PhD in Mechanical

The Department of Energy at Aalborg University (AAU Energy) invites applications for a PhD position within the project “HVDC Subsea Electrode Unit”, starting from May 2026 or soon hereafter. The 3-year employment is funded by the Energy Technology Development and Demonstration Programme (EUDP) and aims to deliver a standardised, robust, and scalable subsea electrode unit for HVDC systems./nThe PhD project will develop a methodological framework for reliability-based structural design and integrity management of the support structure of the subsea HVDC electrode unit, supported by experimental tests and validated numerical models, to enable lightweight, reliable, cost-efficient, and sustainable novel design concepts. The PhD will also explore additively manufactured (AM) concepts with strong fatigue, corrosion and biofouling resistance./nThe position is offered in the research group "Offshore Renewable Energy Systems" and is based at the Esbjerg section/campus of AAU Energy. Expected activities include high-fidelity finite element analysis, sensitivity and uncertainty analysis, development of reliability-based structural design frameworks, and risk-based structural integrity management, as well as exploring additively manufactured structural concepts and publishing results.