Contact Dr Yigeng Xu
- Tel: +44 (0) 1234 754406
- Email: Yigeng.Xu@cranfield.ac.uk
- ORCID
Areas of expertise
- Aerospace Structures
- Aircraft Design
- Airworthiness
- Lightweighting & Crashworthiness
- Aerospace Materials
Background
Dr Xu received BEng and MEng degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Zhejiang University of Technology, China. He obtained his PhD from the University of Southampton working on damage tolerance characterisation of high strength airframe aluminium alloys.
Prior to his current appointment as Reader in Structural Integrity and Course Director of MSc in Advanced Lightweight and Composite Structures at Cranfield University, Dr Xu was Senior Lecturer in Aerospace Structures at the University of Hertfordshire and Fatigue and Damage Tolerance Design Engineer at Airbus UK. He was also a visiting scholar and post-doctoral research assistant at the University of Oxford and had nine years teaching experience at the Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, China. He is the Fellow of Higher Education Academy (FHEA), Member of the Royal Aeronautical Society (MRAeS) UK, and the member of the International Scientific Committee of the International Conference of Fracture and Damage Mechanics.
Dr Xu has over 30 years teaching and research experience on structural integrity of lightweight materials and structures and developed an in-house structural integrity method (SIM1014) for Airbus. He has carried out following funded projects:
Application of laser peening towards improving fatigue performance of friction stir welded fuselage structures, funded by EPSRC & Airbus, 2019 - 2024;
Structural Rig – Pre-Work of HEAVEN, funded by Rolls-Royce Plc, 2022 - 2023;
PIPS - Powerplant integration with platform systems, funded by Rolls-Royce Plc & Innovate UK, 2016 - 2021;
Enhancing research based learning and teaching on advanced materials and manufacturing technologies for aerospace sectors in India and UK, funded by Royal Academy of Engineering, 2019 - 2021;
Kinetic energy recovery of the aircraft when wheels are on the ground, funded by Airbus UK, 2019 - 2020;
Development of a novel, affordable neonate/infant transport incubator, funded by Innovate UK/mOm Incubators, 2017 - 2019;
Enhancement of the damage tolerance capacity of toughened composite laminates, funded by Cranfield University, 05/2016 - 04/2019;
Measurement assisted tolerancing of large aircraft assemblies for adhesive bonding, funded by GKN Aerospace, 10/2015 - 09/2018;
Effect of ice accretion on the dynamic behaviour of wind turbine, funded by Albalqa's Applied University in Jordan and Narvik University College in Norway, 01/2012 - 01/2016;
Impact analysis of an amphibian aircraft landing on water, funded by the Ministry of Higher Education of Malaysia, 07/2012 - 07/2016;
Application of electromagnetic fields for enhancement of structural metal performance (EMFforMET), EU FP-7, 07/2011 - 06/2013;
Enhanced damage tolerance design for aerospace industry, funded by India UK Staff Exchange Programme, 12/2012 - 01/2013;
The use of inverse methods in determining applied dynamic loads on aerospace structures, funded by MBDA UK Ltd and EPSRC, 10/2008 - 09/2011;
Load sequence effect and enhanced life prediction of airframe structures under spectrum loading, funded by Sir Geoffrey de Havilland Memorial Fund and Airbus UK, 10/2005 - 05/2009.
Research opportunities
PhD opportunities on following topics:
Numerical simulation and practical development of hybrid metal-composite joints
Laser shock peening for optimised fatigue performance of friction stir welded structures
Enhanced durability and integrity of composite laminates toughened with thermoplastic veils
Commingled natural and synthetic fibres with thermoplastic resin for sustainable lightweight components
Additively manufactured hybrid metallic components for optimised durability and damage tolerance
Structural health monitoring using digital twin and machine learning techniques
Current activities
Dr Xu is the module leader of 'Thin-walled Structures' and 'Structural Stability' at Cranfield University. He is the course director of 'Introduction to Aircraft Stress Analysis' and 'Design, Durability and Integrity of Composite Aircraft Structures' for industrial professionals.
Dr Xu's research has been focused on the integrity and durability of advanced lightweight materials and structures. His areas of expertise include fatigue and damage tolerance analysis of metallic and composite structures, additive manufactured hybrid material systems for optimized structural performance, aerospace structure design and assembly, and computational method developing for structural health monitoring. Currently, he has been working on following funded projects:
Gear mass reduction with hybrid materials and structures, funded by Airbus Operations Ltd, 2024 - 2025;
Ultra efficient propulsion systems for short and short-medium range aircraft, funded by Horizon Europe, 2023 - 2027;
Economic feasibility of developing an enhanced electric compact tractor for family farming, funded by Royal Academy of Engineering, 2022 - 2024.
Clients
Airbus
Rolls-Royce
MBDA UK Ltd/EPSRC
GKN Aerospace
EC (FP7)
Innovate UK/mOm Incubators
Sir Geoffrey de Havilland Memorial Fund
Publications
Articles In Journals
- Deng K, Ompusunggu AP, Xu Y, Skote M & Zhao Y. (2025). A review of material-related mechanical failures and load monitoring-based structural health monitoring (SHM) technologies in aircraft landing gear. Aerospace, 12(3)
- Zhang C, Wen P, Xu Y, Fu Z & Ren G. (2024). Exploring advanced functionalities of carbon fiber-graded PEEK composites as bone fixation plates using finite element analysis. Materials, 17(2)
- Deng K, Liu H, Cao J, Yang L, Du W, .... (2024). Attention mechanism enhanced spatiotemporal-based deep learning approach for classifying barely visible impact damages in CFRP materials. Composite Structures, 337
- Antunes J, Ganguly S, Irving PE, Furfari D, Busse D, .... (2023). Friction stir welds with enhanced fatigue strength and life post laser peening. Procedia Structural Integrity, 42
- Grasso M & Xu Y. (2022). Threshold identification and damage characterization of woven gf/cf composites under low-velocity impact. Journal of Composites Science, 6(10)
- Jakkamputi L, Devaraj S, Marikkannan S, Gnanasekaran S, Ramasamy S, .... (2022). Experimental and computational vibration analysis for diagnosing the defects in high performance composite structures using machine learning approach. Applied Sciences, 12(23)
- Ramji A, Xu Y, Grasso M, Yasaee M & Webb P. (2021). Effect of interfacial fibre orientation and PPS veil density on delamination resistance of 5HS woven CFRP laminates under mode II loading. Composites Science and Technology, 207(May)
- Ramji A, Xu Y, Yasaee M, Grasso M & Webb P. (2021). Influence of veil interleave distribution on the delamination resistance of cross-ply CFRP laminates under low velocity impact. International Journal of Impact Engineering, 157(November)
- You C, Yasaee M, He S, Yang D, Xu Y, .... (2021). Identification of the key design inputs for the FEM-based preliminary sizing and mass estimation of a civil aircraft wing box structure. Aerospace Science and Technology, 121(February)
- Wan A-S, Xiong J & Xu Y. (2020). Fatigue life prediction of woven composite laminates with initial delamination. Fatigue & Fracture of Engineering Materials & Structures, 43(9)
- Ramji A, Xu Y, Yasaee M, Grasso M & Webb P. (2020). Delamination migration in CFRP laminates under mode I loading. Composites Science and Technology, 190
- Wan A-S, Xu Y, Xue L-H, Xu M-R & Xiong J. (2020). Finite element modeling and fatigue life prediction of helicopter composite tail structure under multipoint coordinated loading spectrum. Composite Structures, 255
- Mato PC, Webb P, Xu Y, Graham D, Portsmore A, .... (2019). Enhanced bondline thickness analysis for non-rigid airframe structural assemblies. Aerospace Science and Technology, 91
- Grasso M, Xu Y, Ramji A, Zhou G, Chrysanthou A, .... (2019). Low-velocity impact behaviour of woven laminate plates with fire retardant resin. Composites Part B: Engineering, 171
- Sirikham A, Zhao Y, Liu H, Xu Y, Williams S, .... (2019). Three-dimensional subsurface defect shape reconstruction and visualisation by pulsed thermography. Infrared Physics & Technology, 104
- Babutskyi A, Mohin M, Chrysanthou A, Xu Y & Lewis A. (2019). Effect of electropulsing on the fatigue resistance of aluminium alloy 2014-T6. Materials Science and Engineering: A, 772
- Wan A-S, Xu Y & Xiong J. (2019). Notch effect on strength and fatigue life of woven composite laminates. International Journal of Fatigue, 127
- Grasso M, Xu Y, Russo R & Rosiello V. (2018). Mixed mode fatigue crack propagation behaviour of aluminium F357 alloy. Engineering Failure Analysis, 90
- Grasso M, De A, Xu Y, Haritos G, Mohin M, .... (2018). Corrigendum to “An Analytical Model for the Identification of the Threshold of Stress Intensity Factor Range for Crack Growth”. Advances in Materials Science and Engineering, 2018(1)
- Grasso M, De Iorio A, Xu Y, Haritos G, Mohin M, .... (2017). An Analytical Model for the Identification of the Threshold of Stress Intensity Factor Range for Crack Growth. Advances in Materials Science and Engineering, 2017(1)
- Mohin MA, Toofanny H, Babutskyi A, Lewis A & Xu YG. (2017). Erratum: "Effect of Electromagnetic Treatment on Fatigue Resistance of 2011 Aluminum Alloy". Journal of Multiscale Modelling, 08(01)
- Mohin MA, Toofanny H, Babutskyi A, Lewis A & Xu Y. (2016). Effect of electromagnetic treatment on fatigue resistance of 2011 aluminum alloy. Journal of Multiscale Modelling, 07(03)
- Shen Z, Xu YG & Chrysanthou A. (2015). Correlation of Dent Depth to Maximum Contact Force and Damage of Composite Laminates. Key Engineering Materials, 627
- Alsabagh ASY, Xu Y, Virk MS & Badran O. (2015). Atmospheric Ice Loading and its Impact on Natural Frequencies of Wind Turbines. Wind Engineering, 39(1)
- Li M, Monjiza A, Xu YG & Wen PH. (2015). Finite block Petrov–Galerkin method in transient heat conduction. Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements, 60
- Ying P, Chen YK, Xu YG & Tian Y. (2015). Computational and experimental investigations of an omni-flow wind turbine. Applied Energy, 146
- Ying P, Chen YK & Xu YG. (2015). An aerodynamic analysis of a novel small wind turbine based on impulse turbine principles. Renewable Energy, 75
- Xu YG, Shen Z, Tiu W, Xu YZ, Chen YK, .... (2013). Delamination Threshold Load of Composite Laminates under Low-Velocity Impact. Key Engineering Materials, 525-526
- Xu YG, Tiu W & Xu YZ. (2013). Numerical Simulation of Crack Tip Behavior under Fatigue Loading. Key Engineering Materials, 525-526
- Khokhar RB, Chen YK, Xu Y & Calay RK. (2013). Numerical Simulation of Combined Mixing and Separating Flow in Cannel Filled with Porous Media. Advanced Materials Research, 694-697
- Alsabagh ASY, Tiu W, Xu Y & Virk MS. (2013). A Review of the Effects of Ice Accretion on the Structural Behavior of Wind Turbines. Wind Engineering, 37(1)
- Xu YG, Wang L, Chen Y & Tiu W. (2012). Load Sequence Effect on Fatigue Damage. Key Engineering Materials, 488-489
- Vishwakarma R, Turner D, Lewis A, Chen Y & Xu Y. (2012). The use of pseudo-inverse methods in reconstructing loads on a missile structure. International Journal of Modelling, Identification and Control, 17(3)
- Singh KD, Xu Y & Sinclair I. (2011). Strip yield modelling of fatigue crack under variable amplitude loading. Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology, 25(12)
- Wen PH, Hon YC & Xu YG. (2011). Inverse heat conduction problems by using particular solutions. Heat Transfer—Asian Research, 40(2)
- Wang L, Chen Y, Tiu W & Xu Y. (2008). Simulation of near-tip crack behaviour and its correlation to fatigue crack growth with a modified strip-yield model. International Journal of Modelling, Identification and Control, 5(1)
- Wen PH, Adetoro M & Xu Y. (2008). The fundamental solution of Mindlin plates with damping in the Laplace domain and its applications. Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements, 32(10)
- Xu YG, Chen J, Li JM & Zhu ZF. (2005). Improved fatigue and damage tolerant material design for aerospace industry. JOURNAL OF MATERIALS SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY, 21(6)
- Xu Y, Gregson PJ & Sinclair I. (2000). Systematic assessment and validation of compliance-based crack closure measurements in fatigue. Materials Science and Engineering: A, 284(1-2)
- Zhai T. (1999). A self-aligning four-point bend testing rig and sample geometry effect in four-point bend fatigue. International Journal of Fatigue, 21(9)
- Xu Yigeng & Xu Yizhong . (1996). An approximate expression of KImax for sphere/nozzle corner cracks. International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping, 67(3)
- Xu Y & Cai S. (1991). Assessment of the fatigue life in relation to cylinder-nozzle corner cracks. International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping, 46(3)
