Supervisors
- Position
- Associate Professor in Applied and Computational Mathematics
- Division / Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- Position
- Head of School
- Division / Faculty
- Faculty of Science
Overview
Piezoelectricity, which translates to “pressure electricity”, is the phenomenon in which certain materials convert mechanical energy to electrical energy, and vice versa. Such materials are common-place and are used in a variety of applications including sensor, actuator, and energy harvesting technologies.
The capabilities of such piezoelectric materials have not yet been fully realised. We plan to use computational structural optimisation to design new piezoelectric materials and components that may contribute to novel sensing technologies for robotics applications. Essentially, robots need stress sensors so they can determine how to move without damaging their components. This is the robot equivalent of humans being able to sense pain when they are over-stressing their body.
We will develop computational methods for the optimisation of piezoelectric materials and components for robotics sensing applications and are looking for students with an interest in computational modelling to undertake novel research in this area.
Research activities
- read recent publications to gain an understanding of current research in the field
- develop your understanding of solid mechanics and a range of numerical methods
- undertake pen and paper derivations
- develop and run research code including on high performance computing infrastructure
- communicate your work in written form
- meet regularly with your supervisor(s) to discuss ideas and research direction, as well as to receive feedback.
Outcomes
Skills and experience
Scholarships
You may be eligible to apply for a research scholarship.
Explore our research scholarships
Keywords
- piezoelectric materials
- sensing
- finite element method
- solid mechanics
- structural optimisation
- high performance computing
- computational mathematics
Contact
Contact the supervisor for more information.