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Engineering Doctorate Studentship
Cranfield university, UK
Title: Development of a soft model approach for design
optimisation of rolling systems
Industrial Sponsor: Swindon Technology Centre, British Steel
Duration: Oct. 1999 - Sept. 2003
The Engineering Doctorate (EngD) programme is intended for research
engineers who expect their subsequent careers in industry to progress
rapidly to positions at senior management or chief executive level.
Cranfield is one of ten centres in the country offering this
prestigious degree.
British Steel has developed a number of quantitative models to predict
and optimise product thermomechanical behaviour during rolling. Finite
Element (FE) analysis is used to study the development of product shape
and properties during multipass rolling and cooling sequences.
Alternative techniques such as Hybrid modelling based on FE and
Artificial Neural Network (ANN) are being developed for rapid
predictions of properties. Design optimisation methods, based for
instance on Surface response Methodology are also being currently
explored. Although, the quantitative modelling addresses the accurate
predictions of key properties, other issues, potentially qualitative
such as manufacturability, repairability are not being addressed at
the moment for global optimisation. Issues related to multipass
non-linear design optimisation may also render the use of purely
quantitative methods difficult to implement. The project will
therefore be aimed at developing a knowledge based approach to capture
the qualitative knowledge and integrate with the existing quantitative
models. This will define a 'Soft Model' for the 'rolling system'
design. The research will investigate the interaction between the
qualitative and quantitative design space. The project will produce a
framework to represent both types of information within one model. The
study will exploit different knowledge representation techniques
including Fuzzy Logic. The framework will be validated by developing a
'Soft Model'. A multi-objective design optimisation approach will be
developed that can handle this new and complex design space. The
research will investigate possible use of Evolutionary Computing
techniques for the design optimisation. The optimisation approach will
also provide a framework to develop a case library of good designs,
and thus implementing a learning regime.
EPSRC is expected to pay tuition fees to Cranfield. The student would
receive around 11-12K pounds sterling tax free per year for four years.
Interested graduate students with mechanical/maufacturing engineering
background and some programming knowledge, with a strong interest in
Engineering Design, are invited to submit their CV for an informal
discussion over telephone or email. The minimum academic requirement
for entrants to the degree is an upper second class honours degree or
its equivalent, preferably followed by two or three years industrial
experience. Please note that the funding is restricted to British
Nationals, in special cases it may be offered to an EC national.
For informal enquiries, please contact:
Dr. Rajkumar Roy
Lecturer,
Dept. of Enterprise Integration, School of Industrial and Manufacturing
Science, Cranfield University, Cranfield, Bedford, MK43 0AL
Tel: +44 (0) 1234 754073, Fax: +44 (0)1234 750852
Email: [log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask]
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