PhD Studentship: Effects of thermal warpage on supersonic intake and combustion

4-year D.Phil. studentship 

Supervisors: Prof Matthew McGilvray & Dr Luke Doherty

College: Oriel College

An exciting PhD project in Effects of thermal warpage on supersonic intake and combustion will be carried out under the UK Hypersonics Doctoral Network, which has been supported by the Ministry of Defence and EPSRC for building the necessary expertise to develop next-generation hypersonic vehicles. This offers a fully funded 4 years stipend and tuition fees at the Home status rate at University of Oxford under the supervision of Professor Matthew McGilvray & Dr Luke Doherty. Additionally, the student will be expected to attend cohorting and training activities in the UK Hypersonics Doctoral Network, led by the University of Oxford and Imperial College. Each Cohort will have at least 8 students studying across a number of UK Universities.

The objective of the research is to understand the effects of structural warpage due to heating on the aerodynamic performance of supersonic intakes and then the coupled effect on supersonic combustion. This data can then help support future design efforts, which requires validation data where the effects of thermal warpage can be included. To achieve this, there are further sub-objectives during the investigation to achieve this goal:

1. Predict thermal warpage effects on a supersonic intake at different flight times, coupled to a numerical model for the downstream combustion and overall vehicle aerodynamics.
2. Undertake testing of a series of clean and deformed intakes in a cold tunnel to determine the aerodynamic performance.
3. Understand the coupled effects of a deformed intake on the supersonic combustion processes and efficiency.
4. Explore strategies to design the supersonic intake structure to be “self-healing” rather than “self-destructive”

Eligibility

Students recruited must be citizens of one of the “AUKUS” alliance nations (United Kingdom, Australia and the United States of America), and should not have dual nationality with any country on the UK Government’s list of countries subject to trade sanctions, arms embargoes and other trade restrictions (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/current-arms-embargoes-and-other-restrictions).

Award Value

Course fees are covered for home students. The stipend (tax-free maintenance grant) is c. £20,780 p.a. for the first year, and at least this amount for a further three years. 

Candidate Requirements

Prospective candidates will be judged according to how well they meet the following criteria:

• A first class or strong upper second-class undergraduate degree with honours in Engineering, Physics or Materials Science
• Excellent English written and spoken communication skills

The following skills are desirable but not essential:

• Demonstration of undertaking research projects
• Ability to program
• Previous experimental experience in fluid dynamics

Application Procedure

Informal enquiries are encouraged and should be addressed to Prof Matthew McGilvray (matthew.mcgilvray@eng.ox.ac.uk)

Candidates must submit a graduate application form and are expected to meet the graduate admissions criteria.  Details are available on the course page.

Please quote 25ENGTH_MM2 in all correspondence and in your graduate application.

Application deadline: noon on 25 July 2025(In line with the University admissions deadline set by the University)

Start date: October 2025

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