We are looking for a PhD student holding a MSc degree in Civil or Computational Engineering, obtained not earlier than 2023, and having a solid background in one or more of the following subjects: structural dynamics, dynamic-soil structure interaction, elastodynamics, and computational mechanics.
Railway transport is a safe, efficient, and environmentally friendly mode of transportation, but noise and vibration remain a major environmental challenge for the railway sector. Therefore, a wide range of numerical models have been developed for the prediction of vibration along the track and in neighboring buildings, aimed to design vibration mitigation measures and to perform environmental impact studies. Parametric studies, design optimization, and stochastic analysis, however, necessitate calculations for many parameter values, resulting in a curse of dimensionality. This problem can be solved by means of model order reduction methods such as Proper Generalized Decomposition (PGD). We will develop PGD for parametric studies on tracks and for vibration mitigation in buildings. Hence, we encompass the complete transmission path from source to receiver. Efficient parametric and stochastic analysis techniques will be developed, that will certainly find wider applications in structural dynamics.
Within the frame of the project “Model order reduction techniques for fast prediction of railway induced vibration in the built environment”, funded by the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO), the Structural Mechanics Section of the Department of Civil Engineering of KU Leuven has a vacancy for a PhD student. Research in the Structural Mechanics Section of the Department of Civil Engineering focuses on the static and dynamic analysis of structures and is structured along five research lines: vibration in the built environment, structural monitoring, building acoustics, computational structural engineering and human-induced vibration of civil engineering structures. The topic of this PhD thesis is situated within the themes of vibration assessment in the built environment and computational structural engineering. The PhD student will work under supervision of prof. Geert Degrande and prof. Stijn François (Structural Mechanics Section, Department of Civil Engineering). We offer an excellent and international research environment and have a lot of experience with supervising PhD students. The Department of Civil Engineering is nicely located in and near the Arenberg Castle on Campus Arenberg in Heverlee, one kilometre from Leuven’s city center. Founded in 1425, KU Leuven is currently the largest university in Belgium in terms of research funding and expenditure, and a charter member of LERU. KU Leuven conducts fundamental and applied research in all academic disciplines with a clear international orientation. KU Leuven is ranked as the 47th (globally) and 12th (European) university in the Times Higher Education ranking (2025) and as first European university in Reuters Top 100 of the world’s most innovative universities, for four years in a row.
Interested candidates should be motivated to complete a PhD within three to four years. We offer a PhD position for a period of three years, starting as soon as possible (preferably no later than 1 September 2026). Back-up funding for an extension of nine months is provided by the PI. We offer a competitive PhD grant of about 2485 EUR per month net, depending on your marital status.
More information on becoming a PhD student at KU Leuven and living in Leuven can be found at www.kuleuven.be/phd, set.kuleuven.be/phd (Leuven Arenberg Doctoral School) and www.kuleuven.be. Depending on their background (MSc diploma, research experience), students may first need to pass a pre-doctoral test, e.g. selected courses (12 ECTS) and research work with presentation (3 ECTS), prior to being allowed to the PhD program.