PhD Scholarship in Numerical Modelling of Cross-Shore Coastal Processes at Technical University of Denmark

Are you worried about the coastal regions in an era of climate change and plastic pollution? Do you want to play a part in the development of a novel numerical model that can shed light on these societal challenges? Then this PhD position is for you. 

Applications are invited for a 3-year PhD position, ideally starting in February 2025 within the general field of coastal engineering at The Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, section for Fluid Mechanics, Coastal and Maritime Engineering (FVM). 

The PhD project will play an integral part of the project “SHORE: Simulating coastal HydrOdynamics and particle tRansport procEsses”, financed by the European Research Council. The SHORE project is briefly described below: 

Beaches are eroding at many locations around the world, and with the pending climate change (sea level rise and increased storminess in Northern Europe), coastal erosion is expected to potentially worsen. State-of-the-art practical engineering models for predicting sand and particle transport struggle with the cross-shore processes (perpendicular to the beach), and they even have difficulties predicting the sign right (offshore transport vs. onshore transport), in an experimental setting where the boundary conditions are fully known. The shortage of state-of-the-art models also means that the spreading of microplastic particles, which are increasingly polluting the oceans cannot be predicted accurately. As a result, the future shape of the world’s coastal profiles and the fate of microplastic particles in the coastal region are largely unknown. SHORE aims to bridge this knowledge and competence gap and develop the first model capable of accurately simulating both on and offshore transport of sediments and microplastic particles without case-specific calibration. 

The PhD project will be under the main supervision of Senior Researcher Bjarke Eltard Larsen, DTU. Professor David R. Fuhrman will be co-supervisor. 

The project will also involve collaboration between DTU, Utrecht University, Aberdeen University and Twente University. External research stay at Utrecht University for approximately 3 months is expected.  

Responsibilities and tasks

The overall focus of the PhD project is to develop relatively simple and fast (wave-averaged) numerical models for the hydrodynamic processes in the coastal region. Main focus will be on the hydrodynamic processes driving the sediment transport, but sediment transport processes may also be considered. The models will be developed based on an extensive experimental database containing historical experimental results (to be collected within the project) as well as results obtained with a more complex type numerical (Computational Fluid Dynamics, CFD) model. You will work together with other young researchers involved in the project as well as with academic and industrial collaborators.  

Qualifications

We are looking for a motivated PhD student with methodological skills within numerical modelling, analytical physics and data analysis. Experiences within coastal processes and laboratory/field work is considered an asset but is not mandatory and we welcome applications from candidates with varying backgrounds such as coastal engineering, physical geography and physics. You can work independently and systematically and you have desire to shape your own research project, while simultaneously working within the framework of the overall project. You are comfortable working in groups, and you welcome collaborative work. 

Application procedure 

To apply, please read the full job advertisement by clicking on the ‘Apply‘ button above.

Application deadline: 1 December 2024