PhD Studentship: Optimal Ultrasonic Imaging for Structural Integrity Prediction

The project:

Non-destructive testing (NDT) is vital to ensure structures are safe and to reduce operating costs by facilitating predictive maintenance. The focus of this project is on improving ultrasonic array inspection, a widely used form of NDT, and so the results can be applied across a wide range of industrial applications. Current approaches are based on the detection of a critical defect with a set confidence level, typically 90% probability of detection.

This project aims to take a radically different approach and integrate the array images with structural integrity assessment to predict remining life directly. The novelty comes from extracting information from the scattered ultrasound, which has previously been ignored. This information will then be used to extract probability metrics that can be attached to the array images and using these, along with models of crack propagation, to produce statistical distributions of remaining life.

In this way the project will create a new way of assessing components and structures in which the NDT and structural integrity assessments are unified. This will be a significant improvement on the current methods which describe only on the worst-case scenario.

Objectives

• Create forward models of the wave-interaction and crack propagation processes.
• Use inversion methods to extract defect information from the scattering data.
• Develop a probabilistic framework to improve the life-assessment process.
• Use the new framework to predict the remaining life of some example structures and use these to validate the approaches.

How to apply:

Please make an online application for this project at www.bris.ac.uk/pg-howtoapply. Please select Future Innovation in Non-destructive Evaluation PhD on the Programme Choice page. You will be prompted to enter details of the studentship in the Funding and Research Details sections of the form.

Candidate requirements: Applicants must hold/achieve a minimum of a merit at master’s degree level (or international equivalent) in a science, mathematics or engineering discipline. Applicants without a master's qualification may be considered on an exceptional basis, provided they hold a first-class undergraduate degree. Please note, acceptance will also depend on evidence of readiness to pursue a research degree. If English is not your first language, you need to meet this profile level: Profile E Further information about English language requirements and profile levels.

Funding: 4 year University Scholarship - Minimum tax-free stipend at the current UKRI rate (for 2025/26 standard stipend is £20,780, RTSG £7,000, full Tuition Fee covered), plus £5,000 enhanced stipend per year.

Contacts: For questions about the research topic, please contact Prof Bruce Drinkwater at B.Drinkwater@bristol.ac.uk. For questions about eligibility and the application process please contact Engineering Postgraduate Research Admissions admissions-engpgr@bristol.ac.uk