Contact Professor Panagiotis Laskaridis

Areas of expertise

  • Aeronautical Systems
  • Computational Fluid Dynamics
  • Electric and Hybrid Vehicles
  • Engines, Powertrains & Alternative Fuels
  • Flight Physics
  • Gas Turbines & Propulsion
  • Power Systems & Turbines

Background

General Background

Panos Laskaridis is a Professor of Hybrid Electric Propulsion, Head of the Propulsion Electrification Group & Director of the Centre for Gas Turbine Diagnostics and Life Cycle Analysis at Cranfield University, Centre for Propulsion Engineering. He is leading a team of 15 researchers focusing on the development and integration of green and sustainable aircraft propulsion and power generation technologies. Pano’s research activities include electrification of aircraft propulsion systems, aerodynamic integration of novel propulsion architectures including BLI, distributed propulsion and wing tip propellers as well as the life cycle analysis and management of aero and land based gas turbines. Panos has been a module leader for several postgraduate teaching modules and director of multiple continuous professional development short courses. He has also prepared and delivered a number of customised and in-house international short courses for industrial organisations. He is contributing to several technical committees and advisory boards, acting as external reviewer to government  and international organisations as well as being editorial member and reviewer for international journals. He has been contributing, managing and leading projects funded by FP7, CS, CS2, Horizon2020, ATI-Innovate UK, EPSRC and industrially funded research projects. Panos has supervised 32 PhD researchers and more than 100 MSc projects. He is working closely with international industrial and research partners including: NASA, Airbus, Safran, BAE Systems, Embraer, Rolls Royce, GKN, Lufthansa Technik, RWE, Boeing, GE-Alstom, BP and others.

Education

Panos holds a BEng Hons Degree in Aerospace Systems Engineering from Coventry University (1999), an MSc in Aerospace Vehicle Design from Cranfield University (2000) and a PhD in Performance investigations and systems architectures for the more electric aircraft, from Cranfield University (2005).

Teaching & Student Supervision

Panos has a long experience in the development and delivery of educational and taught programmes. He has been the module leader for several courses on thermodynamics and mechanical integrity of gas turbines. More than 1000 postgraduate students have attended his lectures, more than 500 engineers have attended his continuous development programmes and has supervised more than 100 MSc projects. He has also supervised 4 Masters by Research and 32 Phd researchers - currently supervising 9 PhD researchers.

Journal Editorial Boards and Reviewer

Panos is a member for the following editorial boards:

Guest Editor: MDPI Aerospace Special Issue on Gas Turbines and the Environment: Towards Net Zero Emissions

Guest Co-Editor: IET Electrical Systems in Transportation special issue

Guest Co-Editor: IEEE Electrification Magazine special issue

Guest Co-Editor: MDPI Aerospace special issue "Boundary Layer Ingesting Turbo-Electric Distributed Propulsion Systems—Innovations and Challenges"

Associate Editor, Transportation Emissions, Frontiers in Future Transportation

He is also acting as a reviewer for several journals including:  ASME Journal of Turbomachinery, ASME Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power, Elsevier Journal of Aerospace Science & Technology, Elsevier Journal of Applied Thermal Engineering, Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part G: Journal of Aerospace Engineering, Royal Aeronautical Society The Aeronautical Journal, AIAA Journal of Propulsion and Power.

Publications & Patents

Panos has published more than 70 international journal and conference papers. He is also the co-inventor of 2 patents with Rolls Royce.

Awards & Honours

IMEchE - Kenneth Harris James Prize for the best paper on an aerospace subject published by the IMEchE in 2013.

Research opportunities

Hybrid Electric Propulsion 

Aircraft Electrification

Zero Emissions Propulsion Systems

Propulsion and Power System Life Cycle Analysis 

Boundary Layer Ingestion

Aerodynamics of Distributed Propulsion

Highly Integrated Propulsion and Airframe Systems

Current activities

Head of Group – Hybrid Electric Propulsion: The Group focuses on the development and integration of novel, green and sustainable propulsion technologies that include electrification and highly integrated airframe and propulsion architectures.

Research on electrification of aircraft propulsion systems includes electric and hybrid technologies along with the development of integrated solutions that explore the synergies of closely coupling gas turbines with electrical systems and components including batteries, fuel cells, motors, generators, thermal management system, etc. Work focuses on identifying and developing enabling technologies as well as integrating, modelling and assessing architectures and integrated solutions at component, system, aircraft and mission level.

Research on novel configurations and aerodynamic integration focuses on the development and implementation of energy and exergy based methods for the modelling, design space exploration and assessment of novel configurations including BLI and distributed propulsion and wing tip propellers at installation, aircraft and mission level.

Director for Centre for Gas Turbine Diagnostics and Life Cycle Analysis: Leading multi-disciplinary and cross functional teams for the development and delivery of operational solutions used by gas turbine manufacturers, operators and maintenance organisations to manage their engines, powerplants and maintenance procedures. Research includes the development and implementation of gas turbine lifing methods and tools, health monitoring and diagnostics solutions, performance assessment methods, active engine life and degradation control strategies, fleet management and optimisation of maintenance scheduling. Industrial partners include Lufthansa Technik, RWE, Rolls Royce, Boeing, GE, Emirates, BP, Shell, Alstom-GE.

Sample Projects:

NASA Grant: Techno-economic, Environmental and Risk Assessment of N3-X concept, NASA NNX13AI78G

FlyEco - Horizon Europe Project 

Sublime: Supporting Understanding of BLI Model Experiment, Clean Sky 2,  https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/864803/reporting

Futrpint 50:  Future Propulsion & Integration towards a Hybrid Electric 50 seat regional aircraft, Horizon 2020,  https://www.futprint50.eu/about/project-overview

PINES: Powerplant Integration of Novel Engine Systems, Innovate UK/ATI, Rolls Royce, https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=113263

APROCONE: Advanced Product Concept Analysis Environment, Innovate UK/ATI, Airbus,  https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=113092

PIPS: Powerplant Integration with Platform Systems, Innovate UK/ATI, Rolls Royce, https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=113107

MegaFlight: Innovate UK/ATI, Rolls Royce,  https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=113182

Assessment of turbo-electric propulsion architectures for aircraft, EPSRC & Rolls Royce, https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-1819049

Industrial Gas Turbine Air System Modelling, RWE

Gas Turbine Hot Section Lifing, Lufthansa Technik

Gas Turbine Advance Diagnostics and Health Monitoring, Lufthansa Technik

BLI Assessment, GKN

Alternative Power Sources, BAE

Continuous Professional Development Programmes: Panos is the Director for the following CPD short courses:

Mechanical Integrity of Gas Turbines

Gas Turbine Technology for Operations and Maintenance Engineers

Fatigue & Fracture 

He has also developed and delivered customised in-house CPD programmes for Airbus, Safran, GE, US Navy, AIAA and Siemens.

Links to short courses:

Gas Turbine Technology for Operations and Maintenance Engineers

Mechanical Integrity of Gas Turbines.

Clients

Panos has been working closely and collaborating with several international organisations including: NASA, Airbus, BAE Systems, Safran, GKN, Embraer, Rolls Royce, Boeing, Lufthansa Technik, RWE, BP, Shell, Alstom GE, DLR, CEA France and others.

Advisory Boards & Technical Committee

Panos has been  a member in several national and international Advisory Boards and Technical Committees

  • Chair ASME Turbo-Expo Cycle Innovations Committee
  • AIAA Electrified Aircraft Technologies Technical Committee
  • Academic Forum Members (AMF) for Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking 
  • NATO, STO-AVT-333, ‘Integration of Propulsion, Power, and Thermal Subsystem Models into Air Vehicle Conceptual Design’
  • Aerospace Technology Institute - ATI  UK – Deputy Member Propulsion Specialist Advisory Group (2017-2019)
  • Aerospace Technology Institute - ATI  UK - Advisory Group for Centre of Electrification (2020-2021)
  • Group of Aeronautical Research & Technology in Europe (GARTEUR) Exploratory Group: Analysis and Decomposition of Forces Acting on Rotary Wings
  • NATO/AVT-ET-173 HyPAV exploratory team for Hybrid Electric Propulsion
  • Contributed to several ATI Amy Johnson Challenge Workshops

External Reviewer

  • Expert Reviewer for the Italian Ministry of University and Research under the Italian National Recovery and Resilience Plan and the topic of Climate Energy and Mobility
  • Reviewer for Italian National Agency for the Evaluation of Universities and Research Institutes
  • Reviewer for National Research Foundation of South Africa
  • Reviewer for the Helmholtz Association- Germany
  • Reviewer for Elsevier publishing – reviewer for book proposals

Conference Committees

  • Program Committee Member - More Electric Aircraft 2024 - 3AF & SEE
  • Technical Chair Electrified Aircraft Technologies, 2023 AIAA Science & Technology Forum and Exhibition
  • Track Chair, 2022 IEEE Transportation Electrification Conference and AIAA/IEEE Electric Aircraft Technologies Symposium - Track 6: Mission Operation: Energy, Cost, Emissions, Thermal Management
  • Topic Chair and Organising Committee for 2021AIAA-IEEE Electrified Aircraft Technologies Symposium
  • Organising Committee – 2020 AIAA-IEEE Electric Aircraft Technologies Symposium

Keynote Speaker, Invited Speaker and Panel Discussions:

  • Invited Speaker,  2021 - 7th Annual Electric Vehicle Event organised by the Edinburgh Napier Transport Research Institute, Glasgow, UK
  • Panel Moderator: Hydrogen in Aviation, 2020 AIAA-IEEE Electric Aircraft Technologies Symposium
  • Panel Member, 2019 - Foresight Aerospace: Sustainable Aviation and Urban Air Mobility Conference, Vision for Urban Air Mobility, London UK
  • Invited Speaker, 2019- SAE AeroTech Special Sessions: Business/Economics – Electrified Aircraft Propulsion Systems, Charleston  USA
  • Invited Speaker, 2019 - RAeS Loughborough Branch, UK
  • Invited Speaker, 2018 - RAeS Prestwick Branch, UK
  • Invited Speaker, 2018 - IMechE South Essex Area Branch, UK
  • Invited Speaker, 2018 - RAeS South-End, UK
  • Invited Speaker, 2017 - Distributed and Electrified Aircraft Propulsion- Siemens E-Aircraft Internal Technical Seminar, Munich, Germany
  • Invited Speaker, 2017 - SAE AeroTech Special Sessions: Business/Economics – Electrified Aircraft Propulsion Systems, Fort-Worth  USA
  • Keynote Speaker, 2017- World Congress for Condition Monitoring, London, UK
  • Invited Speaker, 2016 - ICAS Special Session on Hybrid-electric and Distributed Propulsion Aircraft, Daejeon, Korea
  • Invited Speaker, 2015 - Novel Electric Propulsion System Concepts for the International Bauhaus Luftfahrt Symposium, Munich, Germany
  • Invited Speaker, 2015 - SAE AeroTech Special Sessions: Business/Economics – Electrified Aircraft Propulsion Systems, Seattle, USA
  • Invited Speaker, 2014 - 4th UTIAS International Workshop on Aviation and Climate Change, Toronto, Canada

White Papers

Contributing Author - White Paper UK Defence Solutions: Cross-sector Innovation –Energising Defence Aviation Challenge (Strand 7)-CSI2-7-RP-7004-v1.

Publications

Articles In Journals

Conference Papers