Become a PhD-student at Aalborg University

The Department of Civil Engineering invites all Master-Students to a seminar about the PhD-program

Aalborg UniversityDepartment of Civil Engineering

Room – F108Friday the 27th of February 13-14

Program…

• What is a PhD-degree ? Requirements and MotivationHenrik Stensgaard Toft, PhD-student, Division of Structural Mechanics.

• Eco-Hydrological Modelling of Stream ValleysPhD-student vs. Consulting EngineerOle Munch Johansen, PhD-student, Division of Water and Soil.

• Zero Emission Building ConceptsWhy PhD-student ?Anna Joanna Marszal, PhD-student, Division of Architectural Engineering.

• Airfoils in Turbulent InflowVisit at Chalmers UniversityLasse Gilling, PhD-student, Division of Structural Mechanics.

• PhD-Positions at the Department in 2009Peter Frigaard, Head of Department.

• Questions…

What is a PhD – degree ?

Academic Degree for people who have completed a Research Education

What is a PhD-degree ?

1. Academic Research Project – PhD thesis

2. Collaboration with another Research Institution (Typical abroad)

3. Course activities – 30 ECTS (6 months)

4. Communication of scientific knowledge (6 months)

Total: 3 years

Academic Research Project – PhD thesis

• Research Project within your Academic Field.

• Writing of Papers for International Journal and Conferences.

• PhD thesis - Collection of Scientific Papers with a joint introduction.• 2-3 Conference papers per year• 1-4 Journal papers

• Often cooperation with one or several partners from the industry.

Collaboration with another Research Institution

• More than 50 % of the PhD students are abroad for 3-6 months

Course Activities – 30 ECTS

“The Doctoral School of Engineering, Science and Medicine”

• Joint Courses – General Courses:• Writing and Reviewing Scientific Papers.• Library information Management.• Professional Communication.

• Project Oriented Courses• Courses specifically related to your PhD-project.• National / International

• Courses at Civil Engineering in 2009• Experimental Testing for Wave Energy Utilisation.• Numerical Modelling of Non-linear Material Behaviour.• Sustainable Building and Constructions – The zero

Energy/Emission Building Concept.

Communication of Scientific Knowledge

• Publish in International Journals.

• Present your Work at International Conferences.

Communication of Scientific Knowledge (Teaching)

• Supervision• Bachelor students• Master students – within your research field

• Lectures• Bachelor students• Master students – within your research field

Industrial PhD

Same requirements as for “normal” PhDs but employed in a private

company.

Differences:• Shorter distances from research to practice

• No teaching, but the same amount of hours must be used for communication (teaching, presentations, conferences)

• Mandatory 5 ECTS Business course including a business report

• 2 x Offices, 2 x network, 2 x feedback, 2 x …

• Time sharing 50/50 between company and university

Industrial PhD

Further information: www.erhvervsphd.dk

Why take a PhD ?

• You really want to !

• You will boost your career within Research and Development !

• You are still interested in math, physics etc. and good at it !

Why take a PhD ?

• You want an interesting and independent job !

• Schedule your own Time ! And the most flexible job you can get !

• Work in a YOUNG and INTERNATIONAL environment

Why take a PhD ?

Danish Government – 2.400 enrolled PhD-students in 2010

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1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

Technical Science

Non Technical Science

Why take a PhD ?

• PhD – Aalborg University: 27.252 DKK (+holiday pay) (2008)

• Private Consulting Engineer – Aalborg: 29-32.000 DKK (2008)

• Over life persons with a PhD earns more money

Why take a PhD ?

PhD – Seminar 2008:

• Smaller Risk for Unemployment – We don’t know what the future brings!

Employee at Department of Civil Engineering

• Coffee, bread and fruit every day

• Christmas Lunch

• Northern Team Challenge

• Uni-Fitness, Health initiative, Football…

Further Information:

Aalborg University (Doctoral School)

www.aau.dk/fak-tekn/phd/

FACEBOOKArrrrgggghhhhhhhhhhhh!!!! Why did i do a PhD ? (3.401

members)

PhD – network (PAU)

www.pau.aau.dk

Ecohydrological modelling of Stream Valleys

PhD-student vs. Consulting Engineer

Ole Munch JohansenPhD Student – Aalborg UniversityDepartment of Civil Engineering, division of Water and Soil

How was I convinced to do a PhD study?

Master Thesis: “Hydrological modelling of a vulnerable habitat” (June 2007)

• Supervisor: Jacob Birk Jensen, Michael Rasmussen

At this moment I was more than ready to finish my study and get a regular job!

Employed at NIRAS A/S september 1st 2007 (but the intention was to work towards a PhD study)

February 1st 2008 : I got the PhD project, financed by NIRAS (1/6), FIVA (1/3), AAU (1/2)

Consulting Engineer vs. PhD-student at AAU

The job is defined by the wishes of the customers

The project is defined by you and your supervisors

The budget and the amount of time to put into the each task is defined by the customers

You define what would be interesting and worth spending your time on

Ours spend / Ours paid by customer

Courses 30 ects, Teaching 240 ours/Year

Tasks at NIRAS:• Groundwater models for water supply companies in

northern Jutland• Working with databases – handling large amounts of data• Working with GIS• Monitoring groundwater levels in the field• Collecting samples at polluted soil sites

Ecohydrological modelling of Stream Valleys

Objectives

The focus in this PhD project is on the hydrological processes that

influence the ecological state of wetland ecosystems in stream valleys

• Methods for data collection• Prediction of response to hydrological changes –

hydrological modelling (different scales, processes using collected data)

Ecohydrological modelling of Stream Valleys

Integrated Numerical modelling (uz, sz, surface flow, evapotranspiration)

ij si j

h hK S Q

x x t

Data collection

• Water level monitoring• Geological description• Water samples• Discharge estimates• Tracers (temp, pH, cond)• Monitoring plant

communities • Climate stations• Slugtests

09/03/07 03/06/07 28/08/07 22/11/07 16/02/08 12/05/085

5.1

5.2

5.3

5.4

5.5

5.6

D3

K1

PhD – student

Why PhD – student?

Bolig+ Zero Emission Building Concept

Anna Joanna Marszal

Why Zero Energy/Emission Buildings ?

Issues:

• Fossil fuels sources are ‘running

out’

• CO2 concentration in atmosphere

is constantly rising

• Ecological footprint of humanity is

still growing

Buildings accounts for: - 40% of final energy use in the World1

- 24% of greenhouse gas emission1

1IEA statistics

Lack of common understanding &

definition !!!

Environmental Tech. Center, USA

Beddington Zero Energy Development, UK

Riverdale NetZero Project, Canada

What opportunities offers you PhD?

Official reasons• to pursue your own specialist interests.• to become an expert in a particular field• to collaborate with and learn from the international,

worldwide known experts• to produce something unique and original

What opportunities offers you PhD?

Social reasons:• a lot of travelling• a chance to spend 3-6 months a broad – and you are

choosing the country• not only collaboration with ‘smart heads’ but also a

chance to meet them in private• a chance to make international friends• you are your own boss

Questions?

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Airfoils in Turbulent Inflow

Lasse Gilling

PhD study

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About myself and the project

M.Sc. in Structural Mechanics (Konstruktion): June 2006Ph.D. study started October 2006Deadline: October this year

Title: Airfoils in Turbulent Inflow

Purpose:Investigate the influence of resolving the turbulencein airfoil simulations (CFD)

Supervisor: Niels N. Sørensen (Risø-DTU)

Outline of the PhD

• Generate ”synthetic” turbulence

• Impose resolved turbulence on an airfoil simulation

• Reduce computational costs• Very large

computational time ~2-10 days @ 80 cpu’s

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Outline of the PhD

• Generate ”synthetic” turbulence

• Impose resolved turbulence on an airfoil simulation

• Reduce computational costs• Very large

computational time ~2-10 days @ 80 cpu’s

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Outline of the PhD

• Generate ”synthetic” turbulence

• Impose resolved turbulence on an airfoil simulation

• Reduce computational costs• Very large

computational time ~2-10 days @ 80 cpu’s

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Some results

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• Fluctuations in lift on an airfoil• Low

seapration: High lift

• Large separation: Low lift

Why I chose to do a PhD

• I like to study and to educate myself• Learn from some of the top researchers of the world

• I want to work with research or development• (e.g. in the wind turbine industry)

• See the world: Courses, conferences and the extended visit abroad

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Going abroad

• Three months visit at Chalmers Tekniska Högskola during the fall of 2008

• To get inputs from Prof. Lars Davidson• Lars: Knows much about the method• Niels: Knows much about the application

• We wrote a paper together, which I presented at a conference in Florida last month

• Living in another country – A lifetime experience

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Positions at Department of Civil Engineering

in 2009

10 selected ongoing Ph.D. projects out of 26.The full list can be seen on the pin-up board in the C-building or on the web:www.civil.aau.dk

Søren Andersen: Material-point Method for Geotechnical Engineering.Anne Kirkegaard Bejder: Wood House of the Future. Camilla Brunsgaard: Concepts of Passive Houses in Denmark. Peres Akrawi Hartvig: Time Development of Scour Around Offshore

Monopiles. Kristian Holm-Jørgensen: Nonlinear Multibody Dynamics of Wind Turbines. Claus Köser: Sealing Material of Groundwater Wells. Lucia Margheritini: Overtopping wave energy converters: applications and

optimization of power capture. Mahdi Teimouri Sichani: Estimation of Extreme Responses of Wind

Turbines under Normal Operations by Means of Controlled Monte Carlo.

Kristian Birch Sørensen: Linking Virtual Models with Physical Objects in Construction.

Henrik Stensgaard Toft: Probabilistic Design of Wind Turbines.

2009

• Increased focus on the number of new Ph.D students.• Target for Department ofCivil Engineering 10.2 new

students• Approx. 20% of all Candidates expected to take a Ph.D here

in Aalborg or at another university• The department aims at 4-8 Danish and 6-8 forign students• We expect to recruit among the 50% theoretically best

students

• The department expect to propose approx. 15 positions from the list I will present on the next slides.

New Ph.D. projects 2009 1# 6

Title: Reliability-based operation and maintenance of offshore wind turbines

Start: August 1, 2009Financing: Danish Strategic Research CouncilExternal participants: DONG Energy Supervisor: John Dalsgaard Sørensen1 of 4 PhD studies within the project: ‘Reliability-based analysis applied

for reduction of cost of energy for offshore wind turbines’Title: Reliability of wind turbine componentsStart: Autumn 2009Financing: Norwegian Research CouncilExternal participants: University of Stavanger, StatoilHydro, Statkraft,

Det norske Veritas (DnV), …Supervisor: John Dalsgaard Sørensen1 of approx 20 PhD studies within the project: ‘Norwegian Centre for

Offshore Wind Energy (NORCOWE)’

New Ph.D. projects 2009 2 # 6

Title: Composite shell foundations made of high-tension concrete and steel sheets

Start: May 1, 2009 (or later)Financing: Co-financed by AAU / MBD / FUUExternal participants: MBD Offshore PowerSupervisor: Lars AndersenTitle: Finite-element based computational models of

stratified soil with random heterogeneityStart: August 1, 2009Financing: Danish Strategic Research CouncilExternal participants: DONG EnergySupervisor: Lars Andersen1 of 4 PhD studies within the project: ‘Reliability-based analysis

applied for reduction of cost of energy for offshore wind turbines’

New Ph.D. projects 2009 3 # 6

Title: Formulation of probabilistic models of stratified soil and their calibration by field tests

Start: August 1, 2009Financing: Danish Strategic Research CouncilExternal participants: DONG Energy Supervisor: Lars Bo Ibsen1 of 4 PhD studies within the project: ‘Reliability-based analysis

applied for reduction of cost of energy for offshore wind turbines’

Title: Application of X-band and C-band Radar for improved Warnings of Extreme Rain over Cities

Start: Summer, 2009Financing: Danish Strategic Research CouncilSupervisor: Michael R. Rasmussen1 of 2 PhD studies within the project:

New Ph.D. projects 2009 4 # 6

Title: Use of Sensors in Sewer Systems for Calibration of Wheather Radar

Start: Summer, 2009Financing: Danish Strategic Research CouncilSupervisor: Michael R. Rasmussen1 of 2 PhD studies within the project:Title: Optimering af processystemer ved integration af

biologiske og kemiske processer i industrielle CFD koder.

Start: Late 2009Financing: Danish Strategic Research CouncilSupervisor: Michael R. RasmussenTitle: Modelling Aqua Culture Plants with CFDStart: Late, 2009 or early 2010Financing: Danish Strategic Research CouncilSupervisor: Michael R. Rasmussen

New Ph.D. projects 2009 5 # 6

Title: Nye metoder til analyse og spredning af lugtstoffer fra miljøtekniske anlæg

Start: ??Financing: Danish Strategic Research CouncilSupervisor: Michael R. RasmussenTitle: Multibody Analysis of Wind Turbines for System

Identification and Damage DetectionStart: Summer, 2009 Financing: EUSupervisor: Søren R.K. NielsenTitle: Technical and Economical Assessment of Wave

Energy DevicesStart: Late, 2009 or early 2010Financing: PSO / DONGSupervisor: Jens Peter Kofoed

New Ph.D. projects 2009 6 # 6

Title: Real Sea Testing of Wave Energy Devices based on the Overtopping Principle

Start: Late, 2009Financing: Company: Wave EnergySupervisor: Jens Peter KofoedTitle: Zero Emission Buildings (x 4)Start: 4 projects to be started during the period summer 2009

to late, 2010Financing: Danish Strategic Research CouncilSupervisor: Per HeiselbergTitle: IT at the Construction SiteStart: Summer 2009 Financing: AaU / ??Supervisor: Kjeld Svidt