Recent News
Welcome to the department news page, listed here are items of current news relating to the department in general. Older news stories will be moved to the Archived news pages. Also of possible interest are the student views page and the research specific news page.
Boeing prizes and scholarship awarded to Aerospace Engineering students
Mark Hazzard and Chris Booth, who both graduated with 1st class MEng degrees in July 2011, have both been awarded £500 prizes for their final year project entitled, "An investigation into the feasibility of reducing environmental impact of short-haul aviation in North America". Their project was a joint activity between Aerospace Engineering (Dr Mark Lowenberg) and the School of Chemistry (Dr Dudley Shallcross), and sought to quantify aviation emissions and assess their influence on atmospheric chemistry, in particular that of NOx on ozone production in the troposphere. Mark is currently at Rolls-Royce where he has joined the graduate development scheme, while Chris is currently travelling in Canada.
Nicholas Vitale, a recent graduate (February 2012) of the MSc in Integrated Aerospace Systems and Design was also awarded a £500 prize for his project entitled, "The Dynamic Testing and evaluation of Titanium Graphite hybrid Laminates (TiGR)". In his project, Nick developed an innovative technique to simulate fatigue loading on novel Titanium Graphite hybrid laminates for aerospace applications. The technique is based on resonance tests with amplitude and frequency tracking, and allows for a significant reduction in the costs associated with traditional accelerated fatigue techniques. With his state-of-the-art technique, Nick has managed to initiate fatigue cracks and failure of specimens that has not been done before on such laminates. Nick is now working for Airbus in Bristol.
Nicholas Metaxas, currently in his third year of studies on the MEng degree programme has been awarded a final year scholarship worth £3,000. Nicholas is an outstanding student with an exemplary academic record. He has consistently performed at the very top of his peer group, and in all three years has averaged over 80% with an extremely high set of first class marks. In his third year, Nicholas studied abroad for the year and was awarded a GPA of 3.97 from Purdue University as well as being placed on the Dean's List. Whatever he chooses to do in the future, whether a PhD or to work in industry, he will continue to excel and will be a true credit to the University of Bristol.
ACCIS PhD student awarded best student paper at ASME 2011
We are pleased to announce that ACCIS PhD Student, Xavier Lachenal, has won the best "student hardware paper" competition at the ASME 2011 Conference on Smart Materials, Adaptive Structures and Intelligent Systems (SMASIS) for his paper entitled "Concept For a Bistable Composite Twisting Structure" (authors: Lachenal X, Daynes S and Weaver PM.)
A three step process was followed. A shortlist of 9 papers was drawn and then each successful student was asked to present a paper and demonstrate their device to a committee of 8 judges. Each student also presented their paper at the conference. The award (certificate and cheque) was announced and presented at the conference banquet.
More details can be found at:
http://www.asmeconferences.org/SMASIS2011/StudentHardwareCompetition.cfm
21/09/2011
Bristol Aero engineer receives 'Student of the Year' award
A Bristol student has been named as one of the winners of the 2010 Science, Engineering & Technology [SET] Student of the Year awards. An international awards programme, the event provides a showcase for educational excellence by recognising the exceptional achievements of both students and universities.
Alexey Likhoded, from the University’s Department of Aerospace Engineering, received the Airbus Award for ‘the Best Aeronautical Engineering Student’ for his project entitled 'Vision Based Recovery of a Rotary Wing UAV’.
04/10/2010
Department welcomes Fulbright Scholar
A talented aerospace engineer has received a Fulbright Commission Postgraduate Scholarship Award, one of the most prestigious awards programmes in the world, to carry out research into the future design and build of aircraft at the University of Bristol.
Adam Grasch from Kentucky in the US will join the Department of Aerospace Engineering as a Research Collaborator later this month, where he will be working to quantify the control characteristics and aeroelastic phenomena of deformed or morphing wing shapes. His work will contribute towards a research project on the design and build of aircraft whose wings can change shape and configuration mid-flight, making possible tremendous gains in fuel efficiency and performance.
13/09/2010
Bristol Team Generates Interest with Thrust Vectoring Design
In June, two students from the University of Bristol took part in the 2010 Royal Aeronautical Society/Merlin Flight Simulation Group "It Flies" Aircraft Design and Handling Competition held at Coventry University. Salman Iqbal, studying avionics, and Michael Illsley, studying aeronautical, together with Dr Askin T. Isikveren made up the Bristol Team. Drawing on their final year research projects the undergraduate students submitted a novel aircraft design that used thrust vectoring for pitch control. The platform for the innovative design was a Bombardier Aerospace Global Express XRS ultra-long range business jet. There was intense competition with seven other teams from universities around the UK being involved, including a team of t
en from Swansea University, and all the submissions being judged in simulated flight tests and on technical information.
Unfortunately, due to some imperfections in the simulation model, the Bristol Team did not get placed. Despite this misfortune the design generated considerable interest amongst the judges, pilots, engineers, academics and other teams. The team received an unprecedented three Special Prizes: Most Innovative Design (Association of Aerospace Universities award); Best Technical Information (Engineering Sciences Data Unit, ESDU, award); and, Best Presentation (Messier Dowty award), giving prize money worth some £700.
16/07/2010
Aviation and the environment – students earn recognition in the Airbus ‘Fly Your Ideas’ Competition
Towards the end of last year, Airbus introduced its “Fly Your Ideas” (FYI) challenge, aimed at giving students an opportunity to help shape the future of aviation. The challenge – open to college and university students from around the world, from bachelors to doctoral level in any discipline – was to develop “innovative and eco-efficient ideas to shape the future of aviation, and deliver a further reduction in the industry's impact on the environment”. The competition was intense, with more than 2,350 students from 82 countries bidding to win the €30,000 prize.
The competition was designed to attract more young people to the aviation industry, in which Airbus globally invests €2 billion annually in R&D – more than 7% of its annual turnover.
Four MEng Aeronautical Engineering students working on final-year projects in the field of aviation and its environmental impact – Matt Hand, Carlo Brancucci Martinez, Matthew Gaskin and Simon Ridley – entered the competition as ‘Team Bristol University’, and describe the experience below.
As a group of fourth year Aeronautical engineers, our final year began with the advent of our research project. At least four of us had expressed an interest in addressing the increasingly topical issues of sustainability within the commercial aviation sector. Fortunately, we were given a relatively large amount of leeway within which we could select our projects. Following some preliminary studies, we decided a useful line of research would be to assess what we could potentially do with our existing fleet of aircraft. Projects are typically run with pairs of students, so we embarked on two related projects – one focussing on short-haul aspects, the other tackling long-haul challenges. The short-haul group decided to focus their efforts on the climatic effects of a migration towards a turboprop-powered short-haul fleet, whilst the long-haul solutions included operational measures: close-formation flying, air-to-air refuelling, multi-stop operations and a reserve fuel-minimising technique called en-route re-dispatch.
At an early stage in the project, we were encouraged by our Advisor, Dr Lowenberg, to enter Airbus’ Fly Your Ideas (FYI) challenge. We accepted this challenge, with an entry suggesting a number of possible changes to operational procedure that offer reduced fuel burn and hence mitigate environmental impact of long-haul aviation. In December 2008, the 86 most promising ideas, from the 225 team entries from around the world, were taken through to the second stage – including ours.
Meanwhile, our final-year projects were underway. In hindsight, one of the perks of selecting a project that broaches the broad-reaching topic of emissions and climate change is the variety of specialists and organisations to which you are inevitably exposed. From our own experience, we received advice from Peter Newton, from the government’s Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) and a UK representative on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI), as well as experts in climate modelling and atmospheric chemistry within our own university: Professors Paul Valdes and Dudley Shallcross from the School of Geographical Sciences and School of Chemistry respectively. Such was the level of collaboration necessary, that the follow-on project in 2009-10 will entail a cooperative study between these departments.
As our project deadlines approached, so did the submission date for Round 2 of the FYI challenge. To celebrate the participation of students from British universities, Airbus hosted an event at Portcullis House, Westminster in May for the five UK teams that got to the 2nd round; we were joined by the participants from Southampton University, Imperial College and Bath University. A number of politicians attended and we were privileged to be invited to coffee with the MP for Bristol West, Stephen Williams, who provided us with enlightening conversation on a range of topics (aviation not excluded!).
Sadly, only five teams made it through to the 3rd and final round of the FYI challenge – none from the UK. However, we are confident in the ability of our fellow students here at Bristol, and do not hesitate in recommending that they put forward their projects in future rounds of FYI. Good Luck!
Stephen Williams (MP for Bristol West), Matthew Gaskin, Matthew Hand, Simon Ridley, Carlo Brancucci and Dale King (Airbus R&T Scientific Partnerships) at Portcullis House, Westminster.
12-Nov-09 |
Business & Enterprise Committee visits Department
Last week [Wednesday 28 October] the Department of Aerospace Engineering hosted a visit from the Parliamentary Select Committee for Business, Innovation and Skills.
03-Nov-09
Köfels Research Project
Mark Hempsell discusses the Köfels research project on Radio 5 live.
31-Mar-08
First Firing of STERN Rocket Excels
A team of engineers from Bristol University has conducted the first firing of the STERN rocket motor.
26-Mar-08
'Plan 111'
Aerospace Engineering Interacts with China through ‘Plan 111’06-Feb-08
Space research makes BBC News
Dr Mark Hempsell and the Habitation Extension Module(HEM) have been featured on the BBC News website - See article here
07-Jan-08
Call for Papers on the 23rd UAV Conference
Bristol International Unmanned Air Vehicle Systems Conference
23rd conference Call for Papers - download PDF version here
E-mail aero-uav@bristol.ac.uk or visit the UAVS Conference website for more information
01-Jan-08
Department Excels in Recent Survey
Unistats, the university comparison website, has revealed that the University of Bristol, Department of Aerospace attracts the highest quality applicants for our degree programmes and was rated first for overall satisfaction in the National Students Survey.
01-Dec-07
New Supersonic Tunnel Operational
For the first time in a few years, the Fluid Laboratory in the Engineering Faculty has installed a brand new wind tunnel! Purchased through HEFCE's Teaching Equipment Initiative, the intermittent re-circulating design from TQ is capable of generating flows from subsonic to Mach 1.8, with run times lasting for several minutes. The facility comes complete with various test models designed to demonstrate the unique aspects of supersonic flows, including de Laval nozzle flows, and the oblique shock waves and expansion fans that form about supersonic aerofoils.
The walls of the tunnel, and models, are have extensive pressure taps, which allow pressures and Mach numbers on the wall to be calculated, and lift and drag coefficients to be estimated. Computer controlled data acquisition and logging systems ensure nothing will be missed by the students, and an integrated Schlieren system means that the flow features themselves are made visible, to be shown on a TV screen, or even projected onto the wall.
Combined with other additions to the laboratory facility, this piece of equipment will significantly improve the experimental experience for all undergraduates.