Future Aerospace Structures Ground Vibration Testing.

We are recruiting new Doctoral Researchers for our EPSRC-funded Doctoral Landscape Award (DLA) PhD studentships starting 1 October 2025. Applications are invited for the project titled Future Aerospace Structures Ground Vibration Testing.

Successful applicants will receive an annual stipend (bursary) of approximately £21,237, including inner London weighting, plus payment of their full-time home tuition fees for a period of 42 months (3.5 years).

You should be eligible for home (UK) tuition fees; a very limited number (no more than two) of studentships are available for overseas applicants, including EU nationals, who meet the academic entry criteria, including English Language proficiency.

You will join the internationally recognised researchers in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering research and PhD programmes.

About the project

This project is hosted in the Aerospace Research Centre within the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, with Airbus as the industrial project partner. This PhD studentship provides a unique opportunity to work on an ongoing project in conjunction with the Aerospace Integrated Research and Test Centre (AIRTeC) at Airbus Bristol, UK and the airframe test team in Toulouse Occitanie, France. This project will include visits and placement for a period at the industrial partner’s site.

This research project provides a blend of academic rigour and industrial application, and the successful candidate will benefit from state-of-the-art research facilities at Brunel University of London and Airbus sites in the UK and France.

Project details

This project focuses on the ground vibration testing (GVT) of aircraft, a critical and resource-intensive step in aircraft certification and aeroelastic verification. Current test campaigns are run at full scale; hence, they are very lengthy and time-consuming and can span years to complete, presenting a challenge in terms of time and cost.

Building on the recent breakthrough unified dynamic similitude model, developed by the research team at Brunel University of London, this project will create a novel approach for conducting GVT at both spatial and temporal subscales while ensuring strictly accurate dynamic similitude. This will reduce the duration of GVT test campaigns, minimise waste, reduce cost and lower energy consumption.

Due to its unified approach, this model is not problem-specific, which has been the limitation of other models, and it provides exact similarity. This unified dynamic similitude model will also be applied to the scaling of carbon fibre-reinforced plastic (CFRP).

The research project will focus on the following key areas:

1. Developing the exact dynamic similitude of CFRP.
2. Investigating the spatial scaling of GVT, including quantifying its limitations.
3. Exploring temporal scaling limitations and constraints.
4. Industrial demonstration of scaled GVT.

Working in close collaboration with leading academic and industry experts in aerospace engineering, this research opportunity will contribute directly to the innovation of sustainable and efficient aircraft testing methods.

Please contact Dr Mayo Adetoro (mayo.adetoro@brunel.ac.uk) for an informal discussion about the studentships.

Eligibility

Applicants will have or be expected to receive a first or upper-second-class honours degree in engineering, computer science, mathematics, physics or a similar discipline. While a postgraduate Masters degree is not required, it may be advantageous.

Skills and experience

We are seeking exceptional candidates with a strong academic background who can demonstrate the following skills;

• Essential: experience in numerical modelling and simulation of solid or fluid continua, with an interest in structural dynamics.
• Desirable: experience in experimental testing and analysis.
• Advantageous: programming skills.
• An inquisitive approach to research, combined with scientific rigour and disciplined work habits.
• Enthusiasm, self-motivation and a collaborative mindset.
• Strong oral and written communication skills are essential.

You should be highly motivated, able to work independently and in a team, collaborate effectively, and communicate your findings clearly.

How to apply

There are two stages of the application:

1. Applicants must submit the online pre-application form by 4pm on Friday, 17 January 2025.
2. If you are shortlisted for the interview, you will be asked to email the following documentation in a single PDF file to cedps-studentships@brunel.ac.uk within 72hrs.

• Your up-to-date CV;
• Your undergraduate degree certificate(s) and transcript(s) first or upper-second class honours degree essential;
• Your postgraduate master's degree certificate(s) and transcript(s) if applicable;
• Your valid English language qualification of IELTS 6.5 overall (minimum 6.0 in each section) or equivalent, if applicable; this must be valid up to 31 October 2025;
• Contact details for TWO referees, one of which can be an academic member of staff in the College.

Applicants should therefore ensure that they have all of this information in case they are shortlisted.

Interviews will take place on 13 and 14 February 2025. For shortlisted international/EU applicants’ interviews will be via Microsoft Teams and for UK applicants’ interviews will be in person at Brunel University of London campus.