Developing reduced-order models for long-term wave loading to enable accurate fatigue estimation in offshore wind turbines

Project Description:

This PhD scholarship is offered by the EPSRC CDT in Offshore Wind Energy Sustainability and Resilience; a partnership between the Universities of Durham, Hull, Loughborough and Sheffield. The scholarship is co-funded, and co-supervised by, HR Wallingford. HR Wallingford are a global expert in water-related challenges, providing research, consultancy, and physical and computational modelling that supports the offshore wind sector internationally. The studentship funds four years full time study (part time options available), including: six-months of multi-disciplinary training, delivered by the University of Hull; and a research programme, based between Loughborough University and HR Wallingford.

Offshore wind energy is a cornerstone of the European Union’s energy strategy. Europe continues to deliver new wind projects, adding 2.6 GW of offshore capacity in 2024, with a projection to triple capacity by 2030. This doctoral studentship is partnered with industry to directly tackle a critical sector challenge: continuous offshore infrastructure operations.

The studentship will address the challenge of accurately predicting the fatigue life of offshore wind turbines, a critical issue in both deployment and long-term maintenance. A key aspect of this work involves resolving the complex, long-term interaction of wave and wind loads, which generate combined stress cycles and contribute to material fatigue. This interaction requires advanced coupled simulation models that account for both wind and wave dynamics to ensure reliable fatigue predictions. Current methodologies have well-documented limitations in accurately capturing the effects of complex flow scenarios and nonlinear drag dominated flow regimes on structural loads.

By leveraging advanced computational fluid dynamics models and utilising real sea state data from major offshore wind farm locations, this project aims to provide a step change is our ability to predict fatigue life. The student will develop new datasets and apply machine learning-based analytical tools that offer value across the wind energy sector. The outcomes are expected to enhance the long-term economic viability of offshore wind turbines globally.

Training and development

You will benefit from a taught programme, giving you a broad understanding of the breadth and depth of current and emerging offshore wind sector needs. This begins with an intensive six-month programme at the University of Hull for the new student intake, drawing on the expertise and facilities of all four academic partners. It is supplemented by Continuing Professional Development (CPD), which is embedded throughout your 4-year research scholarship.

The successful applicant will have the opportunity to undertake CDT funded placements at HR Wallingford during their PhD programme. These include extended collaboration with their industry supervisor and potential use of industry accredited test facilities. Beyond academia, these placements open pathways to a career in the wind energy sector and hydraulic engineering more broadly.

Entry requirements

If you have received a First-class Honours degree, or a 2:1 Honours degree and a Masters, or a Distinction at Masters level with any undergraduate degree (or the international equivalents) in engineering, environmental science, mathematics and statistics or physics, we would like to hear from you. The ideal candidate for this project will have studied fluid mechanics/physical oceanography to a high level as part of their undergraduate degree.

If your first language is not English, or you require Tier 4 student visa to study, you will be required to provide evidence of your English language proficiency level that meets the requirements of the Aura CDT’s academic partners. This course requires academic IELTS 7.0 overall, with no less than 6.0 in each skill.

In-kind support & Industry Supervision

If you have any queries about this project, please contact Professor Robert M Dorrell via auracdt@hull.ac.uk.

Watch our short video to hear from Aura CDT students, academics and industry partners:

Funding

The Offshore Wind CDT is funded by the EPSRC, allowing us to provide scholarships that cover fees plus a stipend set at the UKRI nationally agreed rates. These are currently £20,780 per annum at 2025/26 rates and will increase in line with the EPSRC guidelines for the subsequent years (subject to progress).

Eligibility

Research Council funding for postgraduate research has residence requirements. Our CDT scholarships are available to Home (UK) Students. To be considered a Home student, and therefore eligible for a full award, a student must have no restrictions on how long they can stay in the UK and have been ordinarily resident in the UK for at least 3 years prior to the start of the scholarship (with some further constraint regarding residence for education). For full eligibility information, please refer to the EPSRC website.

We also allocate a number of scholarships for International Students per cohort.

Guaranteed Interview Scheme

The CDT is committed to generating a diverse and inclusive training programme and is looking to attract applicants from all backgrounds. We offer a Guaranteed Interview Scheme for home fee status candidates who identify as Black or Black mixed or Asian or Asian mixed if they meet the programme entry requirements. This positive action is to support recruitment of these under-represented ethnic groups to our programme and is an opt in process.

Find out more

How to apply

Applications are open until 5 January 2026.

Please note, you may only apply for ONE project offered through the EPSRC CDT in Offshore Wind Energy Sustainability and Resilience.

Please ensure that you familiarise yourself with the Aura CDT website before you apply to give you a good understanding of what a CDT is, our CDT’s research focus and the training and continuing professional development programme that runs alongside the CDT. The Frequently asked questions page and Candidate resources page are essential reading prior to applying.

Applications are made via the Loughborough University admissions system. If you have not applied to Loughborough University before, you will need to set up an account to enable you to track the progress of your application and upload supporting documents.

As part of the recruitment process, we ask that you submit a short film of you delivering a presentation, of up to 5 minutes in length, on “How do your experiences and qualities provide a background to contribute to research and innovation for the project you have applied for”.

You will be assessed on the content of your presentation, not your film editing skills, but please be mindful of filming in an appropriate, quiet location. Please film the presentation in whatever way you feel most comfortable with. For example, it could be a slide presentation with voice over, or you may wish to present simply talking to the camera.  Please use the tools and technology that are accessible to you and that you feel comfortable with e.g. your mobile phone, or the built-in ‘Record Slide Show’ on Keynote (macOS, iOS, iPadOS) or Powerpoint etc.

We also ask that you complete a Supplementary Application Form. This includes space for you to provide a link where the shortlisting panel may view your film.

Follow this link to apply for CDT projects at Loughborough University: https://www.lboro.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/apply/research-applications/

Under programme name, select ‘Civil Engineering Offshore Wind Energy Sustainability and Resilience’. Both Full-time and Part-time modes of study are available (part-time study is only available to Home students due to visa restrictions). Please quote the advertised reference number in your application: this is Aura26-RD for “Developing reduced-order models for long-term wave loading to enable accurate fatigue estimation in offshore wind turbines”.

With your application, you need to upload copies of the following supporting evidence:

• Complete transcripts (and final degree certificate(s) where possible). If your qualification documents are not in English, you will need to supply copies of your original language documents as well as their official translation into English.
• Your Curriculum Vitae (CV).
• A completed Supplementary Application Form (upload as part of your supporting evidence documentation).

Uploading the form 

When you have completed the form, please save it as a pdf format and labelled as follows:

Last name_first name PhD application form

Upload the form as part of your application documents through the Loughborough University student application portal upload as part of your supporting evidence documentation. Please do not send your form directly to the Offshore Wind CDT.

Interviews

First-round interviews will be held online during early to mid-February 2026. The interview panel will comprise the project supervisory team members from the host university where the project is based, plus a representative of the CDT.  Where the project involves external supervisors from university partners or industry sponsors then representatives from these partners may form part of the interview panel and your application documents will be shared with them (with the guaranteed interview scheme section of the supplementary application form removed).

If you are successful, you will progress to a second interview towards the end of February 2026. This will be with key academics from the CDT from across our four partner institutions (Durham University, University of Hull, Loughborough University, University of Sheffield) and your application documents will be shared with them (with the guaranteed interview scheme section removed from the supplementary application form).

If you have any queries about this project, please contact Professor Robert M Dorrell via auracdt@hull.ac.uk.

References

1 Wind energy in Europe: 2024 Statistics and the outlook for 2025-2030, Feb 2025, Wind Europe.

2 J. Ding et al, J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 13 (2025) 506

3 OpenFAST v3.5.3 documentation

4 G. J. Hayman and M. Buhl, Jr., MLife User’s Guide for Version 1.00, Technical Report, October 2012, NREL.

5 Offshore wind analysis software | Sesam Wind Manager (dnv.com)

6 H. F. Veldkamp, J. van der Tempel, Wind Energ. 8 (2005) 49–65

7 J.H. Vugts, Fatigue damage assessments and the influence of wave directionality, Appl. O. Res. 27 (2005) 173–185.

8 J.-T. Horn et al., Long-term fatigue damage sensitivity to wave directionality, Proc IMechE Part M: 232 (2018) 37–49