• Publications

Research

Aerospace Engineering

The Aerospace Engineering related research activities are in two broad areas: Structural and Aerodynamics. The Structural activities are particularly related to the use of the Finite Element Method to study composite structures. The Aerodynamic activities are essentially experimental.

Manufacturing Engineering & Management

Manufacturing Engineering related activities include studies into conventional and advanced machining technologies, rapid prototyping in product development and the optimum cutting of parts of irregular shape from materials of irregular shape. Manufacturing management related research includes activities such as shared-CIM production, concurrent engineering, life cycle engineering, organisational structures and fuzzy scheduling systems.

Mechanical Engineering

The Mechanical Engineering related research activities are in two broad areas: Applied Mechanics and Thermal & Fluids Engineering. The Applied Mechanics related research areas can be broadly grouped into Solid Mechanics activities and Vibration & Acoustics activities while the Thermal & Fluids Engineering related research areas can be grouped into Computational Fluid Dynamics activities, Solar Energy activities, IC engine activities and Refrigeration & Air Conditioning activities.

Mechatronic Engineering

The research in Mechatronics is diverse. It can be broadly categorised into two groups: Robotics, both mobile and manipulative, and Mechatronics for Manufacturing Processes. Among mobile robotic platforms are multiple intelligent agents, underwater robots, wheelchairs and autonomous agricultural vehicles. The Computational Mechanics and Robotics research group is currently working on many areas of research including autonomous UAV control, micro UAV development, composite material analysis and research into flapping wings. Under manufacturing processes, precision machining of optical fibres to produce micro-lenses and other profiles for sensor technologies is notable. Force control and visual tracking is used in automation of production processes, namely shear spinning.

Naval Architecture

The Naval Architecture related research activities are in two broad areas: Structural and Hydrodynamic. Activities in the Hydrodynamic area involve the computer modelling of high-speed catamarans and determining the wave loading on ships.