Corrosion damage to naval platforms is a leading cost driver to the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) and its allied forces such as the US Navy (USN). Corrosion damage increases maintenance requirements and creates difficulty for naval assets to achieve their expected service life. The cost of corrosion damage has increased dramatically over the last decade and is currently about $5 billion per annum for the USN alone. While a range of new corrosion prevention methods are available for corrosion control, the options are far more limited as far as the remediation of damaged naval assets is concerned. There is a clear technology gap in this space and as recognised by the NSW Defence Innovation Network (DIN) stakeholders, there is a need for a laser-based approach to corrosion management.
Background
Corrosion damage to naval platforms is a leading cost driver to the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) and its allied forces such as the US Navy (USN). Corrosion damage increases maintenance requirements and creates difficulty for naval assets to achieve their expected service life. The cost of corrosion damage has increased dramatically over the last decade and is currently about $5 billion per annum for the USN alone. While a range of new corrosion prevention methods are available for corrosion control, the options are far more limited as far as the remediation of damaged naval assets is concerned.
There is a clear technology gap in this space and as recognised by the NSW Defence Innovation Network (DIN) stakeholders, there is a need for a laser-based approach to corrosion management. Laser-based detection and removal of corrosion from the internal parts of naval platforms and other marine vessels particularly those parts with limited access and complex geometries (e.g. inside the ship hull, ballast tanks, engine rooms or the floodable space between the pressure hull and outer hull in submarines), is a promising concept for the management of marine corrosion. However, several key challenges must be overcome before this concept can be transformed into a deployable and cost effective technology.
This project overcomes some of the key challenges facing the application of laser-based corrosion management for naval platforms; thus facilitating the deployment of this emerging technology to marine vessels. The intended end-users are the RAN and allied forces but also the Australian Customs, the commercial shipping sector and all other similar industries.
Aims and Objectives
The key challenges in applying laser-based corrosion management for naval platforms are:
Given the above, the principal aim in this PhD project is to contribute to the development of a novel laser-based method for corrosion identification and removal from the internal parts and confined spaces within naval platforms. The research will particularly focus on the following key objectives:
Eligibility Criteria
Application Procedure
Interested applicants should send an email expressing their interest along with scanned copies of their academic transcripts, CV, a brief statement of their research interests and a proposal that specifically links them to the research project.
Please send the email expressing interest to Behdad.Moghtaderi@newcastle.edu.au by 5pm on 31 January 2021.
