Integrated Master-PhD Track | Marine Technology

The Integrated Master-PhD Track is available within the following Marine Technology specialism:
 

• Hydrodynamics for Ocean Engineering - M-TECH HOE

Students on the track will be assigned to the Research Laboratory in Hydrodynamics, Energetics & Atmospheric Environment (LHEEA) with supervision from a member of faculty. It is within LHEEA Laboratory that the students on this track would naturally progress towards funded PhD studies, subject to successful completion of the Master's degree, final acceptance by the ad hoc committee and the award of a PhD grant.

 

Course Content

Course content in the M1 and M2 years is closely based on the chosen Master's specialism, whereby Integrated Master-PhD Track students have a (limited) choice of modules, plus a research module and supervised research project. Full details below.

Hydrodynamics for Ocean Engineering

M1 Year

30 ECTS Credits per semester.
Language of instruction: English

Autumn Semester

Core Courses	ECTS
Algorithmics for Engineering Modelling	4
Continuum Mechanics	5
Fluid Mechanics 1	5
Marine Hydrodynamics 1	5
Numerical Methods	5
Tools and Methods for Research 1	4
Language Courses (1 out of 3)*
French as Foreign Language	2
Cultural and Communicational English	2
Spanish	2

* 'French as Foreign Language' except for French native speakers who will study 'Cultural and Communicational English' or Spanish (depending on sufficient demand).

Spring Semester

Core Courses	ECTS
Fluid Mechanics 2	5
Marine Hydrodynamics 2	5
Structural Mechanics	5
Tools and Methods for Research 2	5
Elective Courses (choose 2 out of 3)
Approximation Methods in Computational Mechanics	5
Energetics	5
Propulsion	5
Language Courses (1 out of 3)*
French as Foreign Language	2
Cultural and Communicational English	2
Spanish	2

* 'French as Foreign Language' except for French native speakers who will study 'Cultural and Communicational English' or Spanish (depending on sufficient demand).

NB Course content may be subject to minor changes

M2 Year

30 ECTS Credits per semester.
Language of instruction: English

Autumn Semester

Core Courses	ECTS
Tools and Methods for Research 2	5
Wave-structure Interactions and Moorings	4
Water Waves and Sea States Modelling	4
Elective Courses (choose 3 out of 7)
Experimental Hydrodynamics	5
Monitoring Strategy and Monitoring Systems	5
Marine Renewable Energy	5
Naval Engineering	5
Numerical Hydrodynamics	5
Research in Marine Hydrodynamics	5
Risk and Reliability in Engineering	5
Language Courses (1 out of 3)
French as Foreign Language	2
Cultural and Communicational English	2
Spanish	2

* 'French as Foreign Language' except for French native speakers who will study 'Cultural and Communicational English' or Spanish (depending on sufficient demand).

Spring Semester

	ECTS
Master Thesis/Internship	30

NB Course content may be subject to minor changes

Download syllabus | Integrated Master-PhD Track - Hydrodynamics for Ocean Engineering

• M1 Year
• M2 Year

Research environment

This programme relies on Centrale Nantes’ faculty and the research facilities of the Research Laboratory in Hydrodynamics, Energetics & Atmospheric Environment (LHEEA).

About the LHEEA Laboratory

The LHEEA is working on advancing theoretical knowledge and resolving concrete problems in four main areas: ocean engineering, marine and urban atmospheric flows, thermodynamics of energy systems, and hydrodynamics for health. Its research activities are focused on addressing strong societal and technological challenges:
 

• Performance of renewable energy production systems: (MRE - offshore wind, tidal and wave energy, etc.) and onshore wind energy,
• Human and environmental safety for maritime activities,
• Reduction of polluting emissions associated with ground and maritime transport,
• Quality of the urban atmosphere,
• Cardiovascular pathologies

Major research projects

Examples of major research projects currently underway:

►FLOATECH | 2021 - 2023
FLOATECH aims to boost the technical maturity and the cost competitiveness of floating offshore wind energy. Launched in January 2021 for a duration of 3 years and coordinated by TU Berlin, FLOATECH is a European H2020 project bringing together five public research institutions, including Centrale Nantes and its LHEEA research lab, with relevant expertise in offshore floating wind energy and three industrial partners involved in the most recent developments of floating wind systems. A new European project - FLOATFARM - on this topic will start in 2024. Learn more about FLOATECH

► Sealhyfe, the world's first offshore hydrogen production test platform
Sealhyfe is connected to the SEM-REV electrical hub on Centrale Nantes' offshore test site, operated by the Open-C Foundation.
Lhyfe's offshore hydrogen production test platform has been producing its first kilos of offshore hydrogen since June 2023, - a decisive milestone for the future of the sector. Learn more

► Bureau Veritas - Centrale Nantes International chair in Hydrodynamics and Marine Structures | 2016-2026
In 2016, Centrale Nantes and Bureau Veritas established an international research chair on ships of the future, in partnership with HydrOcean and Nextflow Software. The involvement of these four partners in the chair is designed to foster the emergence of technological innovation with regards to the concept, design and performance of ships and marine structures, environmental protection and safety standards, reduced fuel consumption. Learn more

► WASANO | 2022-2025
WASANO is a NExT IRP (International Research Partnership) project bringing together 14 world-renowned universities and four industrial partners.
One of the biggest challenges in MRE today is taking account of extreme conditions in the design of marine structures. The WASANO project addresses the problem of accurate, controlled description of environmental conditions in ocean engineering. To overcome the many scientific hurdles identified, the project will propose innovative methods to define the sea states responsible for extreme responses of offshore structures and reproduce these sea states in wave tanks. This reproduction will be carried out jointly using numerical simulations and reduced-scale experiments in Centrale Nantes' ocean engineering tanks. Learn more

Research facilities

Facilities in the LHEEA Laboratory include large-scale research facilities for ocean engineering, for example:

Hydrodynamic and ocean engineering tank

50 m long by 30 m wide and 5 m deep, this tank is used for small-scale physical simulation of floating systems, navigating or anchored in open seas (ships, MRE systems or oil platforms). Due to its size and generation capacity, it is currently the largest tank in France for this type of study.

► Learn more

Towing tank

The towing tank at Centrale Nantes is the second largest in France, the largest in an academic setting. The tank is used to test the resistance of ships to forward motion, with or without swell, and therefore to optimise hulls, the seaworthiness of ships or floating structures, cable towing, and also marine renewable energy.

► Learn more 

PhD Opportunities

40 PhDs are currently underway within the LHEEA Laboratory, for example:
 

• Direct Numerical Simulation of transitional flow around marine propeller blades
• Experimental and numerical investigation of extreme wave statistics
• Numerical modeling of floating wind turbine in the presence of severe sea conditions with OpenFOAM
• Extreme wave response of large marine structures

► View the full list of PhD theses completed in the LHEEA Laboratory.

What our graduates say

Liad Paskin

PhD, Research Laboratory in Hydrodynamics, Energetics & Atmospheric Environment (LHEEA)
Master of Science (MSc) Marine Technology | Hydrodynamics for Ocean Engineering
Founder & CEO of deepmath solutions
 

 

Meet the Programme Coordinator

Guillaume Ducrozet obtained his PhD at Centrale Nantes in 2007, and then occupied different post-doctoral positions, notably at DTU in 2009. He returned to Centrale Nantes in 2010 as an Associate Professor in Ocean Engineering in the LHEEA Laboratory, of which he has been the deputy director since 2022.

His research interests include: Free-surface hydrodynamics; Nonlinear ocean waves; Numerical modelling; Pseudo-spectral methods (HOS); Rogue/freak waves; Wave-structure interactions; Experimental hydrodynamics. He is the main developer of the open-source High-Order Spectral models HOS-ocean and HOS-NWT. He has authored 45+ publications in ISI peer-reviewed international journals.

A single admissions process applies to both the MSc programmes and the Integrated Master-PhD Track. On the eCandidat application platform simply select the MSc programme for which you are applying and indicate that you wish to be considered for the Integrated Master-PhD Track. Applicants will be considered for the MSc programme with and without the Integrated Master-PhD Track. Admission to the Integrated Master-PhD Track will be notified during semester one of the MSc programme.
 

• Learn more about admissions, tuition fees and financing
• Apply online