Three PhD positions on Hydraulics modelling for drilling automation

In the scope of the European Union EID (European Industrial Doctorates) project HYDRA on "HYdraulics modelling for DRilling Automation" the following three vacancies for Ph.D. positions are available:

• PhD 1: at the Department of Mechanical Engineering (in the Dynamics and Control group) of the Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands, on "Automatic model reduction techniques for hydraulic drilling models: modelling for estimation & control ",
• PhD 2: at the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science of the Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands, on "Automatic model reduction techniques for hydraulic drilling models: modelling for numerical simulation ",
• PhD 3: at the Centre Automatiques de Systèmes, MINES ParisTech, France, on  "Simplified model-based estimation of downhole parameters for drilling ".

The HYDRA project is financed by EU as an Innovative Training Program within the Horizon2020 program, in particular as a an EID (European Industrial Doctorates) project.

The scientific objective of HYDRA is to develop a framework for multi-phase hydraulic modeling and model complexity reduction for drilling operations, delivered in software directly usable in industry. The resulting models uniquely combine high predictive capacity and low complexity enabling their usage in both virtual drilling scenario testing and drilling automation.

The project partners:

1. The Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Eindhoven University of Technology considers as the core of their activities the design, realization and analysis of new products, processes and materials. Besides the basis of (solid and fluid) mechanics, materials, dynamics and control and thermodynamics, parts of mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing science are important supporting tools. The field is explored by a combination of modeling using fundamental concepts and applied engineering and technology. High-tech Systems, Automotive Engineering Science and Energy Exploration are important departmental themes. The Mechanical Engineering Department comprises about 1000 students and 250 staff members.

In the research group of Dynamics and Control of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, research is focused on the sub-areas the dynamic modeling and model reduction for mechanical systems, model-based control of mechanical systems, dynamics and control of hybrid and nonlinear systems, networked systems, acoustics, robotics, manufacturing & energy exploration processes and automotive systems. The present vacancies play a key role within the sub-areas on the modelling and model reduction for mechanical systems and the application area of energy exploration (in particular, drilling) processes. Currently, between 20-30 Ph.D. students are performing their research within this. Hence, candidates for the open positions will find a stimulating research environment with many opportunities for interaction with colleague Ph.D. students working on topics in dynamic modeling, analysis and control.

1.  The Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at the Eindhoven University of Technology is a place that brings motivated students, lecturers and researchers together. We train high-caliber students and conduct pioneering scientific research and our in-depth knowledge of mathematics and computer science enables us to find solutions to issues that exist within society. As part of Brainport, the 'smartest' region of the world, we also enter into special collaborative partnerships with companies and government authorities. This enables us to provide exceptional future prospects to all those who study with us or collaborate with us. The major objective of the Centre for Analysis, Scientific Computing and Applications (CASA) is to develop new and improve existing mathematical (both analytical and numerical) methods for a wide range of applications in science and engineering. This area of research is commonly known as Computational Science and Engineering. Extensive collaboration with researchers in the technical sciences as well as co-operation with industrial partners is vital. CASA has over 50 permanent staff and PhD students, and develops many professional and social activities so as to create a very lively atmosphere appreciated by visitors from all over the world.
2. MINES ParisTech, part of PSL Research University is one of the top-rated engineering school in France, providing top-notch training to a restricted number of students. The CAS (Center for Automatic control of Systems) is a leading center in the field of Systems & Control theory, with a large variety of applications, ranging from the automotive industry to quantum control. The expertise of CAS in the field of Oil & Gas drilling and control of multiphase flow stems from 20 years of close collaboration with oil companies. Ph.D. students are at the core of the CAS’ productivity, and will benefit from a privileged environment, interacting with outstanding researchers in the field of control theory and its applications.
3. Kelda Drilling Controls (Kelda) is an R&D-intensive startup-up company with a main mission to develop and commercialize next generation control systems for automated pressure control of drilling operations. The core of Kelda's activities are related to development advanced control systems, hydraulic modelling and system integration. Kelda has a defined strategy to actively use research as a main instrument to develop novel technology, and are currently involved in several PhD research projects, complementary to the open positions. As an industrial PhD student with Kelda, you will be working in a small team of experts and get hands-on experience on the development of cutting edge software and complex control systems. Kelda has offices in Porsgrunn and Trondheim, Norway, and internships are possible at both locations.

Project description
Societal uses for the drilling of deep wells are abundant and have enormous impact on global economies; examples include the exploration of minerals, geothermal energy, oil and gas. The future sustainable harvesting of these resources requires the exploitation of difficult-to-access, unconventional reserves and is threatened by concerns on the environmental safety and high cost of drilling operations. To overcome these threats, there are strong needs for advanced tools for virtual drilling scenario testing and drilling automation and for multidisciplinary employees with adequate technical and transferable skills.

The HYDRA EID research and training program addresses both needs by founding an intersectoral doctoral school. The consortium represents top-level expertise in all scientific and engineering disciplines needed to take on the main challenges of HYDRA: multiphase flow dynamics, model reduction, control and mathematics. Moreover, the consortium houses expertise ranging from academic research & training (TU/e, the Netherlands, MINES ParisTech, France) and industrial R&D (Kelda, Norway) to industrial practice and training (MH Wirth, Norway, and the Well Academy, the Netherlands), therewith offering a broad spectrum of training.

The scientific objective of HYDRA is to develop a framework for multi-phase hydraulic modeling and model complexity reduction for drilling operations, delivered in software directly usable in industry. The resulting models uniquely combine high predictive capacity and low complexity enabling their usage in both virtual drilling scenario testing and drilling automation. The main training objective is to launch 3 doctoral students into future leading scientific positions with an intersectoral network to support them throughout their careers.

The envisioned results form the necessary basis for revolutionary advances in the (environmental) safety and cost-effectiveness of resource exploration in Europe and beyond and will provide the human capital base for sustaining such efforts beyond this program’s lifetime.

This project involves a combined academic and industrial consortium, with Kelda Drilling Controls (http://www.kelda.no/), Norway, as the main industrial participant. Other participants are MHWirth (http://mhwirth.com) and the Well Academy (www.thewellacademy.com) .This consortium promotes industrial adoption of the technologies developed within the project.

Below, the individual focus and main goals of the three PhD position are described concisely.

PhD. 1:The main goals of this Ph.D. sub-project are:

• Develop model reduction techniques for the automatic construction of fit-for-purpose hydraulic models that are suitable for estimation and control of pressure.
• Implement developed model reduction techniques in software at Kelda,
• Validate and test implemented techniques on industrial scenarios.

Supervision of this project will be taken care of by

• Prof.dr.ir. Nathan van de Wouw

         (http://www.dct.tue.nl/New/Wouw/WebpageNathanvandeWouw.html)

• Prof.dr. Wil Schilders (http://www.win.tue.nl/~wschilde/)
• Dr. Glenn-Ole Kaasa (http://www.kelda.no/team/)

PhD. 2:

The main goals of this Ph.D. sub-project are: 

• Develop model reduction techniques for the automatic construction of fit-for-purpose hydraulic models that are suitable for virtual drilling scenario testing,
• Implement developed model reduction techniques in software at Kelda,
• Validate and test implemented techniques on industrial scenarios.

Supervision of this project will be taken care of by

• Prof.dr. Wil Schilders (http://www.win.tue.nl/~wschilde/)
• Prof.dr.ir. Nathan van de Wouw

         (http://www.dct.tue.nl/New/Wouw/WebpageNathanvandeWouw.html)

• Dr. Glenn-Ole Kaasa (http://www.kelda.no/team/)

PhD. 3:

The main goals of this Ph.D. sub-project are:

Develop an accurate model for two-phase flow in pipes, amenable to model reduction,

• Identify and perform physics-based complexity reduction opportunities,
• Develop estimation schemes for unmeasured states and parameters of Partial Differential Equations (PDEs),
• Validate and test techniques on industrial scenarios.

Supervision of this project will be taken care of by 

• Prof.dr. FLorent di Meglio (http://cas.ensmp.fr/~dimeglio/)
• Dr. Glenn-Ole Kaasa (http://www.kelda.no/team/)

Within all three Ph.D. positions, the researchers are expected to spend 50% of their time at their hosting university and 50% of their time at Kelda Drilling Controls in Norway. This will provide the Ph.D. students with a unique opportunity to combine academic research and training with industrial R&D. Throughout the project, and especially during the visits to Kelda, we expect intensive collaboration between the 3 PhD. students.

The starting dates are flexible but ideally would be in September 2016.

Moreover, the HYDRA project will offer to the students an extensive training program on

• Hydraulic modeling for drilling applications (at MINES ParisTech),
• Model reduction techniques (at TU/e),
• Managed pressure drilling applications (at Kelda) and Well control (at the Well Academy),

Providing the students with a solid background for their research and future careers.

Moreover, a training program focusing on more generic and transferable skills required by professional researchers is offered.

Job requirements

Important:The EU imposes the so-called ‘Mobility Rule’ for applicants to EID projects:
‘ at the time of recruitment by the host organisation, researchers must not have
resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in the country of their host
organisation for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately prior to the reference date. Compulsory national service and/or short stays such as holidays are not taken into account.’

This implies that for the PhD students hired by the TU/e the applicant can not have resided in the Netherlands for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately prior to the job within this project (similar for the opening at MINES ParisTech).
Ph.D. candidate 1 (PhD 1) should have

• an M.Sc. degree in Mechanical Engineering, Systems and Control or Mathematics with a solid background in the mathematical dynamical modeling of mechanical systems, model reduction and systems and control theory.
• a strong interest and skills in both 1) developing new fundamental theories for the model reduction of complex dynamical systems and 2) applying such novel scientific developments to industrial (drilling) applications.
• Excellent communication skills and written/verbal knowledge of the English language.

Ph.D. candidate 2 (PhD 2) should have

• an M.Sc. degree in Applied Mathematics or Mechanical Engineering/Systems and Control with a solid background in mathematical modeling, model reduction and scientific computing.
• a strong interest and skills in both 1) developing new fundamental theories for the model reduction of complex dynamical systems and 2) applying such novel scientific developments to industrial (drilling) applications.
• Excellent communication skills and written/verbal knowledge of the English language.

Ph.D. candidate 3 (PhD 3) should have

• an M.Sc. degree in Mechanical or Electrical Engineering or Mathematics with a solid background in systems and control theory, in the dynamical modeling of mechanical systems, and in fluid dynamics.
• a strong interest and skills in both 1) developing new fundamental theories for estimation of parameters of Partial Differential Equations and 2) applying such novel scientific developments to industrial (drilling) applications.

Excellent communication skills and written/verbal knowledge of the English language.
Interviews with the selected PhD-candidates will take place on-site at TU/e (the Netherlands) and MINES ParisTech (France).

Conditions of employment

For PhD. 1 and PhD. 2.
At the TU/e, we offer:

• A challenging job at a dynamic and ambitious University.
• An appointment for four years (start date as soon as possible).
• An attractive package of fringe benefits (including excellent work facilities, end of the year and holiday allowances and fantastic sport facilities at our campus).
• If necessary, the TU/e can help you to find housing.
• Gross monthly salaries are in accordance with the Collective Labor Agreement of the Dutch Universities (CAO NU), increasing from € 2174 per month initially, to € 2797 in the fourth year.

For PhD. 3. At MINES ParisTech, we offer:

• A challenging research job in a top-notch University.
• An appointment for three years (start date September 1^st 2016)
• Gross monthly salaries are in accordance with the Allowances provided by E.U. for Early-Stage Researchers (ESRs) in France, i.e. around € 2100 per month. An outstanding work and life environment, at the heart of Paris, and access to the school’s sports facilities.

Information and application

On HYDRA in general

• If you would like to have more information on the HYDRA project, please contact prof.dr.ir. Nathan van de Wouw (N.v.d.Wouw@tue.nl).

For PhD. position 1

• Visit www.wtb.tue.nl for more information about the department of Mechanical Engineering
• For more information on the research groups involved, visit https://www.tue.nl/universiteit/faculteiten/werktuigbouwkunde/onderzoek/research-groups/dynamics-and-control/

Visit http://www.dct.tue.nl/vandewouw for more information about the project leader and his research activities. If you would like to have more information on the position, please contact prof.dr.ir. Nathan van de Wouw (N.v.d.Wouw@tue.nl)
For PhD. position 2

• Visit https://www.tue.nl/en/university/departments/mathematics-and-computer-science/  for more information about the department of Mathematics and Computer Science.

Visit http://www.win.tue.nl/~wschilde/for more information about the Prof. dr Schilders and his research activities. If you would like to have more information on the position, please contact prof.dr. Wil Schilders (w.h.a.schilders tue nl)

For PhD. position 3

Visit http://cas.mines-paristech.fr for more information about the Centre Automatique et Systèmes (CAS) and http://cas.mines-paristech.fr/~dimeglio for more information about Prof. Dr. Di Meglio and his research activities. If you would like to have more information on the position, please contact Prof. Dr. Di Meglio (florent.di_meglio@mines-paristech.fr).
To apply:
For PhD. positions 1 and 2, please upload your application by clicking on the link ‘Apply now’ for the job opening concerned on the TU/e website.
For PhD. position 3, please contact Prof. Dr. Di Meglio directly (florent.di_meglio@mines-paristech.fr) by providing the information below.
The deadline for applications is March 1, 2016, 23.59 (CET).
The information to be uploaded should include:

• An extended curriculum vitae,
• an explanation of your interest in the proposed research topic,
• your course program and corresponding grades,
• references,
• all other information that might help us to assess your suitability for one of these positions and a publication list (if applicable).

Apply now

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