Jet engine turbine blades vibrate dangerously under aerodynamic loads, risking cracks that ground aircraft. This project aims to stop those vibrations before they start—by designing materials and structures that can handle dynamic forces from the outset. Current design methods rely on complex computer simulations that are slow and often inaccurate for real-world conditions. Engineers must repeatedly tweak and test prototypes to avoid fatigue failures, adding cost and delay. The core challenge is that no reliable way exists to create a simplified, high-fidelity computer model of a material’s behaviour under dynamic loads—and then use that model to guide manufacturing. The researchers will develop a new digital manufacturing approach based on complex systems science. They will test it on three real-world cases with UK industry partners including Rolls-Royce, a bearing manufacturer, and a nanomaterials company. If successful, the method could transform how aerospace engines, railway components, and advanced materials are designed and built—reducing development time, cutting costs, and improving safety in systems that must endure constant vibration without failing.
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Materials and structures in many engineering systems are often subject to dynamic loads, which place challenging constraints and requirements on their design and manufacturing. For example, aerodynamic loads can induce significant vibrations of bladed disks of turbo-machinery potentially causing high cycle fatigue, with major implication on the cost, safety, and reliability of engines, significant efforts are regularly necessary during design to prevent the vibration problems. A wide range of research studies have been conducted to address these challenges with current activities mainly focusing on the development of more advanced and effective techniques for finite element modelling, simulation, and optimization. These are gradually extending the framework of the current state-of-the-art, but one of the main challenges remain, which is: "how to produce a high-fidelity reduced order model and conduct the reduced order model-based design for engineering materials and systems that need to withstand demanding dynamic loads". In order to fundamentally resolve the challenges, this project will develop an innovative digital manufacturing methodology based on the complex systems science and demonstrate the effectiveness and significance of the novel method in three case studies supported by the end users and stakeholders in the UK, including Rolls-Royce plc, Wilson Benesch (sound/acoustics), Thomas Swann Ltd (nanomaterials), MS Research (charity), TISICS (metal matrix composite design and manufacturing), Carter Manufacturing (bearings for railway applications), and MSC Software (digital manufacturing software). The project involves a close multidisciplinary collaboration between the researchers in system and control, mechanical and structure engineering, and materials science from University of Sheffield, University of Bristol, Imperial College, and University of Derby. The achievements are expected to significantly facilitate the fulfilment of the EPSRC vision for Manufacturing the Future, resolving serious challenges related to digital manufacturing and more effectively addressing high-value and specialist design and manufacturing of aerospace systems, advanced materials, and next generation railway system components. These can potentially produce significant benefits to future design and manufacturing activities centred around core UK plc industries.
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