Postgraduate research opportunities Robotic Non-Destructive Evaluation for AI-enabled Digital High-Value Manufacturing

The University of Strathclyde is pleased to be able to offer a highly cross-disciplinary engineering project on the development and systems integration of robotic NDE and high-value manufacturing. Dr Javadi, the first supervisor, holds a joint appointment ‎between the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering (EEE) and the Department of Design Manufacturing & Engineering Management (DMEM). The position is then hosted by both DMEM and EEE and is offered as part of the Strathclyde Centre for Doctoral Training (SCDT) in AI-enabled Digital High-Value Manufacturing. This cross-disciplinary SCDT brings together fields of photonics, wireless communications, process metallurgy, non-destructive inspection, automation, artificial intelligence, data science, and most importantly, knowledge and skillsets from industry to develop and deliver transformational intelligent manufacturing of the future. The project is also supported by National Manufacturing Institute Scotland (NMIS) and aligned with robotic NDE and in-process inspection research theme which are internationally led by the Center for Ultrasonic Engineering (CUE)‎ and Sensor Enabled Automation Robotics & Control Hub (SEARCH)‎.

This PhD will focus on the in-process robotic monitoring of the material evolution during high-value manufacturing. The ‎necessity of in-process evaluation has been justified by CUE when ‎the in-process ‎inspection was established for the multi-pass robotic welding [Javadi et al, Materials & ‎Design, ‎Volume 191, 2020] and Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM). However, this has ‎not yet extended to the other manufacturing processes (like forging which is of interest to NMIS as the industrial partner of this SCDT) and/or to the material evaluation (with a focus on the residual stress). The in-process material evaluation and robotic NDE will be ‎considered in this project which is aligned with the core SCDT research theme of AI-enabled Digital High-Value Manufacturing.

It is then desired that the candidate is familiar with (or enthusiastic to learn) the following ‎research and technical activities:‎ NDE material evaluation, residual stress, process ‎modelling and verification, in-process ‎inspection, AI-enabled technologies, and Digital Manufacturing.‎

In return, the successful candidate will gain expertise in a wide range of research activities from the robotic NDE (the main focus of the project) to Wireless Communication, High-Value Manufacturing, Photonics, AI and Digital Twining. They will also have the opportunity to work on a multi-disciplinary project, supported by two faculties (Engineering and Science) and three departments (EEE, DMEM and Institute of Physics) at Strathclyde plus an expanding list of partners: NMIS, AFRC, CUE, SEARCH, FUSE-SCDT, FIND-CDT, Li-Fi Centre, Fraunhofer, RCNDE, LCA and pureLiFi.