction, by developing estimation and prediction algorithms suitable for both linear and nonlinear WED models, and linear and nonlinear wave descriptions. Recently, moment-based methods have been shown to be useful in a modelling and control context for wave energy systems, and this PhD project will build on these results and extend them to WED estimation and forecasting problems. The project will include academic collaborators at Imperial College London.
This project is part of the SFI-funded MaREI (Marine Renewable Energy Ireland) Research Centre (http://www.marei.ie/), of which COER is a constituent partner, and the successful candidate will join a dynamic group of postdoctoral, PhD and other researchers in COER, who work on the development of wave energy technology, involving MaREI-specific projects, and projects funded from other sources. COER has a wide range of industrial and academic collaborators.
Requirements: PhD candidates should be well-qualified academically to bachelors (preferably H1) or master’s level. The project will require a mix of skills, including mathematical modelling, programming and simulation skills, as well as the development of control, state estimation and forecasting algorithms. Applicants should have a background in mechanical, mechatronic or electrical/electronic engineering, fluid mechanics, hydrodynamics, applied mathematics or control systems. Candidates must have excellent written and oral communication skills and programming ability.
Further information on COER is available at:
https://coer.maynoothuniversity.ie/current-positions/
or contact Carrie Anne; CarrieAnne.Barry@mu.ie
