One of the greatest challenges faced by aerospace, automotive, energy/power plant manufacturers and operators is how to reduce total life cost and reduce environmental impact of their products. This might be achieved by making these structures lighter, more durable, more reliable, cheaper to manufacture, maintain and recycle.

Areas of expertise include:

  • Structural Design, Analysis and Optimisation - assessment of manufacturing processes and performance of existing/new structures under relevant loading and environmental conditions and making recommendations for design improvements

  • Fluid-Structure Interaction - development and application of methods for analysis of fluid structure interaction problems including deformable structures and multiphase fluids

  • Fatigue and Fracture - practical methods for meeting and experimental assessment of the durability and damage tolerance requirements of modern structures

  • Fault Tolerance Design - metallic, composite and hybrid structures, optimised for dynamic (including impact resistance) and static loads and weight

  • Fault Detection and Health Monitoring - real time health monitoring of rotating structures for example turbine blades and bearings in order to prevent failures, manage maintenance and improve designs. Structural health monitoring and damage detection using built-in sensors and smart structure concepts

  • Crash and Impact Response - development and application of methods for modelling of structures and materials under extreme loading. Experimental characterisation of structures and materials under extreme loading. Design and development of impact resistant/crashworthy structures, for example aircraft ditching, bird strike, hard landing, hypervelocity impacts on spacecraft, ballistic impacts

  • Advanced and Composite Materials - design and manufacture of novel composites. Composites with improved through thickness properties and impact resistance. Simulation of manufacturing processes. Affordable composite materials. Thermal barriers and coatings. Design and manufacture of advanced coatings.

Our work encompasses a variety of flying structures including aircraft, helicopters, satellites, UAVS and missiles. As a result, our client list is extensive and includes AgustaWestland, Airbus, Airbus Military, AWE, BAE Systems, Boeing, Dassault, EADS, Astrium, F1 teams, JLR, Lockheed Martin, Marshall Aerospace, MBDA, MoD, Nissan, Rolls-Royce, Sprint Aviation, Surrey Satelites, Thales Alenia Space and Vega.

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