Research Expertise
Engineering and ManufacturingThe following highlights our research expertise in this area:
Automotive Technologies:
Internal combustion engines; stirling engines; transportation systems;
combustion systems; dynamic behaviour of vehicles; anti-lock braking systems;
active control of suspensions; tyre pressure monitoring; automobile control
systems.
Bioengineering
Manufacture:
Artificial organ design and construction; hybrid artificial organs and
devices; medical implant design and evaluation.
Control Systems
and Instrumentation:
Design; development; simulation; modelling; implementation; systems for
manufacturing, marine, steel, aerospace and power generation environments;
discrete event manufacturing simulation; expert systems for use in manufacturing;
manufacturing inspection systems; ship control systems; rudder roll and
fin roll ship stabilisation; autopilots; ship positioning systems; underwater
remotely operated vehicles (ROV); submarines; robotic systems.
Design Management:
Design co-ordination; design for environment; design methods; design modularisation;
design processes; design re-use; mechatronics; performance improvement;
performance measurement and management; process modelling; process optimisation;
process re-engineering; product diversification; product modelling and
visualisation; team working.
Electrical Machines
and Drives:
Modelling and simulation of isolated electrical systems in marine
environments; determination of the suitability of materials for use in
marine electrical devices.
Fuzzy Modelling
and Control:
Theoretical studies; industrial control systems design and development;
development of relational fuzzy modelling techniques.
Image Engineering:
Holography; high-speed digital imaging techniques; volumetric imaging
by computer-generated display; anamorphic displays.
Inspection Systems:
Manufacturing inspection systems; ultrasonic transducer and array
design and development for non-destructive testing in manufacturing; machine
condition monitoring systems; 3D imaging system.
Machine Condition
Monitoring:
Developing new techniques for interpreting data to automate the process
of condition monitoring; examining new methods of incorporating condition
monitoring into organisations to maximise the benefits; tyre pressure
monitoring.
Machinery and
Mechanism Dynamics:
Structure isolation to suppress unwanted vibration; chaotic motion
of engineering system with dual periodic inputs; single engineering systems
with significant frictional effects.
Materials:
Strength; fatigue; fracture; welding residual stresses and distortion,
composites and glues.
Laser Anemometry:
Fluid flow investigations; natural heat convection in two and three dimensional
flows; optimisation of cyclone dust separators; flow through valves.
Manufacturing
Engineering:
Material-conversion technologies; bulk and sheet metal forming; concurrent
design and manufacture; economic and technical performance; CAE; simulation
of metal-forming processes, tools and presses using Finite Element method
and physical modelling techniques; integrated experimental and numerical
techniques; net-shape manufacturing; net-shape metal forming; tool/material
interaction; die-elasticity; influence of machine behaviour on component
accuracy; machine stiffness; temperature effects; novel metal-forming
processes; hydro-mechanical drawing and forming of tubular materials;
precision injection forging; rotary forging; metal forming with ultrasonic
tool excitation; obtaining ultra-fine grain structure by severe plastic
deformation; metal forming of microcomponents; micro-blanking; micro-forming;
micro-stamping; tools and presses for microforming; constitutive modelling
of metal flow and damage; impact behaviour of materials; neural networks.
Manufacturing
Management:
Benchmarking and business performance measurement; business improvement;
business process management, including modelling, elimination of waste;
complex systems design and development; e-business modelling; enterprise
modelling and integration; enterprise resource planning (ERP); lean and
just-in-time manufacturing management of teams; management of people performance;
managing complex systems; modelling and simulation; operations management,
planning and control; strategy management; performance measurement; plant
layout and factory organisation; supply chain management; technology management
and implementation; total quality management.
Marine Cable-Body
Dynamics:
Statics and dynamics of marine cables and cable-body systems with fixed
or variable cable length; towed bodies; lifting operations; pendulation
and motion control; dynamics of marine risers and riser bundles; cable
snapping and chaotic motions; poorly conditioned cable/pipe configuration
problems.
Mechanical Refrigeration
Technology:
Use of benign refrigerants; properties of non-ozone-depleting refrigerant
blends; flow/heat transfer of blends/oil mixtures in evaporators; natural
convection systems; heat and mass transfer; development of improved heat
exchanger design using vortex generators.
Membrane Technology:
Production techniques; gas separation; liquid effluent treatment; bioreactors;
animal cell culture production. Offshore Oil and Gas and Subsea Operations:
Pipelines; risers; moorings, umbilicals (including vibration, large oscillations,
clashing and coupled analysis)
Operations Engineering:
Separations materials; process control; micro reactor engineering.
Plastic Membrane
Mirrors:
Development of novel mirror systems; hologram generation; 3-D images
of solid objects; 3-D images from CAD/CAM.
Pressure Vessel
and Piping Design:
Design of pressure vessels; advanced computational mechanics; Europe-wide
survey of the needs of European pressurised equipment industry; case studies,
analysis and interpretation of the new code rules; development of new
codes and standards for pressure vessel 'design-by-analysis'; soil-tool
interaction; noise-induced fatigue problems; airborne, structure-borne
and fluid-borne noise from control valves; thermal effects in piping components.
Rapid Prototyping:
Virtual modelling; prototyping technologies; materials; new applications
such as archaeological and biomedical.
Ships and Offshore
Platforms:
Safety; risk control and decision support; Stability; structures; reliability;
resistance; manoeuvrability; wave loads, seakeeping, fire; evacuation;
hull form optimisation; corrosion; inspection planning and effectiveness;
high speed craft, port optimisation; marine rope condition monitoring
systems.
Structural Instrumentation
and 'Smart' Materials:
Structural sensing system; embedded technology; sensor array processing
and interpretation; responsive material systems.
Surface Support
for Subsea Activities:
Vessel selection; station-keeping and motion compensation; handling
systems; deployment, navigation, performance, control and positioning
of subsea units; automation of subsea inspection, repair and maintenance.
Thermofluids
Engineering:
Multiphase flow in pipeline systems; multi-phase flow melting; valve
erosion in multi-phase flow systems; gas dynamics and particle image velocimetry;
low-speed wind-tunnel; experimental and modelling of thermosyphon reboilers;
flow uncertainty determination; computational fluid dynamics; development
of ultrasonic techniques; flow visualisation and commercial display systems.
Departments and Specialist Centres:
These areas of research
represent the activities of a number of University Departments and Specialist
Centres including:
Bioengineering Unit
Chemical and
Process Engineering
Design Manufacture
and Engineering Management
Electronic
and Electrical Engineering
Industrial Control Centre
Mechanical Engineering
Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering
