Engineers aim to make air travel greener
Carbon emissions from air travel could be
reduced thanks to a new collaboration between engineers from the
Universities of Bristol and Bath and the aerospace industry.
The £1.4 million project will investigate new ways of using
composite materials for wing panels in aircraft.
The research, funded by the Engineering & Physical
Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and aircraft manufacturers
Airbus and GKN, will be using carbon fibres that are curved within
flat plates to produce damage-tolerant, buckle-free structures.
This will lead to substantial cost and weight savings of between
10 and 30 per cent on structural components, saving fuel and
reducing CO2 emissions from the aviation industry, in turn helping
reduce the impact on the environment.
Professor Paul Weaver, from the Department of Aerospace
Engineering and the Advanced Composites Centre for Innovation and
Science (ACCIS), is leading the University of Bristol team, which
includes Dr Kevin Potter and Dr Stephen Hallett.
The Bristol-based team will be leading the development and
manufacturing of the new carbon fibre materials, and the Bath team
will be investigating different designs for the structures of wing
panels to test their damage tolerance. Both teams will be using
mathematical modelling techniques to optimise and test their
designs.
Dr Richard Butler is leading the University of Bath team, which
includes Dr H Alicia Kim and Professor Giles Hunt. The project
stems from research carried out under the ABBSTRACT consortium
(Airbus, Bristol, Bath STrategic Research Alliance in Composites
Technology).
The addition of GKN to the collaboration, as one of Airbus' risk
sharing partners and supplier of major wing components, creates a
strong link with the manufacturing industry.
Dr Butler said: “This project could really make a difference in
reducing the environmental impact of air travel.
“We will be pushing the boundaries of composites technology and
believe we can help achieve thousands of tonnes in fuel saving over
the life of an aircraft.”
Professor Weaver added: “This exciting programme will help
ensure that the UK is at the forefront of aircraft structures
technology.”