Doctoral study in Mechanical Engineering

Pursuing a PhD at the University gives you access to a high-calibre research community – you may have the opportunity to publish papers, attend international conferences and develop your network in academia and industry.

We welcome research proposals in topics relating to our key areas, including:

• Acoustics – theoretical, computational and experimental research on building acoustics, vibroacoustics, audio signal processing, active soundfield synthesis and aeroacoustics, and applications in dynamics, control and mechatronics
• Dynamics and Control, from Artificial Intelligence and neural networks, to support decision-making algorithms, sound transmission through floors, and stability control of mobile robots
• Aerodynamics, including low speed and unsteady aerodynamics, turbulent flows, fixed wing and rotary UAV operation under extreme conditions, aeroacoustics of UAVs, aerodynamic flow control, and more
• Thermodynamics, in areas such as thermal power cycles, heat transfer, refrigeration, air conditioning, micro-combustion, and thermal management
• Fluid dynamics, including developing algorithms to visualise three-dimensional flows with applications in the healthcare, manufacturing and software industries
  Wind engineering, including topographic effects on turbulent wind flows, storm (tropical cyclone) wind characteristics, and their influence on unsteady pressures and loading of buildings and structures, and pedestrian level wind flows in cities
• Yacht research, where world-class sail-testing facilities allow theoretical and experimental studies in the modelling and measuring of sail pressures, wind velocity and turbulence, aerodynamics, shaping, and more 
• Manufacturing systems, including fundamental and application-oriented research under the umbrella of Industry, 4.0 with key focuses on smart manufacturing solutions, cyber-physical systems, digital twins, IoT-enabled production systems, cloud-manufacturing, big data analytics, AI for manufacturing, and intelligent and interoperable manufacturing systems
• Composites and plastics, focusing on cost-effective, sustainable solutions for future industry needs: novel materials, manufacturing process development, and multi-functional material and structure performance
• Design and Development, with an emphasis on developing new models and methods to support practice

Dr Vladislav Sorokin

Dr Vladislav Sorokin’s research concerns structural dynamics and vibration. This includes developing novel metamaterials and smart structures for sound and vibration insulation, energy harvesting in macro and micro-mechanical applications, signal sensing and amplification. He is also interested in developing analytical and semi-analytical methods for studying linear and nonlinear dynamics of systems in engineering, physics, biology, and chemistry.

More researchers in Mechanical Engineering:

• Dr David Wynn
• Dr Jaspreet Dhupia
• Dr Jonathan Stringer
• Associate Professor Karl Stol
• Professor Krishnan Jayaraman
• Associate Professor Lihua Tang
• Dr Michael Kingan
• Associate Professor Rajnish Sharma
• Professor Simon Bickerton
• Dr Stuart Norris
• Dr Tom Allen
• Professor Xun Xu
• Dr Yuqian Lu
• Associate Professor Yusuke Hioka

• Drivetrain dynamics modelling, analysis and diagnostics | Supervised by Dr Jaspreet Dhupia
• Synthetic jets for aerodynamic control of unmanned aerial vehicles | Supervised by Associate Professor Rajnish Sharma and Associate Professor Peter Richards
• Large Eddy Simulation of yacht aerodynamics | Supervised by Dr Stuart Norris and Dr John Cater
• Full-scale investigation of sail pressures and shapes to understand how they produce forces | Supervised by Professor Richard Flay and Associate Professor Peter Richards
• Power spectral density estimation of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle rotor noise | Supervised by Associate Professor Yusuke Hioka
• Development of an efficient expander for an Organic Rankine Cycle | Supervised by Dr Alison Subiantoro and Dr Stuart Norris
• Machinability of natural fibre composites | Supervised by Professor Krishnan Jayaraman and Dr Richard Lin
• Change impact on a product and its redesign process | Supervised by Dr David Wynn
• Developing an integrated framework for technology selection and successful implementation of Industry 4.0 | Supervised by Professor Xun Xu
• UAV propeller noise | Supervised by Dr Michael Kingan and Professor Brian Mace
• Study on deformation of 3D-printed polymeric functionally graded plates | Supervised by Professor Simon Bickerton

There are several scholarships you may be eligible for when you decide to pursue your PhD in Mechanical Engineering, including the University of Auckland Doctoral Scholarships.

For general student enquiries, please contact the Student Hubs.

If you would like to find out more about studying Mechanical Engineering, you can contact a Postgraduate Adviser.