JOB DESCRIPTION

The aim of this PhD is to develop ultrasonic guided wave (GW) tomography for aerospace smart fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) composites with integrated sparse arrays of piezo-electric (PZT) based metamaterial (MM) sensors and machine learning data algorithms. Three are the objectives of this research: (1) Design and manufacture aerospace FRP panels and sandwich FRP structures with PZT-based MM sensors surface mounted or embedded into the lay-up to enhance ultrasonic GW damage inspection. (2) Demonstrate the capability of PZT-based MM sensors to selectively transmit and naturally filter GWs in FRPs, thus reducing the complexity of the wave field caused by dispersion and material anisotropy. (3) Develop GW tomography for the automated damage assessment of aerospace CFRP composites using transmitter/receiver pairs of PZT-based MM sensors and ML methods (e.g., fuzzy clustering). Damage imaging results will be validated against traditional non-destructive evaluation methods. Two secondments have been planned to support research activities during the PhD. This PhD is part of the ASSESS project, you can read more about this here.
Research Fields:
Ultrasonic guided-wave propagation, composite materials, non-destructive testing
Secondments:
Novotech SRL (Avetrana, Italy)
TU Delft (Delft, The Netherlands)
Air Force Institute of Technology (Warsaw, Poland)

REQUIREMENTS

Eligibility Criteria

• A second-level degree (Master) or equivalent foreign qualification in aerospace / mechanical / civil engineering, applied mathematics or physics with excellent experimental skills
• Not in possession of a doctoral degree at the date of the recruitment.
• Recruited applicants can be of any nationality and must undertake trans-national mobility (i.e., move from one country to another) when taking up the appointment. In particular, at the time of selection, the recruited applicant for this position must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Italy for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately prior to their recruitment. You will be asked to enclose evidence to prove this. Short stays, such as holidays, are not taken into account.

Required Skills:

• Knowledge of acoustic/ultrasonic wave propagation, composite materials, non-destructive testing and signal processing is required.
• Strong conceptual and analytical skills.
• The ability to work both independently and as part of a team.

Optional Skills:

• Experience in mechanical testing and software programming (e.g., MATLAB, Fortran, Python, LabView) is an advantage.
• English Requirement: High level of proficiency in English (will be tested at interview).

• Conduct research as outlined in the project’s objectives under the supervision of Prof Francesco Ciampa.
• Engage in secondments as part of the project’s training activities.
• Contribute to academic publications, project reports, and other dissemination activities.
• Participate in structured training programs and network-wide events organized by the consortium.
• Collaborate with international partners and other Doctoral Candidates within the network.
  Principal Supervisor:
  Prof Francesco Ciampa (Politecnico di Bari), Prof John S. Sakellariou (University of Patras), Prof Umberto Galietti (Politecnico di Bari)