Doctoral Researcher – Fatigue of WAAM Structures

Aalto University Department of Energy and Mechanical Engineering invites applications for a fully funded Doctoral Researcher position focused on fatigue modelling of Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) components and structures.

Responsibilities

• Conduct research on how WAAM-induced geometric and material imperfections affect fatigue strength.
• Identify repeating surface features in WAAM builds and investigate suitable geometry and material properties to quantify their effects on fatigue life.
• Perform theoretical and numerical modelling, validated with fatigue experiments.
• Study local geometry imperfections (e.g., undercuts) and their impact on local stress‑strain fields and fatigue crack initiation.
• Characterise as‑built surfaces and reconstruct them into high‑fidelity finite element models preserving key geometric features.
• Simulate local stress concentra...