Mechanics, Materials and Design (MMD)
Group Leader(s): Dr Neil Fellows
Contact: neil.fellows@brookes.ac.uk
About us
This group combines research expertise in mechanics, materials and design.
- Mechanics - the group has expertise in structure-borne sound source characterisation, vibration and sound transmission and dynamic system parameter estimation.
- Materials - the group works on the development of material manufacturing processes and investigates strain rate sensitivity, temperature dependency, residual stresses, strength, wear and fatigue life of materials and structures.
- Design - the group has developed products to meet customer specifications in a wide range of fields, from bicycles to satellites. A key area is design for reliability.
Related courses
- Electric Motorsport (MSc)
- Automotive Engineering with Electric Vehicles (BEng (Hons) / MEng)
- Automotive Engineering with Electric Vehicles (MSc)
- Engineering (MPhil / PhD / Masters by Research / PhD by Published Work)
- Racing Engine Systems (MSc)
- Mechanical Engineering (MSc)
- Motorsport Engineering (MSc)
- Mechanical Engineering (BEng (Hons) / MEng)
- Motorsport Engineering (BEng (Hons) / MEng)
Research impact
The MMD group has been involved in many funded research projects:
- Developing new aluminium alloys for application in high temperature applications
- Reducing noise within electric motors
- Improving damping and fatigue life of automotive headlamp units
- Improving the manufacturing process of Metal Matrix Composites
- Determining the life of AGR nuclear reactor graphite bricks
- Development of a bamboo bicycle frame that capitalises on the unique damping properties of bamboo
- Development of light weight bicycle saddles
- Knee-rig joint simulators with emphasis on bearing insert wear
Fundamental research is carried out in:
- Optimising systems/processes using algebraic inequalities
- Modelling repairable flow networks and stochastic networks.
- Reducing risk by using domain-independent methods
- Fatigue life prediction using artificial neural networks
- Explicit modeling and high strain material characterisation
The group carries out consultancy and test work for a variety of local and national companies. This has focused on material characterisation at room, low and elevated temperatures, as well as fatigue life prediction and component testing.
Leadership
