Areas of expertise
- Air Transport Safety & Investigation
- Aircraft Design
- Test and Evaluation
- Electric and Hybrid Vehicles
- Engines, Powertrains & Alternative Fuels
- Aerospace Materials
- Off-Road Vehicle Engineering
- On-Road Vehicle Dynamics
- Soil Resources
- Space Systems
- Low Carbon Technology
- Vehicle Engineering & Mobility
Background
Prof. James Brighton has over 22 years' experience relating to off road vehicle dynamics, terra-mechanics, tyre and track system modelling, advanced vehicle instrumentation and lightweight material structures and his current clients span the globe. He is responsible for the Cranfield Off Road Dynamics Facility, which he designed and managed the delivery of together with its unique suite of research machines in collaboration with his colleagues within his previous Centre for Automotive Technology. The facility won the Henry Ford Technical achievement award in 2007. His team is able to offer a wide range of vehicle related technical solutions from fundamental research through product design and prototype vehicle sub-system manufacture, supply, evaluation and testing across a wide range of industry sectors.
- Fellow of the Institution of Agricultural Engineers (FIAgrE)
- EngD Cranfield University
- BEng (Hons) Silsoe College
- ND Analytical Rycotewood College.
Current activities
Prof. James Brighton manages the Advanced Vehicle Engineering Centre and specialises in applied research, design, development and postgraduate teaching in relation to advanced vehicle technology for off road and race circuit environments together with the development of novel light-weight materials and associated nanotechnology.
The applications of this research are broad and include automobiles, sports utility vehicles (SUVs), motorcycles, competition vehicles, heavy goods vehicles, low carbon vehicles (LCVs), agricultural machinery, industrial machinery, military vehicles, space vehicles, marine vessels, air and landing craft. The Centre also manages and delivers the IMechE, RAeS and IET accredited MSc in Advanced Motorsport Engineering, the MSc in Automotive Engineering, MSc in Automotive Mechatronics and allied short courses, for which Prof Brighton teaches Motorsport Vehicle Dynamics. He was involved in the EU funded research projects ECOshell, InnoREX, Sirena, and FutureSKY, and the Innovate funded CarBIO, HumanDRIVE and AidCAV programs, and has just concluded the EPSRC funded CogSHIFT program with Jaguar Land Rover. He is currently working on the ATi funded LLGF program, the Innovate funded CargoPOD program and is actively building and seeking consortia for H2020 and Innovate UK calls.
Key areas of activity include off-road and Autonomous vehicle dynamics and development, off-road environment simulation, tyre characterisation and modelling, vehicle efficiency, motorsport engineering and management, terra-mechanics, vehicle light-weighting and novel materials, including nano and hybrid composites, agricultural engineering and off road environment measurement.
Clients
- Airbus
- Messier Bugatti Dowty
- Dunlop
- Jaguar Land Rover
- Nissan
- Yamaha (GP team)
- Millbrook Proving Ground
- DSTL
- QinetiQ
- Claas GmbH
- MSport
- Redbull Technology
- Caterpillar
- Cammoplast
- Singapore Technologies Marine
- Michelin (America)
- Soil Machine Dynamics Ltd.
- AAIB
- BEA
- Astrium
- European Space Agency
- Scania
- PMC Harvesters
- Automotive Research Center (USA)
- Mahle
- Rolls-Royce
- Eaton
- Safran Landing systems
- Halon
Publications
Articles In Journals
- Grasso M, Robinson M, Chaffey B, Mortimer P & Brighton J (2023) Innovative pultruded composite mast design for railway overhead line structures, Designs, 7 (3) Article No. 77.
- Gucci F, Grasso M, Russo S, Leighton GJ, Shaw C & Brighton J (2023) Electrical and mechanical characterisation of poly(ethylene)oxide-polysulfone blend for composite structural lithium batteries, Polymers, 15 (11) Article No. 2581.
- Gucci F, Grasso M, Shaw C, Leighton G, Marchante Rodriguez V & Brighton J (2023) PEO-based polymer blend electrolyte for composite structural battery, Polymer-Plastics Technology and Engineering, 62 (8) 1019-1028.
- Shateri N, Auger DJ, Fotouhi A & Brighton J (2023) Charging characterization of a high‐capacity lithium‐sulfur pouch cell for state estimation–an experimental approach, Energy Storage, 5 (3) Article No. e412. Dataset/s: 10.17862/cranfield.rd.16482957
- Ramji A, Grasso M, Chase J, Maqbool H, Krypciak M, Marchante Rodriguez V & Brighton J (2023) Implementation of a Finite Element Modelling strategy for the prediction of aircraft tyre response, Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part G: Journal of Aerospace Engineering, Available online 11 March 2023.
- Grasso M, Yuanli Bai Y, Brighton J, Carless O & StLeger-Harris C (2023) Numerical simulation of plasticity in double lap metallic bolted joints, Mechanics Based Design of Structures and Machines, Available online 8 February 2023.
- Shateri N, Auger D, Fotouhi A, Brighton J, Du W, Owen RE, Brett DJL & Shearing PR (2022) Investigation of the effect of temperature on lithium-sulfur cell cycle life performance using system identification and x-ray tomography, Batteries and Supercaps, 5 (8) Article No. e202200035. Dataset/s: 10.17862/cranfield.rd.17163545
- Lawson NJ, Blackburn K, Sherwood G, Brighton J & Atkinson HV (2022) Flow visualization and particle dispersion measurements inside an ambulance rear saloon while stationary and in motion, SAE International Journal of Commercial Vehicles, 15 (4) Article No. 23.
- Yang L, Dong K, Ding Y, Brighton J, Zhan Z & Zhao Y (2021) Recognition of visual-related non-driving activities using a dual-camera monitoring system, Pattern Recognition, 116 (August) Article No. 107955.
- Shateri N, Auger DJ, Fotouhi A & Brighton J (2021) An experimental study on prototype lithium–sulfur cells for aging analysis and state-of-health estimation, IEEE Transactions on Transportation Electrification, 7 (3) 1324-1338. Dataset/s: 10.17862/cranfield.rd.12562361
- Yang L, Shan X, Lv C, Brighton J & Zhao Y (2021) Learning spatio-temporal representations with a dual-stream 3-D residual network for nondriving activity recognition, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, 69 (7) 7405-7414.
- Yang L, Yang T, Liu H, Shan X, Brighton J, Skrypchuk L, Mouzakitis A & Zhao Y (2021) A refined non-driving activity classification using a two-stream convolutional neural network, IEEE Sensors Journal, 21 (14) 15574-15583.
- Yang L, Semiromi MB, Xing Y, Lv C, Brighton J & Zhao Y (2021) The identification of non-driving activities with associated implication on the take-over process, Sensors, 22 (1) Article No. 42.
- Xie S, Hu X, Qi S, Tang X, Lang K, Xin Z & Brighton J (2019) Model predictive energy management for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles considering optimal battery depth of discharge, Energy, 173 (April) 667-678.
- Yang L, Dong K, Dmitruk AJ, Brighton J & Zhao Y (2019) A dual-cameras-based driver gaze mapping system with an application on non-driving activities monitoring, IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, 21 (10) 4318-4327.
- Xie S, Hu X, Xin Z & Brighton J (2019) Pontryagin's Minimum Principle based model predictive control of energy management for a plug-in hybrid electric bus, Applied Energy, 236 (February) 893-905.
- Krishnaswamy S, Abhyankar HA, Marchante V, Huang Z & Brighton JL (2019) Aerogel/epoxy thermal coatings for carbon fibre reinforced plastic substrates, Journal of Adhesion Science and Technology, 33 (6) 579-594.
- Krishnaswamy S, Marchante V, Abhyankar H, Huang Z & Brighton J (2019) Non-isothermal cure kinetics of aerogel/epoxy composites using differential scanning calorimetry, Polymer-Plastics Technology and Engineering, 58 (16) 1757-1765.
- Krishnaswamy S, Bhattacharyya D, Abhyankar H, Marchante V, Huang Z & Brighton J (2019) Morphological, optical and thermal characterisation of aerogel-epoxy composites for enhanced thermal insulation, Journal of Composite Materials, 53 (7) 909-923.
- Dubey SP, Abhyankar HA, Marchante V, Brighton JL, Bergmann B, Trinh G & David C (2017) Microwave energy assisted synthesis of poly lactic acid via continuous reactive extrusion: modelling of reaction kinetics, RSC Advances, 7 (30) 18529-18538.
- Dubey SP, Thakur VK, Krishnaswamy S, Abhyankar HA, Marchante V & Brighton JL (2017) Progress in environmental-friendly polymer nanocomposite material from PLA: synthesis, processing and applications, Vacuum, 146 655-663.
- Gendre L, Marchante Rodriguez V, Abhyankar H, Blackburn D, Temple C & Brighton J (2016) Development of CNC prototype for the characterization of the nanoparticle release during physical manipulation of nanocomposites, Journal of Environmental Science and Health, Part A: Toxic Hazardous Substances and Environmental Engineering, 51 (6) 459-501.
- Dubey DP, Abhyankar HA, Marchante V, Brighton JL, Blackburn K, Temple C, Bergmann B, Trinh G & David C (2016) Modelling and validation of synthesis of poly lactic acid using an alternative energy source through a continuous reactive extrusion process, Polymers, 8 (4) Article No. 164.
- Dubey SP, Abhyankar HA, Marchante V, Brighton JL & Blackburn K (2016) Chronological review of the catalytic progress of polylactic acid formation through ring opening polymerization, International Research Journal of Pure and Applied Chemistry, 12 (3) Article No. IRJPAC.27469 1-20.
- Misiewicz PA, Blackburn K, Richards TE, Brighton JL & Godwin RJ (2015) The evaluation and calibration of pressure mapping system for the measurement of the pressure distribution of agricultural tyres, Biosystems Engineering, 130 (February) 81-91.
- Dubey S, Abhyankar H, Marchante Rodriguez V, Brighton J & Bergmann B (2015) Mathematical Modeling for Continuous Reactive Extrusion of Poly Lactic Acid formation by Ring Opening Polymerization Considering Metal/Organic Catalyst and Alternative Energies, World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology, International Journal of Chemical, Molecular, Nuclear, Materials and Metallurgical Engineering, 9 (2) 298-302.
- Zhu J, Zhu H, Immonen K, Brighton J & Abhyankar H (2015) Improving mechanical properties of novel flax/tannin composites through different chemical treatments, Industrial Crops and Products, 67 (May 2015) 346-354.
- Zhu J, Immonen K, Avril C, Brighton J, Zhu H & Abhyankar H (2015) Novel hybrid flax reinforced supersap composites in automotive applications, Fibers, 3 (1) 76-89.
- Gendre L, Marchante Rodriguez V, Abhyankar H, Blackburn K & Brighton JL (2015) Measurement of nanoparticles release during drilling of polymer nanocomposites, Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 617 Article No. 012027.
- Gendre L, Blackburn K, Brighton J, Marchante Rodriguez V & Abhyankar H (2014) Nanomaterials Life Cycle Analysis: Health and Safety Practices, Standards and Regulations - Past,Present and Future Perspective, International Research Journal of Pure and Applied Chemistry, 5 (3) 208-228.
- Dimitriadis CI & Brighton JL (2010) The design of a mechanical system for the harvest of saffron plants in Greece, Acta Horticulturae, 850 205-208.
- O'Dogherty MJ, Godwin RJ, Dedousis AP, Brighton J & Tillett ND (2006) A Mathematical Model of the Kinematics of a Rotating Disc for Inter- and Intra-Row Hoeing, Biosystems Engineering, 96 (2) 169-179.
Conference Papers
- Rijns S, Teschner T-R, Blackburn K & Brighton J (2023) Comparative analysis of RANS and DDES methods for aerodynamic performance predictions for high performance vehicles at low ground clearances. In: UKACM 2023 Conference (UK Association for Computational Mechanics), Warwick, 19-21 April 2023.
- Yang L, Semiromi MB, Auger D, Dmitruk A, Brighton J & Zhao Y (2021) The implication of non-driving activities on situation awareness and take-over performance in level 3 automation. In: IECON 2020 46th Annual Conference of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society, Singapore, 19-21 October 2020.
- Lv C, Wang H, Cao D, Zhao Y, Sullman M, Auger DJ, Brighton J, Matthias R, Skrypchuk L & Mouzakitis A (2018) A Novel Control Framework of Haptic Take-Over System for Automated Vehicles. In: 2018 IEEE Intelligent Vehicles Symposium (IV), Changshu, Suzhou, 26-30 June 2018.
- Fan J, Nassiopoulos E, Brighton J, De Larminat A & Njuguna J (2011) New structural biocomposites for car applications. In: EuroTec 2011 Conference, in Conjunction with EQUIPLAST, Barcelona, 14 November 2011.
- Hathorn GNB, Brighton JL & Blackburn K (2010) An investigation into wheel sinkage on soft sand. In: 29th Annual Meeting and Conference on Tire Science and Technology, 2010, Akron, Ohio, 20-21 September 2010.
- Misiewicz PA, Richards TE, Blackburn K, Brighton JL, Hann MJ & Godwin RJ (2008) Techniques for estimating contact pressure resulting from loaded agricultural tyres. In: American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers Annual International Meeting 2008, Providence, Rhode Island, 29 June 2008.
- Anker S, Brighton J, Godwin RJ, Blackburn DWK & Richards TE (2006) New Off-Road Dynamics Facility at Cranfield University. In: 10th European Conference of ISTVS, Budapest, Hungary, 3 October 2006.
- Godwin RJ, Brighton J, Blackburn DWK, Richards TE, Ansorge D & Wheeler PN (2006) Off-Road Dynamics Research at Cranfield University at Silsoe. In: ASABE Annual International Meeting, Portland, Oregon, USA, 9 July 2006.
- Oliver M & Brighton JL (2001) Replication of Off-road tyre testing.. In: Tire Technology Expo 2001, Cannes., Cannes, 1 January 2001.
- Prins JP, Anker S, Blackburn DWK & Brighton J Off-Road Dynamics Facilities at Cranfield University. In: All-Wheel-Drive Congress, Graz, Austria.
Books
- Dedousis A, Godwin RJ, O'Dogherty MJ, Tillett N & Brighton J (2006) Effect of implement geometry and inclination angle on soil failure and forces acting on a shallow rotating disc for inter- and intra-row hoeing. In: Soil Management for Sustainability: Advances in Geoecology, Reiskirchen, Germany: Catena Verlag GmbH, p. 15-20.
