Mechanical Engineering

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING Annual Review 2018 www.bath.ac.uk/mech-eng Welcome to the Annual Review 2018 by Professor Gary Lock, Head of Department Mechanical Engineering helps solve the world’s greatest for Mechanical Engineering with a wide range of events: challenges: it supports sustainability, and improves our health conventional and electric-powered motor racing; eco-challenge; and quality of life; it drives our economy, and creates wealth TT Zero; rockets and autonomous drones. and opportunity for everyone; it is the engine driving change This Annual Review will provide an overview of the breadth and responding to social challenges. There are two principal and diversity of teaching and research activities in the ambitions for our Department, both with the aim to provide a Department. The Institute for Advanced Automotive Propulsion bright, global future: generate world-class research and produce Systems is a new £60M global centre of excellence, delivering graduates of the highest quality. Clearly these ambitions require transformational research and innovation into advanced the full diversity of talent and widest opportunity, starting at propulsion systems. A new £5.9M Supergen Bioenergy Hub will primary education and rising to the top levels of decision- research methods to reduce carbon emissions. Professor Linda making and leadership. Newnes, the first female Professor in 52 years of Mechanical Success in terms of nurturing talent within our Department Engineering at Bath, is leading a £1.8M EPSRC grant aimed has been recognised through the Athena SWAN Bronze (2016) at designing the engineers of the future. Read inside: Minerva and Silver Awards (May 2018). Our widening-participation Owls, electricity in Uganda, turbomachinery, ocean waves, and activities to schools help raise awareness of mechanical and Autosport Williams Engineer of the Future Award. Finally, engineering and that it is a career path open to everyone. Our graduate employability remains excellent. There has been outreach has even extended to the Winter Olympics, with a sustained interest from engineering companies offering Dom Parsons (one of our PhD students and undergraduate opportunities to our graduates and the number of Mechanical from this Department) securing a bronze in the skeleton event. Engineering students on industrial placement has doubled in Our competition teams continue to be excellent ambassadors just five years. Contents RESEARCH DEPARTMENT NEWS IAAPS - Exciting new facility 2 Winter Olympic success 4 Platform Grant - EPSRC 3 Industrial Placement News 7 FELDSPAR project 3 Transforming Curriculum 8 Supergen Bioenergy Hub 3 Student Awards 10 Project DHarma Grant 3 Academic Staff Prizes 12 Olympic skates 4 Athena Swan - Silver Award 12 Turbomachinery Centre 4 New Engineering Business 12 Uganda Research Trip 5 Management programmes Minerva Owls 5 Professor Topolov 5 STUDENT COMPETITIONS Laster Acoustic Imaging 6 Launch of Bath Rocket Team 6 CONFERENCES Bath Drones Team 8 Luna Project 8 PhD Student prize winners 10 Hydrocon Team success 9 Biomechanics Symposium 10 Martins Zalmans F1 winner 9 ICDC 2018 10 Conference attendance 11 Faculty of Engineering & Design Annual Review 2018 New £60 million automotive facility - The Institute Professor Chris Brace for Advanced Automotive Propulsion Systems The Institute for Advanced Automotive Propulsion Systems (IAAPS) will be a global centre of excellence, delivering transformational research and innovation into advanced propulsion systems. Located at the Bristol and Bath Science Park, it will lead the development of future generations of ultra-low emission vehicles and attract sector- related businesses to the region, generating economic growth. IAAPS is scheduled to open in early 2020. The Institute will exploit the engineering expertise of the University of Bath for the benefit of the UK’s automotive industry. IAAPS will stimulate over £67m in additional automotive research investment by 2025, creating an additional turnover of £800 million for the UK automotive sector and supporting nearly 1,900 new highly productive jobs. Global companies, including McLaren, Ford, Jaguar Land Rover, Hofer Powertrain and HORIBA Group, as well as more local businesses such as HiETA Technologies, have been key to the success of the IAAPS concept. The support and advocacy of the Automotive Council and the Professor Chris Brace stated “Another future challenge is the worrying Advanced Propulsion Centre, alongside the support of the University’s and marked skills gap of advanced automotive engineers coming Industrial Partners will continue to play a key role as the vision through the system. IAAPS will build on our already well-established becomes reality. links with real-world industry to help address this.” Specialist facilities will make IAAPS a centre of excellence for training Professor Sam Akehurst, who heads up the current PhD offering at and skills development in automotive engineering, supporting new Bath, explains: “Compared to a lot of other universities, our PhDs get Apprenticeships, Honours Degrees, Masters and Doctoral courses, access to really relevant and often very challenging industrial problems helping to address the engineering skills shortage facing the UK rather than ‘academic problems’ per se. In terms of where they progress, automotive sector. we’ve seen excellent employment statistics with individuals working IAAPS will also support the development of a much larger and more in senior positions with influential industry partners. IAAPS will be competitive automotive business cluster in the South West by providing a scale up of what we’re doing currently and there’s a huge appetite access to its state-of-the art facilities to regional start-ups and small to for this. We’re getting more requests from companies for training or medium-sized companies. upskilling – and that primarily is through a PhD.” President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Bath, Professor Many of our PhD and MSc students will move directly into Dame Glynis Breakwell said: “I am delighted that IAAPS has received employment with organisations that supported their research during the support and backing of the Government. The University of Bath has their projects. 92 per cent of Bath alumni in mechanical engineering over 40 years of automotive research excellence in collaboration with are in employment or further study six months after leaving us. some of the world’s leading companies and is ideally placed to turn this Scaled up at through IAAPS, this training model will be a win-win for opportunity into a reality. UK automotive and for our students. “I look forward to this fantastic facility opening its doors in 2020, “It’s a truly exciting time to be involved in automotive research here at helping to ensure the UK maintains and expands its global position the University of Bath”, Professor Brace said. within the automotive sector.” “Our plans for IAAPS will dramatically help to push forward new Graham Hoare, Director of Global vehicle evaluation and verification at research with the potential for significant impacts advances in the area Ford Motor Company, commented: “IAAPS will build on the strength of low vehicle emissions in the years ahead. of the University of Bath’s competence in propulsion development The IAAPS project has now progressed to Design Development (RIBA to bring real world examples and real world environments into the Stage 3) and a procurement process is underway for the major research laboratory, a massive step forward in innovating propulsion systems.” equipment. Gavin Edwards has taken up the role of Programme Mark Mathieson, Chief Engineer Powertrain at McLaren Automotive, Director and will be joined by a newly appointed Project Manager added: “The window of opportunity to invest in this facility exists now. and Automotive Test Systems Lead Engineer in the coming months. The Institute will be of great benefit to McLaren’s programmes.” Construction works are expected to begin in August 2018”. 2 www.bath.ac.uk/mech-eng Annual Review 2018 £5.9m FEC Supergen Bioenergy Hub Grant Dr Marcelle McManus As part of our global and national commitments to decreasing carbon development, industrialists in developing more cost-effective bioenergy emissions it is important that we make efficient use of our resources. solutions, and society in being confident that research is accelerating Dr Marcelle McManus is part of the new Supergen Bioenergy Hub low-carbon, resilient and sustainable bioenergy systems. (2018- 2022) and the funding from that will enable her and her team Pictured below: Seaweed with plastic waste - left and sugar cane - right. to create and model ways in which we can generate energy effectively Both of which can be turned into bioenergy. from biomass. This Hub brings together leading UK bioenergy research groups to develop sustainable bioenergy systems that support the UK’s transition to an affordable, resilient, low-carbon energy future. It will create novel ways to break down varying types of biomass to produce energy as well as exploring how to optimise the use of the resource we have. The Hub will support UK policy makers in ensuring they design mechanisms that facilitate sustainable bioenergy Mechanical Engineering win £1.8m EPSRC Grant Professor Linda Newnes The Department has been awarded £1.8m by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) to establish a world leading research group aimed at designing the engineers of the future. Led by Professor Linda Newnes, of

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