Off-Campus Degree Programme

MSc in Structural Integrity

An industry-led postgraduate degree programme delivered at the National Structural Integrity Research Centre.

Structural Integrity MScThe Structural Integrity MSc programme has been developed by Brunel University London in collaboration with engineering research and technology organisation TWI. Students on this specialised degree programme are based at the National Structural Integrity Research Centre (NSIRC), a dedicated research facility embedded within TWI’s headquarters just outside Cambridge.We look forward to welcoming you to study our MSc which combines academic excellence through Brunel University London, with extensive up-to-date industrial experience of TWI’s experts across the varied disciplines essential to structural integrity, which includes material degradation, asset ageing and inspection.

This programme, which requires students to work across multiple disciplines, is specifically tailored to provide graduates or practising engineers with the skills needed to develop a successful career in engineering. By the time they graduate, our students are equipped to plan in-situ inspections and develop risk management and mitigation strategies that conform to international codes and standards – valuable skills that distinguish them for recruitment by a diverse range of companies and organisations all over the world.

For current funding and scholarship opportunities please visit the Brunel website (www.brunel.ac.uk/pgscholarships).

Dr Kevin Hughes Senior Lecturer in Structural Integrity / MSc Course Director T +44 (0)1223 940 107 E kevin.hughes@brunel.ac.uk Skype hughes.kev

The course enjoys strong industrial links with a number of organisations including TWI

Cover image: Damage / Flaw detection on a pressure vessel

What is NSIRC? NSIRC is a state-of-the-art postgraduate engineering facility established and managed by a collaboration of leading industrial organisations. Brunel University is the lead university partner in NSIRC, and works with the main industrial partner TWI to manage the research and educational programmes within NSIRC. NSIRC is a unique model of university-industry interaction in the UK, pursuing academic programmes informed by the needs of industry, whilst embedded in a dynamic industrial environment. www.nsirc.co.uk

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Entry Requirements

A UK first or second class Honours degree or equivalent internationally recognised qualification in engineering, science or technology.

IELTS: 6 (minimum 5.5 in all areas)

Pearson: 51 (51 in all subscores)

BrunELT: 60% (minimum 55% in all areas)

Scholarships for 2017/18 entry

For current funding and scholarship opportunities please visit our website:www.brunel.ac.uk/pgscholarshipswww.brunel.ac.uk/msc-si

Why the world needs integrity engineersWhen structures fail, the results can be catastrophic. Not only in terms of potential loss of life and operational downtime, but also because of the huge costs associated with subsequent inspection and repair. Integrity engineers play a crucial role in preventing these failures. Their decisions influence structural design, determine service life extensions and improve safety for a wide range of sectors, including oil and gas, power generation and transportation.

Who is the degree for?This MSc programme will appeal to mechanical engineers wanting to specialise in stress analysis and existing integrity engineers wishing to upskill and gain a broader understanding of structural integrity. Due to its multidisciplinary nature, this MSc provides a bridge for other branches of engineering, such as civil, where engineers may be considering expanding their careers into the energy or transportation sectors.

This unique postgraduate programme provides the necessary training needed to detect the existence, formation and growth of damage and defects, and to assess the influence of loads and stresses arising from manufacture and applied in service. While being able to detect defects is vital, it is knowing what to do with these defects that is at the core of this programme. You can expect to be taught by industrial experts involved in developing codes, standards and working practices.

Being industry-led, this programme provides an opportunity to work on real engineering projects, equipping graduates with applied knowledge of material and structural failure, finite element analysis, non-destructive testing and project management.

Why study this course?This degree awarded by Brunel is unique in the UK: there are no other postgraduate opportunities that combine academic excellence with extensive, up-to-date industrial experience across the many and varied disciplines essential to structural integrity, as applied in the oil and gas, power generation and transportation sectors.

The MSc in Structural Integrity is based around eight modules and an industry led dissertation project:

• Metallurgy and Materials

• Fracture Mechanics and Fatigue Analysis

• Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) Inspection Methodology

• Reliability Engineering

• Stress Analysis and Plant Inspection

• Structural Health Monitoring

• Codes of Practice with Principles and Application

• Numerical Modelling of Solids and Structures (Finite Element Analysis)

You graduate as industry ready, your research is linked to industrial application, tackling real problems in industry.

In-service damage: application of fitness-for-service approach and finite element analysis to determine if equipment should remain in service, be repaired or be replaced

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What experience will students gain from studying this programme?The high level of industrial involvement within the programme is unique in the UK, allowing students to gain academic knowledge and industrial experience at the same time.

This early contact with industry, working and networking in a professional environment greatly increases students’ employability and ensures they are industry-ready and in high demand.

AccreditationAccreditation by external professional bodies is further testament to our teaching standards and course content. Graduates are able to use this degree to satisfy part of the further learning requirements for Chartered Engineer (CEng) status with the Institute of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) and Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3).

How we teachThe course runs from September to September, with the key activities in the period up to the end of April being taught lecture modules and seminars from leading experts in the UK. From May until the end of the programme, students work full-time on their industrially supported Dissertation project.

The programme employs a wide range of teaching methods designed to create a demanding and varied learning environment.

Each module is assessed through a range of assessment types (including group work), to ensure students have a comprehensive understanding and can readily apply the taught material to real engineering problems.

Facilities The bespoke teaching, research and experimental facilities found at NSIRC are outstanding, featuring all the cutting-edge equipment required to support the variety of research topics specified by our industrial partners:

• Industry-standard commercial software including SIMULIA Abaqus, MATLAB and TWI-developed packages including CrackWISE (fracture and fatigue assessment) and IntegriWISE (fitness-for-service assessment for ageing equipment).

• Access to joint testing facilities across Brunel and TWI, which includes mechanical and fatigue testing under different environmental conditions and NDT capability, together with access to 4D tomography and microscopy facilities.

• Access to an onsite, dedicated high-performance computing facility, which permits large-scale computational research projects to be performed.

Example dissertation topics• 4D computed tomography study of additive

manufactured metal lattice structures

• Corrosion resistance of anodised aluminium in marine energy monitoring systems

• Destructive testing of open rotor propeller blades

• Implementing ultrasonic inspection of underwater structures from a submersed platform

• Correlating cathodic protection levels to external corrosion in underground pipes

• Generation and ingress of hydrogen in cathodically polarised high-strength steels

• Multiscale modelling of dynamic behaviour in composite materials

• Ultrasonic inspection of mooring chains using array ultrasonic techniques

• Influence of side grooving on fracture toughness specimens

• Crack growing behaviour under residual stress

• Effect of post-weld heat treatment on corrosion performance of FSW 7050-T7451 aluminium alloys

NSIRC, Granta Park

Failure testing of mooring chains under accelerated corrosion conditions

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CareersThe MSc in Structural Integrity will prepare you for an exciting career, ranging from finite element and stress analysis of structures, developing inspection strategies, through to defining safe life and life extension protocols for long term asset management, and much more.

Our graduates have gone on to work for industrial companies, research and consultancy organisations including TWI Ltd, Mott McDonald, PTT Global Chemical Company and Network Rail, taking up positions not only in the UK, but across the world in the following areas:

• Oil and gas industry

• Engineering consultancies

• Asset management

• Research organisations

Graduates from the MSc programme are actively encouraged to continue their studies through a PhD. You will have ample opportunities to discuss potential project areas with your academic and industrial supervisors.

PhD opportunities within NSIRC Graduates from the MSc programme are actively encouraged to continue their studies through a PhD, as you will have ample opportunities to discuss potential project areas with your academic and industrial supervisors.

Student diversity Our students come from a variety of personal and professional backgrounds. Many have specific careers in mind, or are already practising integrity engineers working in the oil and gas or power generation sectors. This mix of experience creates an extremely valuable learning environment and excellent opportunities for networking.

LocationLocated in a purpose-built facility adjacent to the headquarters of TWI, this specialist off-campus programme is solely delivered at the Granta Park science campus just outside Cambridge. The setting allows students to work alongside leading academics and industrial experts who are at the forefront of structural integrity research.

Getting to Granta Park is convenient and straightforward, with several shuttle buses travelling directly from the city centre every day. Students can enjoy life in Cambridge and benefit from the many sporting, cultural and social events this compact cosmopolitan city provides. Cambridge is also conveniently close to London, just a 45-minute journey by train, and enjoys easy access to the major London airports and road links to the rest of the country.

Fees Information

UK/EU/International students: £18,500 full-time

MSc Structural Integrity scholarships for 2017/18 Entry

Please visit www.brunel.ac.uk/pgscholarships for more information on scholarships.

Applicants apply through the Brunel University course webpage, indicating a desire to be considered for a scholarship and including in the personal statement evidence of a desire to pursue a career in structural integrity. All required information will be taken from the course application form and verified at registration.

The course director and the NSIRC technical director will consider eligible applicants for scholarship before making a recommendation to the university.

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Graduate testimonials

Andreea-Maria Crintea from Romania graduated with an MSc Structural Integrity in November 2015“What I liked about the course was its industrially relevant technical content, which was delivered by professionals at TWI, experts in their field, and by experienced researchers at Brunel. The opportunity to study and carry out my dissertation in a very professional environment at the National Structural Integrity Research Centre in Cambridge equipped me not only with the technical knowledge, but also with the soft skills necessary to perform well in my current position.”

On graduation, Andreea secured employment with TWI as a technology project leader.

Warren Bath graduated with an MSc in Structural Integrity in November 2015.“I was attracted to the course as it offered modules that were of particular interest to me, such as finite element analysis, non-destructive testing and radiography.

Working in both an academic and industry environment has helped me enormously in my career search. Upon completion of the MSc in Structural Integrity, I began employment with TWI as a project leader, an appointment that was made possible through the knowledge, skills and the network of connections obtained during my time on my master’s degree.”

Please see www.nsirc.co.uk for full graduate articles.

“I graduated from the Structural Integrity MSc in September 2015

and now work for a large engineering company, Mott MacDonald, in Cork,

Ireland. I’m working in the structural engineering department, where I undertake

finite element analysis of new and existing structures and carry out site inspections looking

for damage to structures, whether that be cracks or other visible signs”

“I was very excited to be accepted onto the Network Rail

Mechanical Engineering Graduate Scheme in 2016. The rail sector is a

promising area in the UK and I felt that this position is an ideal starting point for a

mechanical engineer graduate. Moreover this is a position where I am able to put the skills and the

knowledge gained from the MSc into practice.”

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Back cover: Top: Full scale sour corrosion fatigue pipe test machine (Courtesy of TWI) Bottom: Guided wave inspection of an offshore structure (Courtesy of TWI)

Typical brittle fracture (courtesy of TWI)

Solidifcation crack in a butt weld (courtesy of TWI)

Measuring the energy absorbed by a material during fracture by Charpy Impact Testing (courtesy of TWI)

Facilities include various capacity (kN->MN) servo-hydraulic mechanical testing machines for static, fatigue and fracture testing (courtesy of TWI)

Measuring crack tip opening displacement under three-point bending (courtesy of TWI)

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Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information in this brochure and the University will take all reasonable action to deliver courses and services in accordance with the descriptions set out in it. A contract is made at the point when an applicant accepts an offer from Brunel, meeting any conditions, and the acceptance is communicated to Brunel or the clearing system acting for Brunel, and this contract is confirmed. All students are required, as a condition of registration, to abide by and submit to the University’s statutes, ordinances, regulations and rules, which are published on the University’s website (a hard copy is available from the Registry at the Uxbridge address). Note: the information contained within this course brochure is correct at the time of going to print (May 2016).

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Explore and connect with us, anytime.

Get in touch – we’d love to hear from you Admissions, Brunel University London, Kingston Lane, Uxbridge UB8 3PH, UK admissions@brunel.ac.uk +44 (0)1895 265265

Catherine Wells, Brunel NSIRC and Theme Administrator catherine.wells@brunel.ac.uk +44 (0)1223 940101

www.brunel.ac.uk www.nsirc.co.uk