University of Coruña - CITEEC Hosting offer for a MSCA-IF post-doc candidate at Structural Mechanics research group

Brief Description of the Institution

The University of A Coruña (www.udc.gal) is located in Galicia, in the North-West of Spain. Founded in 1989, it represents a young institution which in the course of its 30 years of existence has experienced a considerable increase, both in quantity and quality, with regard to research and teaching excellence. Our current student population is approx. 21.000, there are over 150 research groups, and apart from its faculties, the university manages several Research Centres and University Institutes.

CITEEC is the Centre for Technological Innovation in Construction and Civil Engineering.

Brief description of the Research Group :

The Structural Mechanics research group at the University of La Coruna is actively engaged in the following research topics: Wind Engineering, Structural Optimum Design and Aeronautical Structures.

In the field of Wind Engineering, the group has been working for more than 20 years in long-span bridges and other civil engineering structures. The scope of the conducted research ranges from basic aerodynamics up to combined size and shape optimization of bridge decks.

The adopted approaches in wind engineering research are always multidisciplinary and the group has expertise both in wind tunnel testing and CFD modeling. The research group is responsible for an Aerodynamic Wind Tunnel and a Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel, both of them located at the CITEEC premises, and a HPC Cluster located at the Civil Engineering School premises.

The research group aims at conducting high impact research while offering a friendly and stimulating environment for young and experienced researchers from across the world.

Additional information may be found in the group’s web site: http://gme.udc.es/en

Research / Project Description

In recent years, substantial efforts have been put in developing low-scale energy harvesting devices. Relying on the different flow-induced excitation mechanisms, several prototypes have been designed and tested, and models to predict, for instance, the voltage output using piezoelectric sheet elements have been proposed. Taking advantage of the CFD expertise in the research group, the goal of this research proposal should be to couple together a CFD-based fluid-structure interaction model with an electromechanical model to be able to predict the energy harvesting power of a target device. In this manner, via CFD simulations, the impact caused in the power output by introducing changes in the geometry of the excited body may be efficiently studied, and parametric analyses concerning the relevant variables in the system may be used to improve its performance. Eventually, laboratory tests for validation of the models should be conducted.

The successful candidate must prove a strong background in electromechanical modelling. Experience in experimental testing and-or CFD modelling would be valuable.

This research proposal must include a meaningful secondment at a prestigious University related with the scope of the project.

It is expected that the specific content of the proposal will be adapted to the expertise and interests of the selected candidate.

Research area (as established in MSCA): Information Science and Engineering (ENG)

Who can apply?

At the deadline for the submission of proposals (11/09/2019), researchers:

• shall be in possession of a doctoral degree
• must not have resided or carried out their main activities in Spain for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately prior to the abovementioned deadline.

Applications (Documents to be submitted and deadline)

Documents to be submitted before 31^st May 2019.

Required documents to be submitted electronically to Dr. Felix Nieto felix.nieto@udc.es for the evaluation of interested candidates:

• Resume (CV) describing your academic achievements and your research expertise, focusing on those aspects relevant in the context of this project.
• Letter of motivation
• Letter of Recommendation (optional)