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Risk-Aware Tolerance Stack-up & Assembly Philosophies
A new approach for defining assembly philosophies for nuclear assemblies, accommodating feature safety significance and producing a robotic process plan with integrated metrology.
Lead Supervisor
TBC (JC Chaplin)
University of Nottingham
Industry Partner
Sought
Project Start
October 2026
Target Background
Mechanical Engineering, Digital Manufacturing, possibly Computer Science
Second Supervisor
To be confirmed
Industrial Funding
Sought
Advert Close Date
TBC
Programme
4 year Engineering Doctorate (EngD)
with industry placement
Project summary
Aims and objectives
Aim: create a new approach for defining assembly philosophies for nuclear assemblies which accommodates feature safety significance, predicts the risk of features being out of tolerance, and produces a robotic process plan with integrated metrology.
Objectives:
Feature risk grading: can IAEA-style risk grading be implemented at the level of assembly features in design?
Assembly risk prediction: can we predict that functional requirements of high-risk features could be violated, using tolerance and uncertainty propagation analysis?
Metrology strategy: what level of metrology and quality assurance is necessary for each level of risk?
Robotic assembly philosophies and planning: can predicted tolerance and safety risk be integrated into a robotic assembly plan?
Demonstration and validation: how do we test and validate the build philosophy on a real robotic assembly system with integrated metrology?
Alignment to STAND-UP impact targets
>50% reduction in overall build or decommissioning process time
>40% reduction in maintenance time (not applicable)
>30% reduction in person hours on builds
Apply for this project
Contact the lead supervisor or programme team to discuss your interest. Full application instructions are on the How to Apply page.
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Trustworthy Digital Twins for Nuclear Manufacturing
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Innovative Manufacturing of Nuclear Components
From aerospace philosophy to nuclear practice.
Large high-value assemblies in safety critical sectors such as aerospace or nuclear must be manufactured to a high quality, in adherence with extensive regulatory requirements, while remaining commercially viable. Automation and robotics are increasingly used, but require careful planning and understanding of the variabilities in component parts.
There is extensive research in "build philosophies" for aerospace, focused on building large structures in a way that prevents tolerance stack-up and results in an accurate, quality product. Can these lessons transfer to nuclear manufacturing, and what aspects of nuclear engineering need to be accommodated?
A key issue in nuclear is that not all features in an assembly are equally safety-significant. The IAEA has a three-level grading process for quality assurance, which this project explores integrating into the approach.
Ready to apply?
Read the entry requirements, application process and FAQs on the How to Apply page.