Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering Research Cluster

What we do

The Mechanical/Manufacturing Engineering Research Cluster was developed in 1995. The research activities within this Cluster focus mainly upon Advanced Materials, Manufacturing Techniques and Systems, Thermofluids and Mechanical Analysis by CFD and FEA, Manufacturing Management and Mechatronics. There have been newly developed research activities in areas such as Aerospace Engineering, Composite Engineering, Surface Engineering, Additive Manufacturing, and Motorsport Engineering. The emerging and development of such technologies are the fundamental stone for the country's economic development.

Current research projects are mainly industrial application projects plus some fundamental research projects, with more fundamental research projects being developed for the future. This will ensure the Cluster will become not only the strong technical support centre for SME enterprises in knowledge transfer and knowledge application but also a fundamental research centre.

The Research Cluster has acknowledged expertise in the following areas:

Advanced Materials, Manufacturing and Composites Engineering 

Thermofluids, Design Analysis and Vehicle Dynamics

For further information, please contact:

Dr. Yiling Lu

Y.Lu@derby.ac.uk

2019

Yang, Z., Abdalla, I.E. On secondary instability of a transitional separation bubble. Computer and Fluids 2019; 179: 595-603.

Li, H., Yang, Z. Separated boundary layer transition under pressure gradient in the presence of free-stream turbulence.  Physics of Fluids 2019; 31: Article ID 104106.

Yang, Z. Secondary instability of separated shear layers. Chinese Journal of Aeronautics 2019; 32: 37-44.

Yang, Z. On bypass transition in separation bubbles. Propulsion and Power Research 2019; 8: 23-34.

Charles, T., Yang, Z., Lu, Y. Numerical analysis of flow in the gap between a simplified tractor-trailer model with cross vortex trap device. International Journal of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering 2019; 13: 707-711.

Ahmadi, M. Influence of upstream turbulence on the wake characteristics of a tidal stream turbine. Renewable Energy 2019; 132: 989-997.

Tian, B., Chong, C.T., Fan, L., Ng, J-H., Zhang, C,. Hochgreb, S.  Soot volume fraction measurements over laminar pool flames of biofuels, diesel and blends.  Proceedings of the Combustion Institute 2019; 37: 877-884.

Pawlik, M., Le, H.R., Lu, Y. Effects of the graphene nanoplatelets reinforced interphase on mechanical properties of carbon fibre reinforced polymer – a multiscale modelling study. Composite Part B 2019; 177: Article ID 107097.

Meng, M., Leech, A., Le, H.R. Mechanical properties and tribological characterisation of electroless nickel phosphorous coatings on iron-based corrosion resistant alloys under ultrahigh contact stresses. Tribology International 2019; 139: 59-66.

Gunputh, U., Besinis, A., Le, H.R., Tredwin, C., Handy, R.D. Multi-layered composite coatings of titanium dioxide nanotubes decorated with zinc oxide and hydroxyapatite nanoparticles: Controlled release of Zn and antimicrobial property against Staphylococcus aureus. International Journal of Nanomedicine 2019; 14: 3583-3600.

Tian, C., Ji, D., Yang, J., Xie, J., Yin, Q., Le, H.R. Synthesis and characterization of W and Ba co-doped La2Mo2O9 by sol-gel process for solid oxide fuel cells. Journal of Rare Earths 2019;  37: 984-988.

Choudhry, R.S., Butler, R., Rhead, A.T., Nielsen, M. A Plate Model for Strength Prediction of Delaminated Composites. Composite Structures 2019; 210: 509-517.

2020

Ahmadi, M., Yang, Z. The evolution of turbulence characteristics in the wake of a horizontal axis tidal stream turbine. Renewable Energy 2020; 151: 1008-1015.

Ahmadi, M., Yang, Z. Numerical study of the coupling between the instantaneous blade loading/power of an axial wind turbine and upstream turbulence at high Reynolds numbers. Energy 2020; 207: Article ID 118167.

Abikan, A. Yang, Z., Lu, Y. Computational analysis of turbulent flow over a bluff body with drag reduction devices. Journal of Applied and Computational Mechanics 2020; 6(SI): 1210-1219.

Goh, B., Chong, C.T., Gea, Y., Ong, H., Ng, J., Tian, B., Ashokkumar, V., Lim, S., Seljak, T., Józsa, V. Progress in Utilisation of Waste Cooking Oil for Sustainable Biodiesel and Biojet Fuel Production. Energy Conversion and Management 2020; 223: Article ID 113296.

  1. Chong, C.T., Tian, B., Ng, J-H., Fan, L., Ni, S., Wong, K., Hochgreb, S. Quantification of Carbon Particulates Produced under Open Liquid Pool and Prevaporised Flame Conditions: Waste Cooking Oil Biodiesel and Diesel Blends. Fuel 2020; 270: Article ID 117469.
  2. 18. Chong, C.T., Loe, T., Wong, K., Ashokkumar, V., Lam, S., Chong, W., Borriong, A., Tian, B., Ng, J. Biodiesel Sustainability: The Global Impact of Potential Biodiesel Production on the Energy-Water-Food (EWF) Nexus. Environmental Technology & Innovation 2021; 22: Article 101408.

Zhang, C., Tian, B., Chong, C.T., Ding, B., Fan, L., Chang, X., Hochgreb, S. Synthesis of single-walled carbon nanotubes in rich hydrogen/air flames. Materials Chemistry and Physics 2020; 254: Article ID 123479.

Chong, C.T., Chiong, M., Ng, J., Tran, M., Valera-medina, A., Jozsa, V., Tian, B. Dual-Fuel Operation of Biodiesel and Natural Gas in a Model Gas Turbine Combustor. Energy & Fuels 2020; 34: 3788–3796.

Xie, J.F. A mean free path approach to the micro/nanochannel gas flows. Advances in Aerodynamics 2020; 2: Article ID 11.

Deng, C., Hu, H., Yu, H., Wang, M., Ci, M., Wang, L., Zhu, S., Wu, Y., Le, H.R. 1D hierarchical CdS NPs/NiO NFs heterostructures with enhanced photocatalytic activity under visible light irradiation. Advanced Powder Technology 2020; 31: 3158-3167.

Gunputh, U., Le, H.R. A Review of In-Situ Grown Nanocomposite Coatings for Titanium Alloy Implants. Journal of Composites Science 2020; 4: Article ID 41.

Pawlik, M., Lu, Y., Le, H.R. The Interplay of Surface Modifications with GNPs Reinforced Epoxy Adhesive Joint of Aluminium Alloys. International Journal of Adhesion and Adhesives 2020; 99: Article ID 10259.

Gunputh, U., Le, H.R., Besinis, A., Tredwin, C., Handy, R.D. Antibacterial properties of in-situ grown silver nanoparticles anchored by titanium dioxide nanotubes on titanium implant against Staphylococcus aureus. Nanotoxicology 2020; 14: 97-110.

Shah, S., Choudhry, R.S., Mahadzir, S. A new approach for strength and stiffness prediction of discontinuous fibre-reinforced composites (DFC). Composites Part B: Engineering 2020; 183: Article ID 107676.

Culliford, L., Choudhry, R.S., Butler, R., Rhead, A.T. Buckling and Strength Analysis of panels with Discrete Stiffness Tailoring. Composite Structures 2020, 234: Article ID 111672.

Tian, B., Liu, A., Chong, C.T., Fan, L., Ni, S., Ng, J-H., Rigopoulosc, S., Luo, K.H., S Hochgreb, S. Experimental and numerical study on soot formation in laminar diffusion flames of biodiesels and methyl esters. Proceedings of the Combustion Institute; published online August 2020.

Fan, L., Chong, C.T., Tian, B., Zheng, Y., McGrath, D., Hochgreb, S. Laser-induced incandescence particle image velocimetry (LII-PIV) for simultaneous two-phase flame velocity measurement. Proceedings of the Combustion Institute; published online August 2020.

2021

Shah, S., Megat-Yusoff, P., Karuppanan, S., Choudhry, R.S., Ahmad, F., Sajid, Z., Gerard, P., Sharp, K. Performance comparison of resin-infused thermoplastic and thermoset 3D fabric composites under impact loading, International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 2021; 189: Article 105984.

Charles, T., Yang, Z., Lu, Y. Assessment of drag reduction devices mounted on a simplified tractor-trailer truck model. Journal of Applied and Computational Mechanics 2020; 7(1):  45-53.

Charles, T., Yang, Z., Lu, Y. Computational study of flow around 2D and 3D tandem bluff bodies. Journal of Applied and Computational Mechanics 2021; 7(2): 528-534.

Depiver, J., Mallik, S., Amalu, E. Effective Solder for Improved Thermo-Mechanical Reliability of Solder Joints in Ball Grid Array (BGA) Soldered on Printed Circuit Board (PCB). Journal of Electronic Materials 2021; 50: 263-282.

  1. Depiver, J, Mallik, S, Harmanto, D. Solder joint failures under thermo-mechanical loading conditions–A review. Advances in Materials and Processing Technologies 2021; 7(1): 1-26.

2016

Choopanya, P., Yang, Z. An effective mesh strategy for CFD modelling of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 2016; 41: 6445-6456.

Meng, M., Rizvi, M.J., Le, H.R., Grove, S.M. Multi-scale modelling of moisture diffusion coupled with stress distribution in CFRP laminated composites. Composite Structures 2016; 138: 295-304.

Manikandan, P., Sieh, R., Elayaperumal, A., Le, H.R., Basu, S. Micro/Nanostructure and Tribological Characteristics of Pressureless Sintered Carbon Nanotubes Reinforced Aluminium Matrix Composites, Journal of Nanomaterials 2016;  2016: Article ID 9843019.

Natesan, K., Shah, W., Le, H. R., Moate, R., Tredwin, C. A Critical Comparison on Biocompatibility of Different Phases of Sol-gel Derived Calcium Phosphates as Bone Graft Materials. Journal of Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering 2016; 5: 655-664.

Xie, J.F., Cao, B.Y. Nanochannel flow past permeable walls via molecular dynamics. AIP Adv. 2016; 6: Article ID 075307.

Sieh, R., Le, H.R. Non-Cyanide Electrodeposited Ag–PTFE Composite Coating Using Direct or Pulsed Current Deposition. MDPI Coatings 2016; 6: Article ID 31.

Manikandan, P., Sieh, R., Elayaperumal, A., Le, H.R., Basu, S. Micro/Nanostructure and Tribological Characteristics of Pressureless Sintered Carbon Nanotubes Reinforced Aluminium Matrix Composites. Journal of Nanomaterials 2016; 2016: Article ID 9843019.

Meng, M., Le, H.R., Grove, S., Rizvi, M.J. “Moisture effects on the bending fatigue of laminated composites”, Composite Structures 2016; 154: 49-60.

Meng, M., Rizvi, M.J., Le, H.R., Grove, S.M. Multi-scale modelling of moisture diffusion coupled with stress distribution in CFRP laminated composites. Composite Structures 2016; 138: 295-304.

2017

Jafari, S., Dunne, J.F., Langari, M., Yang, Z., Pirault, J-P., Long, C.A., Thalackottore Jose, J. A review of evaporative cooling system concepts for engine thermal management in motor vehicles. Proc. IMechE, Part D: Journal of Automotive Engineering 2017; 231: 1126-1143.

Ahmadi, M., Dong, P. Validation of the actuator line method for simulating flow through a horizontal axis tidal stream turbine by comparison with measurements. Renewable Energy 2017; 113: 420-427.

Ahmadi, M., Dong, P. Numerical simulations of wake characteristics of a horizontal axis tidal stream turbine using actuator line model. Renewable Energy 2017; 113: 669-678.

Tian, B., Zhang, C., Gao, Y., Hochgreb, S. Planar 2-color time-resolved laser-induced incandescence measurements of soot in a diffusion flame. Aerosol Science and Technology 2017; 51: 1345-1353.

Yu, T., Tian, B., Cai, W. Development of a beam optimization method for absorption-based tomography. Optics Express 2017; 25: 5982-5999.

Xie, J.F., Cao, B.Y. Effect of various surface conditions on nanochannel flows past permeable walls. Mol. Simul. 2017; 43: 65-75.

Xie, J.F., He, S., Zu, Y.Q., Lamy-Chappuis, B., Yardley, B.W.D. Relative permeabilities of super- critical CO2 and brine in carbon sequestration by a two-phase lattice Boltzmann method. Heat Mass Transfer 2017; 53: 2637-2649.

Xie, J.F., Cao, B.Y. Fast nanofluidics by travelling surface waves. Microfluid and  Nanofluid 2017; 21: Article ID 111.

Xie, J.F., Cao, B.Y. Natural convection of power-law fluids under wall vibrations: A lattice Boltzmann study. Numer. Heat Transfer A 2017; 72: 600-627.

Meng, M., Le, H.R. Tribological Properties of Nanoceramics Reinforced Polyimide Nanocomposite Coatings on Steels. International Journal of Applied Ceramic Technology 2017; 14: 1013-1019.

Collins, K., Le, H.R., Greaves, D., Bellamy, N. Modelling of the Buckling of a Diaphragm / Spine Structure for a Wave Energy Converter. Materials & Design 2019; 119: 159-170.

Besinis, A., Hadi, S.D., Le, H.R., Tredwin, C., Handy, R. Antibacterial activity and biofilm inhibition by surface modified titanium alloy medical implants following application of silver, titanium dioxide and hydroxyapatite nanocoatings. Nanotoxicology 2017; 11: 327-338.

Khan, A.M., Mahmood, K., Syed, W.H., Choudhry, R.S., Khan, S.M. Root cause failure analysis of a tracked vehicle balance arm. Case Studies in Engineering Failure Analysis 2017; 9: 112-117.

Shah, S. Z., Choudhry, R.S., Khan, L. A. Challenges in Compression Testing of 3D Angle-Interlocked Woven-Glass Fabric-Reinforced Polymeric Composites. Journal of Testing and Evaluation 2017; 45: 1502-1523.

Choudhry, R.S., Khan, K.A., Khan, S.Z., Khan, M.A., Hassan, A. Micromechanical Modeling of 8-Harness Satin Weave Glass Fiber Reinforced Composites. Journal of Composite Materials 2017; 51: 705-720.

2018

Langari, M., Yang, Z., Dunne, J.F., Jafari, S., Pirault, J-P., Long, C.A., Thalackottore Jose, J. Multi-phase CFD-conjugate heat transfer for spray cooling in the non-boiling regime. The Journal of Computational Multiphase Flows 2018; 10: 33-42.

Langari, M., Yang, Z., Dunne, J.F., Jafari, S., Pirault, J-P., Long, C.A., Thalackottore Jose, J. Conjugate heat transfer predictions for subcooled boiling flow in a horizontal channel using a volume-of-fluid framework. Journal of Heat Transfer 2018; 140: Article ID 104501.

Jafari, S., Dunne, J.F., Langari, M., Yang, Z., Pirault, J-P., Long, C.A., Thalackottore Jose, J. Control of spray evaporative cooling in automotive IC engines. Journal of Thermal Science and Engineering Applications, 2018; 10: Article ID 041011.

Tian, B., Gao, Y., Zhang, C., Hochgreb, S. Soot measurement in diluted methane diffusion flames by multi-pass extinction and laser-induced incandescence. Combustion and Flame 2018; 192: 224-237.

Z Gao, Z., Zhu, L., Zou, X., Liu, C., Tian, B., Huang, Z. Soot reduction effects of dibutyl ether (DBE) addition to a biodiesel surrogate in laminar coflow diffusion flames. Proceedings of The Combustion Institute 2018; 37: 1265-1272.

Liu, P., Zhang, Y., Wang, L., Tian, B., Guan, B., Han, D., Huang, Z., Lin, H. The chemical mechanism of exhaust gas recirculation on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons formation based on LIF measurement. Energy & Fuels 2018; 32: 7112–7124.

Xie, J.F., Cao, B.Y. Influence of travelling surface waves on nanofluidic viscosity. Computers & Fluids 2018; 160: 42-50.

Xie, J.F., Gibelli, L., Borg, M.K., Henrich, O., Lockerby, D.A., Reese, J.M. Effective mean free path and viscosity of confined gases. Physics of Fluids 2019; 31: Article ID 072002.

Lamy-Chappuis, B., Yardley, B.W.D., He, S., Zu, Y.Q., Xie, J.F. A test of the effectiveness of pore scale fluid flow simulations and constitutive equations for modelling the effects of mineral dissolution on rock permeability. Chemical Geology 2018; 483: 501-510.

Gunputh, U., Le, H.R., Handy, R., Tredwin, C. Anodised TiO2 nanotubes as a scaffold for antibacterial silver nanoparticles on titanium implant. Materials Science & Engineering C 2018; 91: 638-644.

Hu, H., Wang, J., Deng, C., Zhou, X., Niu, C., Le, H.R. Microwave-assisted controllable synthesis of hierarchical CuS nanospheres displaying fast and efficient photocatalytic activity. Journal of Materials Science 2018; 53: 14250-14261.

Hu, H., Xu, J., Deng, C., Wang, M., Zhou, X., Le, H.R. 3D multilayered Bi4O5Br2 nanoshells displaying excellent visible light photocatalytic degradation behavior for resorcinol. IET Micro & Nano Letters 2018; 13: 1121-1125.

Hu, H., Wang, M., Deng, C., Chen, J., Wang, A., Le, H.R. Satellite-like CdS nanoparticles anchoring onto porous NiO nanoplates for enhanced visible-light photocatalytic properties. Materials Letters 2018; 224: 75-77.

Sieh, R., Le, H.R. Evaluation of environmentally friendly Ag-PTFE composite coating for use in threaded compression fittings. Proc IMechE Part J: Journal of Engineering Tribology 2018; 232: 503-512.

Choudhry, R.S., Sharif, T., Khan, K.A., Khan, S.Z., Hassan, A., Khan, M.A. Predicting the effect of voids on mechanical properties of woven composites. IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering 2018; 406: Article ID 012007.

Sharif, T., Potluri, P., Choudhry, R.S., Dodworth, A. Forming low-cost, high quality carbon tows for automotive application. IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering 2018; 406: Article ID 012021.

Ahmed, T., Choudhry, R.S., Rehman, A., Saeed, H. A study on pre-damaged stress concentration factor for a composite laminate member with central circular. Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 2018; 32: 3653-3658.

Asif, M., Khan, M., Khan, S.Z., Choudhry, R.S., Khan, K.A. Identification of an effective non-destructive technique for bond defect determination in laminate composites - a technical review. Journal of Composite Materials 2018; 52: 3589-3599.

Mijoh, A., Gbededo, M.A., Liyanage, K., Mallik, S. Holistic Simulation-Based Impact Analysis Framework for Sustainable Manufacturing. International Journal of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering 2018; 12: 827-833.

Faraz, Z., Haq, S., Ali, L., Mahmood, K., Tarar, W., Baqai, A., Khan, M., Jaffery, S., Choudhry, R.Z. Development of a STEP-compliant design and manufacturing framework for discrete sheet-metal bend parts. Proc IMechE Part B: Journal of Engineering Manufacture 2018; 232: 1090-1104.