PhD Studentship in: Service Reservoir Integrity

The University of Sheffield, Sheffield Water Centre in collaboration with Dwr Cymru Welsh Water, Northumbrian Water, Yorkshire Water, Thames Water and Severn Trent Water and the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Water Infrastructure and Resilience.

PhD Studentship in: Service Reservoir Integrity

Stipend: This post will fully cover university tuition and provide a tax-free stipend for Home and Overseas students of £24,000 per year.

Closing Date for Applications: 30th June 2024

Start Date: 30th September 2024 (contract duration 4 years)

Expected interview date: 19th or 22nd July 2024

This fully funded project provides an unrivalled opportunity to develop world-class technology for the monitoring of service reservoirs (tanks). The focus will be on the ability to detect the onset of defects so that an intervention can be planned to avoid detrimental impacts on water quality. Ultimately the research will help protecting public health and well-being. There will be the opportunity to travel extensively to collaborate with key UK’s water companies and overseas partners in Europe, America and Far East.

Service reservoirs (tanks) are critical but often overlooked infrastructures. Their purpose is to store and blend drinking water in the distribution system, to ensure peak demand from customers can be met. They are known to contribute to changes in drinking water quality on its journey from the treatment works to customer taps. The condition and performance of these structures is therefore crucial in protecting the safety of drinking water. However, the maintenance of these structures is reactive or time based, as there are no existing ways of monitoring their condition or performance in real time to support proactive interventions and maintenance.

This PhD will explore the art of the possible for service reservoir condition assessment, focusing on assessment of their performance. It will look at a range of new smart non-destructive sensing techniques, e.g. hydraulic, acoustics and water quality related. It will build on application of the latest robotics technology, data analytics and AI with an open scope allowing for genuinely new or radical approaches. Approaches will focus on high resolution in-service assessment, providing a level of information far beyond what is possible with manual inspection and sampling. The project will progress to field application and evaluation with support from the industry.

The research programme to be completed in this project will be undertaken as part of the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Water Infrastructure and Resilience (CDT WIRe). WIRe is a collaboration between the three leading UK Universities in water resilient infrastructure. Students will benefit from a bespoke training scheme delivered by world leading experts from academia and industry, access to world leading experimental and computational facilities as well as close and regular contact with industry and end user partners. WIRe is committed to promoting a diverse and inclusive community, and offer a range of family friendly, inclusive employment policies. For further information on the WIRe scheme visit the web site at: https://cdtwire.com/

The project will be supervised by Prof Joby Boxall and Prof Kirill Horoshenkov at the University of Sheffield in collaboration with partners from Dwr Cymru Welsh Water and the other water company partners. The normal place of work is expected to be the University of Sheffield, with periods at water company offices and field sites, with travel and subsistence costs provided. There will be generous opportunities to travel to visit our academic and industry partners in both the UK and overseas.

Eligibility Criteria

This studentship is subject to standard RCUK eligibility criteria. It is open to all students with Home or Overseas residency (subject to a maximum quota of overseas students per training grant).

The selection criteria for the position are;

• A good honours degree (or equivalent experience) in Engineering or Physical Science or a related subject.

• Enthusiasm for research

• Good level of written and oral communication skills, as appropriate for disseminating research and communicating with project partners.

• Willingness to collaborate with other researchers, industry and end-users.

• Aptitude for research in a relevant area (e.g. sensing and monitoring systems, data/time series analysis, robotics) as evidenced by previous experience.

How to apply

Interested candidates should email a covering letter and their Curriculum

Vitae to Lindsay Hopcroft ([email protected]). For information and informal enquiries please contact: Professor Joby Boxall ([email protected]).