Anders Ansell

KTH Royal Institute of Technology is recruiting a doctoral student for research on the structural rehabilitation of concrete hydro dams within the Division for Concrete Structures at the Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering. The project focuses on reinforced concrete structures used in hydropower, especially spillways and related concrete elements that have been exposed to decades of varying water flows and, in some cases, extreme high-flow events. The research aims to improve understanding of how damage develops in these structures and how hydraulic and structural loads influence both the concrete and the underlying rock substrate. The work is embedded in the national hydropower research program SVC – Swedish Centre for Sustainable Hydropower . It is carried out together with senior researchers at KTH and in interdisciplinary collaboration with international researchers and industry partners. The project is intended to generate decision-making knowledge for maintenance, repair and reconstruction of embankments and associated structures. The advertised doctoral project sits at the intersection of structural engineering, concrete structures and hydropower infrastructure, with an emphasis on repair methods for aging dams. The opening is supervised by Professor Anders Ansell, Docent Andreas Sjölander and PhD Erik Nordström.

This doctoral project is based in the Division for Concrete Structures at KTH Royal Institute of Technology and sits within the third-cycle subject of Civil and Architectural Engineering. The research focuses on hydraulic design of hydropower structures, with particular attention to hydro dam bottom outlets. These outlets are critical for dam safety and operation because they are used for emergency lowering of reservoir water levels and may also be used when spillway overflow occurs. The project asks how bottom discharge behaves under air entrainment conditions and how that behaviour can be understood through both physical and numerical modelling. The goal is to support the proposal of cost-effective measures that help maintain normal function and long service life in upgraded or rebuilt dam facilities. The work is part of the national hydropower research programme SVC – Swedish Centre for Sustainable Hydropower. It is carried out with senior researchers at KTH and in interdisciplinary collaboration with international researchers and industry partners, placing the student in a research environment that combines academic expertise with practical hydropower applications. Supervision is proposed by Professor Anders Ansell, Assistant Professor Shicheng Li and PhD James Yang.