This is a PhD opportunity to work with Jaguar Land Rover on one of two PhD options (as listed below):
Option A – Advanced acoustic metamaterials for automotive application
The sound a car makes is extremely important for customer satisfaction. Acoustic materials are one of the most common ways of treating unwanted sounds in the vehicle cabin. Metamaterials have become a hot topic in acoustics research and offer the possibility of creating more sustainable acoustic absorbers that are lighter and more compact, thus improving vehicle range, efficiency and occupant space.
Further project information:
Current solutions for airborne noise control in the automotive industry typically involve heavy mass layers to insulate the vehicle cabin from sound sources such as tyre, wind or powertrain noise. In addition to this, materials such as butyl / bitumen with high damping loss factor are added to body panels to control resonant behaviour to high frequencies.
To enable lighter vehicles that have longer electric-range and better efficiency, new absorber and anti-vibration technologies are needed. Current mass-based solutions often use thermoset polymers, such as Polyurethane, EPDM or Butyl, which are difficult to recycle at end of life and contain low levels of recycled content in the raw material (if any). More sustainable materials are needed for noise and vibration control.
A metamaterial is an engineered material that delivers a functionality that would not naturally exist in nature, in this case to provide exceptional attenuation properties. They offer the advantage of providing frequency-targeted attenuation at levels that exceed that of traditional materials, without utilising excess package space or having significant weight impact.
The expectation is that this project will focus on passive, locally resonant metamaterials as a more readily adoptable technology, though can expand to cover active solutions depending on time, scope and application potential.
This is an applied research project where the candidate will be expected to design & evaluate the use of an acoustic metamaterial solution on a real vehicle application.
The project is a collaboration with Jaguar Land Rover who will help shape the research so that it is relevant to the automotive industry as well as support with required resources.
Subject Areas: Mechanical engineering Acoustics, Metamaterials, Noise control, Automotive, EV, BEV, NVH
Required qualifications/skills:
- You should have or expect to get a 1st class honours degree or a Masters with distinction in a science or engineering subject.
- Experience of acoustic or vibration measurement, prediction and analysis is desirable.
- You should have a background in mechanical engineering, automotive engineering, electrical engineering, general engineering, physics or acoustics
Option B – Minimizing noise transmission via high voltage cable systems
Project Supervisors: Dr Joshua Meggitt and Dr Deepak Akiwate
Project Outline:
How a car sounds is important for customer satisfaction. Furthermore, traffic noise is a significant pollutant. Emerging and future Electric Vehicle (EV) architectures pose novel vibration and acoustic problems that need tackling. In this project you will research how to reduce noise transmission through high voltage cables.
Further project information:
Emerging Electric Vehicle (EV) architectures have been found to suffer from noise transmission down High Voltage (HV) cables. The transmission paths through connectors and cables are complex. Future powertrain technologies are likely to increase this challenge. Therefore, knowledge is required to guide cable systems designers so they can deliver robust and cost efficient NVH cable solutions with minimal compromise to other key performance attributes such as durability, EMC and efficiency. Alongside this, manufacturers also need to set and validate robust targets for HV cable systems without overengineering. Overall, the project will generate new knowledge to provide early design influence to protect customers from HV cable NVH issues.
The project is a collaboration with Jaguar Land Rover who will help shape the research so that it is relevant to the automotive industry, as well as support with required resources.
Subject Areas: Mechanical Engineering Acoustics, Electronics, Noise control, Automotive, EV, BEV, NVH
Required qualifications/skills:
- You should have or expect to get a 1st class honours degree or a Masters with distinction in a science or engineering subject.
- Experience of acoustic or vibration measurement, prediction and analysis is desirable.
- You should have a background in mechanical engineering, automotive engineering, electrical engineering, general engineering, physics or acoustics.
