Physics-Informed Digital Twin for Guided Wave-Based Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) of Offshore Wind Turbine Foundations

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 successful applicant will undertake six-month of training with the rest of the CDT cohort at the University of Hull before continuing their PhD research at the University of Sheffield.

Offshore wind turbines are critical to the UK’s transition to net-zero, but their reliability is challenged by harsh marine environments. Turbine foundations, buried beneath the seabed, are particularly difficult to inspect once installed. Failures or unexpected degradation can lead to costly downtime, complex repairs, and significant risks to energy security. The offshore wind industry has highlighted the urgent need for improved monitoring solutions to reduce uncertainty and support long-term sustainable deployment.

This PhD project will develop a physics-informed digital twin for offshore wind foundations, combining ultrasonic guided wave monitoring, high-fidelity finite element simulations, Bayesian inference, and machine learning. Guided waves can propagate over long distances and reach areas that conventional inspection techniques cannot access, making them ideally suited for monitoring monopiles beneath the seabed. By fusing physics-based modelling with data-driven learning, the digital twin will enable accurate real-time assessment of structural condition, improved prediction of degradation, and reliable estimates of remaining useful life.

The project will use a combination of laboratory experiments, numerical modelling, and large-scale offshore case study supported by industry partners. Outcomes will include new methods for detecting early-stage defects, quantifying uncertainty under variable environmental conditions, and delivering actionable insights to support condition-based maintenance strategies. These advances will directly benefit the offshore wind industry by reducing operations and maintenance costs, extending foundation lifetimes, and minimising the risk of unplanned outages.

The successful student will join the Dynamics Research Group in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Sheffield, while also being embedded in the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC). This dual environment offers world-class academic expertise, access to industrial collaborations, and specialist facilities in digitalisation and process monitoring.

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.

Alongside the CDT training programme, this project provides a unique opportunity to gain cutting-edge technical skills and strong professional development for a career in academia or industry. Including, training in advanced guided wave SHM (from Guided Ultrasonics Ltd) and finite element modelling (Pogo from Imperial College London). Industry placements with project partners will provide additional hands-on experience and ensure strong links to real-world applications.

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 Computer Science, Engineering, Physics, or Mathematics and Statistics, we would like to hear from you.

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.

If you have any queries about this project, please contact Dr Panpan Xu via p.xu@sheffield.ac.uk.

You may also address queries about the CDT to 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 to this project are made via the University of Sheffield admissions system. If you have not applied to the University of Sheffield 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 the University of Sheffield: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/postgraduate/phd/apply/applying

After filling in your personal details, please select ‘Doctoral Training Course’ as the qualification you are applying for. You should then select ‘AURA II CDT’ for the specific doctoral training course and choose ‘PhD’. You can apply for one project only.

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 when asked to add a Research proposal).

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 University of Hull student application portal, when asked to add a Research Proposal. The Form replaces the Research Proposal and so you do not need to add a Research Proposal. 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).

Applications for this project will open in Autumn 2025 for September 2026 entry.

Interviews will be held online with an interview panel comprising of project supervisory team members from the host university where the project is based.  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 supplementary application form will be shared with them (with the guaranteed interview scheme section removed). 

If you have any queries about this project, please contact Dr Panpan Xu via p.xu@sheffield.ac.uk.

You may also address queries about the CDT to auracdt@hull.ac.uk.