(Graduation) Internship Naval Ship Structural Design

We offer you an Ocean of Possibilities. Join our family.

About us

Get on board with Damen Naval, along with more than 1,200 professionals based in The Netherlands, Romania, and Germany. We are the naval division of the family-owned Damen Shipyards Group which employs 12,000 professionals globally. Damen Naval designs and builds advanced naval vessels for customers all over the world. With a passion for technological innovation and sustainable solutions, we continue to push the boundaries in naval shipbuilding. You can be part of our team! Are you ready for duty?

The role

The ability of naval vessels to resist operational loadings is one of the main design drivers for the structural design of these vessels. Operations in heavy seas induce huge loadings such as pressures, accelerations, bending moments and shear forces. Secondly, local loads coming from tank pressures, machineries, weapons, propellors, vibrations etcetera will also affect the local structural design. These operational ‘’varying’’ loads will cause structures to deform, yield, buckle and crack under cyclic loading (e.g fatigue).

Research in this field is ongoing to make these developments happen and determine how next generation of naval vessels can be optimized in terms of the structural design. In addition, supporting research is needed to provide tools and methods to further optimize the structural design.

Various graduate research or internship projects are available related to this topic, all projects are supported by subject matter experts within the company.Some possible subjects are:

• Plasticity, limit analysis and structural design (Global and local).
• Simulation driven structural design strategy for Naval vessels.
• Prediction of vibrations of global and local structures.
• Simplified method(s) for predicting ultimate limit states.
• Non-linear (dynamic) FEA to predict limit states.
• Optimal stress or strain calculation analysis techniques for fatigue predictions in Navy vessels.
• Dominant fatigue details in Naval vessels and possible improvements.
• Optimal fatigue design process for Naval vessels.

A combination of different subjects is part of the possibilities. Damen Naval can provide readily available assignments, but it is also possible to propose your own specific topic of interest.

Please indicate your preferences (or research topics of your own making) when sending us your application through our career website.

Key accountabilities

As an intern or graduate student at Damen Naval you may encounter multiple aspects related to vulnerability. Depending on the assignment, you are expected to select or develop the analysis methods and engineering tools needed to achieve your research goals.

You will be responsible from day one for the planning and execution of your research project. You are expected to deliver a detailed in-depth analysis of your research problem and meanwhile be able to communicate the results and conclusions to other departments.

Skills & experience

The perfect candidate for an internship or graduation project related to Naval vessel Vulnerability has the following characteristics:

• Top class student Master student Mechanical Engineering, Marine Engineering, Aerospace engineering, or Naval Architecture. Other equivalent fields of study may also apply or can be considered depending on the topic chosen for the assignment.
• Passionate about ships and shipbuilding.
• Passionate about military ships and striving to enhance safety on board of Navy vessels.
• Independent, curious, analytical, and proactive.
• Familiar with structural analysis and ship structural design (e.g. Solid mechanics, Structural Dynamics and ship structural details).
• Basic experience with simulation tools (e.g. Ansys, Femap , LS-Dyna) or have a proven ability and specific motivation to become familiar with this subject in a very short time.
• Able to use programming tools (e.g. Python, MATLAB).
• Capable of identifying and communicating with multiple stakeholders.
• Taking responsibility for your own planning and project management.
• Good command of the Dutch and English language both written and verbal.

What we offer

The project will preferably be carried out at the Damen Naval office location in Vlissingen. A monthly allowance will be paid for the duration of the assignment. In addition, a temporary accommodation or compensation for housing could be provided, if required. Flexible working hours can be discussed and proper mentoring at BSc or MSc level will be available throughout the project.