The graduate school is organised within the Department of Mechanics and Maritime Sciences.
Director of Graduate Studies: Lennart Josefson
Syllabus
(approved by the Pro-Vice-President on May 17, 2005. Ref. nr. C2005/604)
(revised January 1, 2007)
(revised September 6, 2007)
(revised November 9, 2012)
1 Subject description and purpose
Mechanics comprises the study of material systems, in particular
statics and dyna-mics and phenomena coupled to this. The scientific
basis is composed of general principles of mechanics, of constitutive
relations between internal forces and de-formations, and of
computational techniques. Important engineering areas that are subject
to current research are dynamic behaviour including wave propagation,
vibrations and noise, and constitutive modelling including fatigue and
failure in engi-neering materials.
The main thrust of the programme is towards theory and general
methodology. The aim is to give qualifications for advanced engineering
work as well as proficiency and competence for performing independent
research.
2 Admission requirements
The PhD programme in Solid and structural mechanics is mostly
theoretical in nature and requires good knowledge in theoretical and
applied mechanics as well as in mathematics.
The prerequisites for admission to the programme are a MSc in
Mechanical engi-neering, Engineering physics, Civil engineering, or
similar. Anyone who within Sweden or abroad has acquired equivalent
qualifications may also be admitted.
3 Programme organization
An examiner, an advisor and at least one co-advisor are assigned to
the student. The examiner is one of the professors of the department
and can be identical with the advisor or co-advisor.
The advisor and the student establish a "thesis proposal", which
must be approved by the examiner and the leader of the research group.
The thesis proposal consists of a course plan and a short outline of the
proposed research project. Twice every year a revision should be made
of the thesis proposal.
The student must be enrolled in the graduate school in Solid and
structural mechanics and can also belong to an additional graduate
school within Chalmers or nationally.
4 Courses
For the licentiate degree 60 higher education credits (hp, 1.5 hp
amounts to one week of work) of courses are required. For the PhD degree
an additional 15 hp are required. The courses can be national or
international courses, interdisciplinary courses within Chalmers, and
intradisciplinary courses offered by the departments. Courses from the
master programmes, primarily in Applied mechanics and Engineering
mathematics, are usually also included.
4.1 Compulsory courses
The following courses are compulsory to the licentiate degree:
- General introduction for doctoral students (0 hp)
- Introductory course at the department (1.5 hp, including the General introduction for doctoral students)
- Teaching, learning and evaluation (3 hp), common Chalmers course
- Research ethics and sustainable development (3 hp), common Chalmers course
- Career planning – your personal leadership (1.5 hp), common Chalmers course
- Mechanics of solids, master programme in Applied mechanics (7.5 hp)
- Elective course in dynamics (7.5 hp)
- Elective FEM course (7.5 hp)
- Elective course in mathematics (7.5 hp)
Doctoral students admitted after 1 September 2012 are required to
take 15 hp from the area of Generic and Transferable Skills. Of these, 9
hp in the form of the first five courses on the list above are
mandatory to the licentiate degree. For the PhD degree another 6 hp are
mandatory. The elective courses in dynamics, FEM and mathematics are
chosen together with the examiner. For the student belonging to an
additional graduate school other courses may be mandatory.
4.2 Elective courses
The elective courses are usually intradisciplinary. Master courses
may be included. Examples of PhD courses offered by the department are:
- Computations in nonlinear continuum mechanics (7.5 hp)
- Advanced fatigue (7.5 hp)
- Analytical mechanics and nonlinear vibrations(7.5 hp)
- Contact mechanics (7.5 hp)
- Dynamics of rigid and flexible bodies (7.5 hp)
Also PhD courses offered by other departments may be included.
4.3 Credit for courses
The master courses given by the department and in mathematics that a
student has taken before being admitted to the PhD programme can give
credit of at most 30 hp, i.e. if the courses have been taken on the
master level they can still give higher education credits as a PhD
course. Similar courses from other educations can also give higher
education credits.
5 Thesis work
5.1 Licentiate thesis
The licentiate thesis should be of such quality that it (possibly
after proper editing) can be accepted for publication in an
international journal with a peer review system. The thesis must be
written in English and presented at a publically advertised semi-nar. An
external discussion leader will be invited to ask pertinent questions
after the presentation.
5.2 PhD thesis
The PhD thesis may comprise a number (usually 3-5) of papers
preceded by a sum-mary. Of these, at least two must be of such quality
that they have been (or are expected to be) published in an
international journal with a peer review system. As an alternative, the
thesis can be written as a monograph with the same quality requirements.
The thesis must be written in English.
6 Requirements for degrees
For the licentiate degree the requirements are at least 60 hp of
courses according to above, as well as a thesis corresponding to at
least 60 hp.
For the PhD degree the requirements are at least 75 hp of courses
according to above, as well as a thesis corresponding to at least 165
hp.
7 Other
General Chalmers instructions for the PhD programmes, thesis
requirements, and the defence of a PhD thesis can be found on the web
pages.