Fully Funded EPSRC and Swansea PhD Scholarship: Automatic Intelligent Detection of Cracks in Concrete Slab of High-speed Railway Using a Deep Learning

Funding providers: Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) DTP and Swansea University's Faculty of Science and Engineering 

Subject areas: Civil Engineering

Project start date: 1 October 2023 (Enrolment open from mid-September)

Project description: 

For High-speed railway, one of the most widely used track forms is the ballastless railway tracks, where the concrete slabs are normally serving as the supports under the rails. During the regular service life of ballastless railway, there may exist severe distresses, like cracks, in the concrete slab due to the train loading and severe environmental conditions, which may further affect the public safety of rail passengers. Recently, the deep learning-based methods have emerged as a powerful tool to detect the cracks in the concrete slabs of the railway automatically and intelligently. However, it may face problems like low computation accuracy and high cost. To solve this problem, this project aims to propose a novel deep learning model for automatic crack identification in concrete slab of ballastless railway with high computation efficiency and low computation cost.

Eligibility

Candidates must normally hold an undergraduate degree at 2.1 level (or Non-UK equivalent as defined by Swansea University) in Engineering or similar relevant science discipline.

English Language requirements: If applicable – IELTS 6.5 overall (with at least 5.5 in each individual component) or Swansea recognised equivalent. 

Due to funding restrictions, this scholarship is open to applicants eligible to pay tuition fees at the UK rate only, as defined by UKCISA regulations.

Funding Details

This scholarship covers the full cost of UK tuition fees and an annual stipend of £18,622 at UKRI rate. 

Additional research expenses will also be available.

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