Faculty of Engineering and Design. Research Review

STUDENTS AND ACADEMICS - This publication introduces you to the department or school and then each faculty member’s research areas, research applications, and their most recent activities. A comprehensive index can be found at the back of this publication to help guide you by specific areas of interest, as well as point out interdisciplinary topics and researchers. INDUSTRY LEADERS - This publication includes information regarding specific facilities, labs, and research areas of departments and schools as well as individual faculty members and researchers. A comprehensive index can be found at the back of this publication to help guide you by specific areas of interest, as well as point out interdisciplinary topics and researchers

Digital twins for condition and fleet monitoring of aircraft: towards more-intelligent electrified aviation systems

The convergence of Information Technology (IT), Operational Technology (OT), and Educational Technology (ET) has led to the emergence of the fourth industrial revolution. As a result, a new concept has emerged known as Digital Twins (DT), which is defined as "a virtual representation of various objects or systems that receive data from physical objects/systems to make changes and corrections”. In the aviation industry, numerous attempts have been made to utilize DT in the design, manufacturing, and condition monitoring of aircraft fleets. Among these research efforts, real-time, accurate, fast, and predictive condition monitoring methods play a crucial role in ensuring the safe and efficient performance of aircraft. Using DT for condition and fleet monitoring not only enhances the reliability and safety of aircraft but also reduces operational and maintenance costs. In this paper, the conducted studies on the applications of DT systems for condition monitoring of aircraft units and the aerospace sector are discussed and reviewed. The aim of this review paper is to analyse the current developments of DT systems in the aviation industry as well as explain the remaining challenges of DT systems. Then Finally, future trends of DT systems along with aircraft are presented. Among reviewed papers, most of them have used computational fluid dynamics, finite element methods, and artificial intelligence techniques for developing DT models for aircraft. At the same time, most of these analyses are dedicated to the failure and crack detection body of aircraft as well as engine fault detection. Life prediction is another popular application for using DT in aircraft units that could help the engineers predict the maintenance required for different parts of the aircraft. Finally, the application of DT in marine, power systems, and space programs has been also reviewed and the lessons learned from them have been translated to the aviation sector

Raynaud's phenomenon of occupational origin

Many industrial processes are using hand -held vibratory tools and grinding operations in which there is increasing vibration energy entering the hands and arms of operators. The vibration stimulus causes digital artery changes giving rise to Raynaud's Phenomenon of Occupational Origin.The serious nature of this hazard came to the author's attention in chain saw,, forestry workers around 1965 -68 when the saw usage time, and therefore the vibration exposure time, increased from 1 -1z hours to 52 -6 hours per day for 5 days per week, resulting in a prevalence of vibration -induced white finger (VWF) of over 90% in one forest in Norfolk.From 1968 to 1976, the period covered by this Thesis, an epidemiological study of 18 work situations (1283 vibration exposed subjects and controls) has been carried out to define the extent of VWF in industry and to assess its severity. At the same time a team of physicists and engineers measured the vibration characteristics of these work processes, the object being to relate the prevalence rates of VWF, the latent intervals (time interval between vibration exposure and the appearance of the first white finger tip), and Stage assessments (severity) to the vibration spectra, thus establishing damage risk criteria. With the help of this survey data, as opposed to limits obtained from subjective comfort responses, a British Standard Draft Proposal (1975) for hand -arm vibration has been issued mainly to act as a guide to hand -held vibratory tool manufacturers and to prevent the complications of VWF such as finger tip tissue necrosis from arising following long -term vibration exposure. A suggested Code of Practice is described. The difficult question whether to accept Raynaud's phenomenon of occupational origin as a Prescribed Disease is discussed.Raynaud's phenomenon arising from chain saw operation has not been reported since anti -vibration treatment of the chain saw introduced by Forestry Commission in 1970. No new case of VWF has been found after six years of A/V saw usage. On the other hand pneumatic tool users still constitute a high risk VWF area despite the fairly long latent interval (6 -7 years compared with 2 -3 years for chain saws). Measurement of vibration and the energy entering the hands of pneumatic tool operators (grip force) have proved difficult both from the instrumentation (destruction of accelerometers) and standardisation of method. Further medical surveys of pneumatic tool operators with measurement of the vibration characteristics of these percussive tools are required to establish scientifically based damage risk criteria. Such work is being actively pursued in Britain (Universities of Dundee and Salford) and surveys are being planned with the author for chippers and grinders using pneumatic tools in foundries in the United States of America.Despite considerable efforts to find an objective test which would establish the diagnosis of Raynaud's phenomenon and its degree of severity other than by the subject's own description of VWF attacks, no single reliable field test has been devised on an individual basis. All the established tests quoted in the literature, heating and cooling of the digits, plathysmography, vibro- tactile threshold levels and neurological tests (light touch, pain and temperature) - will differentiate, at a significant level, differences between vibration exposed populations and controls. All fail, however, on an individual basis. The long term solution lies in prospective surveys as opposed to the retrospective surveys described in this Thesis

Mining Technologies Innovative Development

The present book covers the main challenges, important for future prospects of subsoils extraction as a public effective and profitable business, as well as technologically advanced industry. In the near future, the mining industry must overcome the problems of structural changes in raw materials demand and raise the productivity up to the level of high-tech industries to maintain the profits. This means the formation of a comprehensive and integral response to such challenges as the need for innovative modernization of mining equipment and an increase in its reliability, the widespread introduction of Industry 4.0 technologies in the activities of mining enterprises, the transition to "green mining" and the improvement of labor safety and avoidance of man-made accidents. The answer to these challenges is impossible without involving a wide range of scientific community in the publication of research results and exchange of views and ideas. To solve the problem, this book combines the works of researchers from the world's leading centers of mining science on the development of mining machines and mechanical systems, surface and underground geotechnology, mineral processing, digital systems in mining, mine ventilation and labor protection, and geo-ecology. A special place among them is given to post-mining technologies research

Active thermography for the investigation of corrosion in steel surfaces

The present work aims at developing an experimental methodology for the analysis of corrosion phenomena of steel surfaces by means of Active Thermography (AT), in reflexion configuration (RC). The peculiarity of this AT approach consists in exciting by means of a laser source the sound surface of the specimens and acquiring the thermal signal on the same surface, instead of the corroded one: the thermal signal is then composed by the reflection of the thermal wave reflected by the corroded surface. This procedure aims at investigating internal corroded surfaces like in vessels, piping, carters etc. Thermal tests were performed in Step Heating and Lock-In conditions, by varying excitation parameters (power, time, number of pulse, ….) to improve the experimental set up. Surface thermal profiles were acquired by an IR thermocamera and means of salt spray testing; at set time intervals the specimens were investigated by means of AT. Each duration corresponded to a surface damage entity and to a variation in the thermal response. Thermal responses of corroded specimens were related to the corresponding corrosion level, referring to a reference specimen without corrosion. The entity of corrosion was also verified by a metallographic optical microscope to measure the thickness variation of the specimens

NASA Tech Briefs, February 1991

Topics: New Product Ideas; NASA TU Services; Electronic Components and Circuits; Electronic Systems; Physical Sciences; Materials; Computer Programs; Mechanics; Machinery; Fabrication Technology; Mathematics and Information Sciences; Life Sciences

Selected Papers from 2020 IEEE International Conference on High Voltage Engineering (ICHVE 2020)

The 2020 IEEE International Conference on High Voltage Engineering (ICHVE 2020) was held on 6–10 September 2020 in Beijing, China. The conference was organized by the Tsinghua University, China, and endorsed by the IEEE Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Society. This conference has attracted a great deal of attention from researchers around the world in the field of high voltage engineering. The forum offered the opportunity to present the latest developments and different emerging challenges in high voltage engineering, including the topics of ultra-high voltage, smart grids, and insulating materials