Collaborative discussions with United Arab Emirates University

As a result of initially being invited to present at the Energy Security collaboration event in Qatar, in Nov. 2011 (sponsored by the British Council), Professor Bingham is now meeting with senior representatives of the United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) in Al-Ain (Abu-Dhabi) to discuss strategic collaborative research opportunities, joint conference organisation, and post-graduate and […]

Partners on the EU FP7 Advanced Airship project: Engys

Organization: Engys Ltd Short name: Engys

 

General Description

Engys specialise in the application, development and support of CFD and optimisation software for industry. En- gys is a group of engineers and software developers with more than 10 year experience each in management and delivery of CAE solutions across various industrial sectors, including automotive, aerospace, built environments, consumer products and others. Extensive experience (+10 years) in the use of OPENFOAM and many other commercial CAE codes, such as Fluent, CFX, StarCCM+, Star-CD, ANSA, ICEM-CFD, CATIA, SolidWorks, Ensight, Paraview, etc. Strong background on CFD for low speed external aerodynamics. Engys methods are fully suitable to calculate the aerodynamic response of the cruiser/feeder concept operating at low Mach numbers in low density air. Extensive experience (+8 years) in the application of multi-disciplinary optimisation tech- niques using commercial and Open Source tools (e.g. modeFRONTIER, DAKOTA), including: Design Of Ex- periments (DOE), Optimisation algorithms, Sensitivity/Statistical Analysis, Robust design and reliability design (uncertainty quantification), Surrogate and regression models for prediction and data mining, Development of a native solver in OPENFOAM for Adjunct topology and shape optimisation, including determination of surface sensitivities based on predefined objective cost functions.

Main related expertise

Paolo Geremia MSc, Paolo received his Laurea Magistrale degree in Mechanical Engineering from University of Trieste in 2002. From 2002 to 2010 Paolo worked at ESTECO Srl, developers and resellers of the multi- disciplinary optimisation code modeFRONTIER. Paolo has extensive experience in process integration, optimi- sation, meta-modelling and application of multiple CAE tools for industrial scale applications.

Dipl-Ing. Thomas Schumacher MSc, Thomas received his Dipl.-Ing. degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Technische Universität Berlin. He further received an MSc degree with distinction in Aerospace Dynamics from Cranfield University in 2002. From 2002 to 2009 Thomas carried out extensive CFD analysis for the Environ- mental Control System department at Airbus in Hamburg, including 5 years working onsite.

Dr. Andrew Jackson PhD MSc DIC, Andrew received his BEng in Aeronautical Engineering from University of Manchester, UK in 1991. He later received his Msc and PhD in Numerical Analysis and Applied Mathematics from the same institution in 1995. Andrew also pursued a post-doctorate from Imperial College (1999). Over the past 15 years he has been heavily involved in the fields of aerospace aerodynamics and development of CFD mesh generation methods, including extensive work for Airbus UK.

MAAT EU FP7 Advanced Airship who’s who? – Taganrog Technological Institute Southern Federal University, Russia

Organization: Taganrog Technological Institute Southern Federal University, Russia. Short name: SFEDU

General Description

At present SFEDU, the legal successor of Rostov State University comprises Technological, Pedagogical and Architecture Institutes, 36 faculties, 23 branches, 70 Research units. Sedum has 2 campuses in Rostov and Ta- ganrog. The academic and research staff includes 4 Full members of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 2 Asso- ciates of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 4 Associates of the Russian Academy of Education, 400 Professors and Doctors of Science, 1525 Candidates, 26 State Prizewinners and 17 Honorary Scientists of RF. Many SFedU alumni have become outstanding figures in their respective fields and include the Nobel Prize Winner – Alexan- der Solzhenitsyn, Full Members of the Academy of Science of RF, heads of state bodies, industry and research organizations, remarkable researchers and academics of foreign universities. SFedU has well-established interna- tional links with more than 300 universities and institutes from 50 countries.

Main related expertise

Vjacheslav Pshikhopov – Ph.D. of Control Engineering (1997), DSc of Control Engineering (2009). He is re- cipient of 10 grants of Russian Foundation of Basic Research and Ministry of Education of Russian Federation in field of theory and design methods of nonlinear multi‐linked control systems for vehicles. He is director of pro- jects on vehicle and airship control systems design for Ministry of Defense of Russian Federation, Russian De- fense Export, Aerospace agency of China. He is author of 100 scientific publications. Experience in field of pro- jects is 30 year.

Mikhail Medvedev – Ph.D. of Control Engineering (1999). He is recipient of grants of Russian Foundation of Basic Research and Ministry of Education. Field of experience is adaptive and robust control for nonlinear multi‐linked systems, control systems for power grids. He is author of 90 scientific publications. Experience in field of projects is 15 year.

Vladimir Kostjukov – Ph.D. of Electrical Engineering (2006). Field of experience is electrodynamics, power saving, aerodynamics, hydrodynamics, computational dynamic of continuum, programs for computational dy- namic of continuum (ANSYS Fluent, CFX, SolidWorks). He is author of 20 scientific publications. Experience in field of projects is 8 year.

Related publications (others related publications in attachment): Pshikhopov V.Kh. Medvedev M.Yu. Structural Design of the Control System for Mobile Robots with Distur- bances Estimation // FACTA UNIVERSITATIS. Series: Automatic Control and Robotics Vol. 7, No 1, 2008, pp. 111 – 120. Pshikhopov V.Kh. Medvedev M. Y., Sirotenko M.Y., Kostjukov V.A. Control System Design for Robotic Air- ship // Preprints of the 9‐th IFAC Symposium on Robot Control. Gifu, Japan. September 9 – 12, 2009. Pp. 123 – 128.

Anatoly Gaiduk – Ph.D. of Control Engineering (1970), DSc of Control Engineering (1987). He is recipient of grants of Russian Foundation of Basic Research and Ministry of Education. Field of experience is control theory, stability, invariance, optimal control, estimation. He is author of 170 scientific publications. Experience in field of projects is 47 year.

Related publication: Gaiduk A.R. «Selecting the Feedback in a Control System of Minimum Complexity» // Automation and Remote Control. V. 51. No 5. Part 1, 1990. P. 593–601.

MAAT EU FP7 Advanced Airship who’s who? – University of Hertfordshire

The EU FP7 project – MAAT Multibody Advanced Airship for Transport kicks off on 1st September 2011. Here’s another participant in the project, The University of Hertfordshire Dept. Aeronautical Engineering

Organization: University of Hertfordshire UK

General Description

Aeronautical Engineering research at the University of Hertfordshire draws upon a great heritage going back to the original establishment of Hatfield Technical College by de Havilland Aircraft Company in 1951. The re- search areas in the School range from advanced computational modelling and simulation to experimental testing using large scale facilities. The typical research areas include Applied Aerodynamics in UH which is focused on the use of experimental and numerical aerodynamic techniques to understand and exploit fluid mechanics in real aerospace applications. There is ongoing research funded by EPSRC and industry in the field of renewable en- ergy that includes wind energy, wave energy, bio-fuels and fuel cell technology. Excellent design and manufac- turing capabilities such rapid prototyping are available to undertake product design and development assign- ments. Experimental facilities include 5 wind tunnels that offer testing facilities from low speed to supersonic wind tunnels, flight simulator, nanotester and SEM.

Main related expertise

Dr Rajnish Kaur Calay. Dr Calay is a Reader in Energy Systems and group leader of SET research group. She obtained her PhD in Applied Energy from Cranfield University in 1994 and joined the University of Hertford- shire in 1995. Current research interests are energy conservation, Alternative Energy sources, Fuel Cells and hy- drogen technologies. Dr Calay has been lead investigator of several EPSRC, EU and industrially funded research projects. She has participated as a work package leader in FLIE FP5 and SHIPMATES FP6 project. She was the section leader of Cost action on Industrial ventilation. She has been co-supervisor on other two projects develop- ing wind wave energy systems in collaboration with Thames Water and the EPSRC.

Related publications (others related publications in attachment): Bhinder, F. , Calay, R, Mustafa M, and Al-Zubaidy, S.N.(2009) , Feasibility Study of a fuel Cell& Turbo Power Plant for Aircraft Propulsion, European Air and Space Conference,. 26-29 October, 2009, Manchester, UK. F.Bhinder, M.Yajid Mustafa, M S Y Ebaid, R.K. Calay: Parametric study of the fuel cell-gas turbine combined cycle power plant Proceedings of TURBO EXPO 2006: ASME TURBO EXPO 2006 Power for Land, Sea & Air May 14-17, 2006 – Barcelona, Spain

Dr Yong Chen. Dr Chen is the subject group leader in Smart Technology and Condition Monitoring. He gained a BEng and an MSc from Taiyuan University of Technology followed by a PhD from the University of Birming- ham. Having been a post doctor research fellow in airplane structure at the Queen Mary and Westfield College he was appointed as a lecturer in materials and structures at the University of Hertfordshire. One of main areas of his expertise lies in his inter-disciplinary ability to combine linear and nonlinear Finite Element Analysis with Materials and structural integrity. Other research areas include smart materials, polymer nano-composites, sur- face engineering, renewable energy and storage systems, and manufacturing modelling and integrity of self- pierce riveting structures.

Related publications (others related publications in attachment): R. Vishwakarma, D. Turner, Dr. A. Lewis, Dr. Y. Chen, Dr. P. Houghton and Dr. Y. Xu, Load Reconstruction on a Missile Structure Using the Pseudo-Inverse Methods, International Journal of Modelling, Identification and Control, accepted in April 2010. Lei Wang, Yong Kang Chen, William Tiu and Eigen Xu, Simulation of near-tip crack behaviour and its correla- tion to fatigue crack growth with a modified strip-yield model, International Journal of Modelling, Identification and Control, 5, 77 (2008).

Modifications to Lotus Free-Piston engine complete

The free-piston engine at Lotus waiting for collection

Our free piston engine has had it’s major modifications completed by Lotus and is now ready for one of us to go over to Norwich and pick it up. The engine has had a new 25kW linear motor/generator fitted. When we get it back to our labs in Lincoln, Control Techniques will be coming over to re-commission the electrical system and load dynamometer. After this we will be continuing our research into novel combustion strategies and power plants for hybrid electric vehicles.