PhD project: Railway asset degradation and management modelling for climate change

Supervised by Rasa Remenyte-Prescott (Faculty of Engineering)

Aim: To include climate change effects into railway asset degradation and asset management modelling.

Bridges are vital to the UK's economic and societal infrastructure, and railway bridges are critical infrastructure for Network Rail, forming a vital part of the 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts which they manage across Britain. Increased traffic demand, limited maintenance, and ageing structural systems have pushed many bridges beyond their original design capacities. In addition, climate change is altering environmental exposure conditions, particularly temperature and relative humidity, which further accelerate the deterioration of bridges.

Physics-based formulations with probabilistic models are necessary to capture uncertainty and environmental variability in bridge component degradation modelling. The processes of atmospheric and pitting corrosion, chloride-induced corrosion, thermal cycling and fatigue, protective painting and coating degradation, to name a few, are most affected by increased rainfall and humidity, extreme heat conditions and air pollution, especially due to increasing effects of climate change.

The approach will incorporate climate-dependent parameters and their influence on the deterioration of a bridge, and will allow a clear integration of regional/national climate projections. Climate projections will be taken from the UK Climate Projections (UKCP18) based on multiple Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) and used along probabilistic models of deterioration to capture uncertainty and environmental variability.

The proposed approach will consider interdependencies, providing a realistic system-level variability in condition-state evolution, ranging from baseline ageing to pessimistic climate change effects, which would indicate acceleration of deterioration.

Entry Requirements: Starting October 2027, we require an enthusiastic graduate with a 1st class degree in engineering, maths or a relevant discipline, preferably at Masters level (in exceptional circumstances a 2:1 degree can be considered).

This position is open to UK, EU and overseas students. Funding sources are available at https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/pgstudy/funding/postgraduate-funding.aspx

This position is open until filled. Early application is strongly encouraged.