Powered by OpenAIRE graph
Found an issue? Give us feedback

Swansea University

Swansea University

998 Projects, page 1 of 200
  • Funder: UK Research and Innovation Project Code: GR/T03369/02

    For optimal design of engineering structures it is important to consider uncertainties in specifying system parameters, boundary conditions and applied loading. In safety-based optimal design the effect of uncertainties are explicitly considered at the design stage, which is not the case in conventional design methods. Failure to consider uncertainty can lead to unreliable, uneconomical and even unsafe products, proving costly to the industries, and indeed to the economy in general. This proposal outlines a five-year work-programme aimed at the development of safety-based optimal design tools for engineering structures subjected to a wide range of dynamic loading. The methods available to handle uncertainties in structural dynamics can be broadly divided into two groups: (a) the methods applicable for low-frequency vibration (e.g., Finite Element (FE) method) and (b) methods applicable for high-frequency vibration (e.g., Statistical Energy Analysis (SEA)). The developments of these two groups of methods have tended to take place independently with little overlap between them. Up until now there is no method suitable for mid-frequency vibration, which is important in many application areas, for example, in aerospace and automotive industries. The proposed research will bridge this gap by going from the 'low-frequency end' to the 'high-frequency end' and the new methods will be integrated with the optimal design process. The overall outcome of the project will be numerically and experimentally validated unified design tools that can be used to optimally design dynamic engineering structures meeting a priori prescribed safety targets. Proposed work would also integrate the newly developed tools with existing industry standard design tools (commercial FE software) so that it can be incorporated easily within the existing design facilities without significant additional investments. The benefits of probabilistic design methods are yet to be fully appreciated in many industrial sectors and the success of the proposed project will be a motivation to move away from the paradigm of traditional safety factor based design philosophy.

    more_vert
  • Funder: UK Research and Innovation Project Code: 2886087

    Background: ProColl is a supplier of bovine and recombinant collagen for application within medical devices, cell culture, tissue engineering, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics. The company was founded as a spin out from Swansea University in 2018 to bring to market the improved scale production of collagen with exceptional quality and purity. The company then developed techniques to produce recombinant collagen to answer the market need for animal free collagen that is more biocompatible, ethically robust and removes the risk of interspecies transfer of disease. Collagen is the most abundant protein within the human body and plays a central role in the maintenance and repair of all organs and tissues. Collagen has a structural role as the glue that anchors and houses cells within the extracellular matrix of tissues. Thus, it is one of the most industrially important proteins with applications as a functional, structural material in medicine, cosmetics, and food. Within medicine and cell research collagen is predominantly used as a gel or a coating; the collagen is used to coat cell culture materials to allow adhesion and subsequent development of the cells. Through collaboration with Swansea University, ProColl currently produce recombinant human Type I collagen molecules with the view to expand this to other collagen types. The research of the project will develop advanced materials in the form of new recombinant collagen materials and novel collagen formulations that are optimised for the coating of surfaces and application within cell culture, tissue engineering and wound healing. The recombinant collagen will be produced through fermentation in a sustainable process that removes the need for bovine sources and their accompanying impact on the environment. In addition, alternative raw materials for the fermentation will be investigated to further improve sustainability. The collagen surfaces will be characterised in terms of coating film morphology, biocompatibility and mechanical resilience using advanced techniques including atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, dynamic and fatigue testing systems, and cell culture. The project will examine different coating methods such as layer by layer, lyophilisation, spray coating, casting and electrospinning to control the morphology and functionality of the collagen coatings. Project Aims: The outcomes of the project will be the creation of new and improved processes for the manufacture of recombinant collagen. A range of novel surface coatings will be developed that are optimised for application within research and medicine. The research needed to achieve these outcomes will provide comprehensive and novel insights into collagen materials which is of interest to the academic community and will be published. The research will also be disseminated at key international conferences. ProColl will commercialise the new processes and products creating industrial impact and benefit to Welsh and UK economies.

    more_vert
  • Funder: UK Research and Innovation Project Code: 2822973

    Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.

    more_vert
  • Funder: UK Research and Innovation Project Code: 2865071

    Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.

    more_vert
  • Funder: UK Research and Innovation Project Code: 2885878

    Background: Satellite Navigation, often referred to as Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), is a key technology in the 21st century, underpinning numerous industries and playing a vital role in Aerospace applications. Despite its many benefits, GNSS is increasingly vulnerable to hostile interference (jamming) and this poses a significant risk to commercial activities, critical industries and defence applications. The most common form of GNSS jamming protection is the use of phased array antennas to steer antenna nulls towards jammers (as well as antenna beams to satellites) which result in lower received jamming power. The success of these technologies is limited by the large sizes required to implement them. Typically, GNSS anti-jam antennas require multiple antennas separated by approximately half the wavelength (approximately 10cm) and this quickly results in large subsystems that are difficult to integrate into wider systems. Reducing the inter-element spacing results in negative consequences to the performance of the antenna system; typically by increasing the mutual coupling between antenna elements. The use of meta-surfaces has the potential to reduce the mutual coupling of antenna elements and thus allow GNSS Anti-jam antennas to be produced with a much smaller overall footprint. This would unlock the capability to implement the systems in smaller space envelopes (e.g. autonomous cars) but also allow more elements to be installed within a given area which could increase resultant anti-jam performance. Alongside improvements to the RF characteristics of an antenna, the novel design and use of materials/functional coatings can improve the overall RF characteristics of a larger platform/vehicle. In the context of GNSS Anti-jam for aerospace applications, the RF energy from the jammers reaches the GNSS subsystem via non-line-of-sight propagation methods such as surface waves and diffraction. For an airborne vehicle, specific coatings may be able to reduce the impact of these propagation modes. Company Background: MBDA is jointly owned by Airbus (37.5%), BAE Systems (37.5%) and Leonardo (25%). In summary: - it is a world forerunner in missiles and missile systems. In total, the group offers a range of 45 missile systems and countermeasures products already in operational service and more than 15 others currently in development. - it is the only European group capable of designing and producing missiles and missile systems that correspond to the full range of current and future operational needs of the three armed forces (land, sea and air). - it is an example of European defence industrial collaboration, with a strong presence in 5 European countries. Within the UK, MBDA is a key partner to the UK Government and Armed Forces; and a major component in the UK Defence and Aerospace industry. Project Description: The aim of the project is to explore different techniques to apply meta-surfaces to GNSS antennas (and RF antennas more widely) to address the integration issues that large arrays have on industrial and aerospace applications. Different meta-surfaces will be explored to assess their relative suitability for use with GNSS signals and other key RF subsystems such as communication and guidance sensors. The desired outcome will be the identification, design and proof of concept of a meta-surface integrated within a GNSS antenna array that demonstrates improved performance at small inter-element spacing's compared to conventional antenna arrays. The project will have the ability to explore opportunistic research avenues that emerge throughout the project duration. Research into functional coatings and materials that can reduce or dampen phenomena such as surface waves is one such example. The desired outcome from this will be innovative techniques to reduce the overall RF power received at an RF subsystem in an (e.g.) airborne platform.

    more_vert

Do the share buttons not appear? Please make sure, any blocking addon is disabled, and then reload the page.

Content report
No reports available
Funder report
No option selected
arrow_drop_down

Do you wish to download a CSV file? Note that this process may take a while.

There was an error in csv downloading. Please try again later.