Developing new leaders in engineering The InDEStruct project (Integrated Design of Engineering Studies) seeks to advance heat exchanger technology by creating novel structural concepts, whilst enabling a new pedigree of engineering leadership. Prof Atul Bhaskar of University of Southampton, Dr Claus Ibsen, Manager of Research and Development at Vestas aircoil and one of the four Early Stage Researchers (ESRs), Khandokar Abu Talha, explain the aims of the project. With a goal
of improving the efficiency and longevity of heat exchangers, which has far-reaching implications for sustainability, the InDEStruct project is entwining the work of four Early Stage Researchers in a collaborative linking of disciplines, aiming to bring new strategies of developing and thinking to industrial applications. This approach to doctoral training in engineering design covers several aspects of mechanical engineering, including structural vibration, stress and thermal analysis, additive manufacturing, multifunctional metamaterials, fatigue and materials development. Supervisor of the students, Atul Bhaskar, Professor of Applied Mechanics at University of Southampton said: “This is a Marie Curie programme which is primarily for training networks of PhD students. The theme of this project is integrated design and in my view that is where it is different, in being an applied science. We have this great platform, which is how a real design office works. You have different people working on their research, but they have to work in sync towards a purpose – and the purpose is a product. In general research especially, there is a possibility to focus on solving imaginary problems. So being in industry gives that direction that you are solving industrial problems and scientific questions that have a relevance.” Improvements in the design and materials of the humble heat exchanger could have enormous implications. Heat exchangers are devices that transfer heat between a solid object and a fluid, or two or more fluids, which may be separated by a wall to prevent mixing, or not. Heat exchangers are used in so many applications, including fridge freezers, power stations, air conditioning systems, chemical
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engines in the marine sector and has developed a comprehensive industrial cooling division, for a range of cooling needs. Indeed, Vestas aircoil manufactured the world’s very first charge air cooler with Burmeister & Wain in Copenhagen and have been pioneers of technology and product development in this field. There are additional partners involved who also provide valuable support, and further secondments in the UK and Denmark add value to building experience and knowledge. To develop high performance heat exchangers is a huge undertaking, with the need of critical thinking and expertise from the academic world, transferred to practical engineering in the private sector. This is the goal of the four researchers, within this project. The researchers are Atul Singh, Kevin Jose, Milena Bavaresco and Khandokar Abu Talha. Each has their own specialism, which they bring to the mix.
first collaboration work, which will probably have a real-life application,” said Talha. It was part of the process for the researchers to learn from each other, as well as learn and understand the industry by working within it. Talha continues: “For the first two years we had to understand the fundamentals with basic training, so we have been working with relevant companies. For example, Milena has been to The University of Southern Denmark where they were developing a new technique, experimenting and learning how to extract the data. In my case, I am taking several courses where they do a particular estimation using an industrial software. We all have this type of training along with our academic modules, to have the fundamentals built in and have the real time application to learn those new techniques. It’s a continuous process of learning and trying to also come up with something new.
ESR1: Atul Singh Project Title Multi-disciplinary Design Optimization of Cellular HeatExchangers.
ESR 2: Kevin Jose Project Title Computational Modelling of Complex Structures & Structured Materials.
They can create complex shapes that previously they could not make simply because of the restrictions of manufacturing. This allows the creativity of the engineer to develop. plants, for sewage treatment and in combustion engines. Heat exchangers will also inevitably be part of future technologies. As Dr Claus Ibsen puts it: “Technologies that generate power, all of them use heat exchangers, and we will use heat exchangers in electric vehicles, so you see them in many places. You can use them in all sorts of challenging environments, also fuel cells for example, high temperature fuel cells are also requiring a lot of heat exchanges.”
Cooler to be efficient The project’s primary focus is on lowering emissions from engine systems. Heat exchangers in engines have been identified as a key enabling technology for low-emission power systems. If these components could be more efficient and robust, the benefits for carbon reduction would be substantial. Simply
put, there is room for improvement in the current designs of such heat exchangers. “You have this very high temperature heat exchanger and if we put it on a big engine it vibrates, which reduces the lifetime of the heat exchanger,” explains Ibsen. “When you heat up the materials the component deforms and you create stresses inside it. You have these stress concentrations and vibrations and it reduces the lifetime of the component. Cracks appear. For the researchers, this is the challenge, and they are combining research to be able to design a cooler system.” The project requires the researchers to spend time in both the academic university setting as well as equal time in industry, in this case 18 months at Southampton University in the UK and 18 months at Vestas aircoil in Denmark. Vestas aircoil is a specialist and market leader in air charge coolers for diesel
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Talha, who talked to EU Research, has been working on his PhD thesis, Fatigue evaluations of additively manufactured materials in novel heat exchanger designs. His work has been fuelled and supported by the other three researchers, and vice versa, working closely in parallel, each with their own PhDs in progress. One common aim is to be able to predict failure of a component through fatigue, which can be difficult, traditionally reliant on heavy data, computer modelling and extensive real-life testing. With a team of specialists picking apart the different aspects of the problem it becomes easier to find, use and model the right data. “Milena is looking into different kinds of experimental methods to extract data from the heat exchanger, Kevin is analysing that data, and he is going to give me that data as an input, then based on that data I will try to come up with techniques suited to calculate the lifetime of the component. So that is our very
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I am for example generating more data from experiments. That is something new, but I am still learning and perfecting that to collect more and more data. We are continually developing.” Beyond the specific aims of product development, the project’s nurturing of collaboration raised the bar in other ways in terms of how the researchers organised together, developing useful transferable and general leadership skills.
ESR3: Milena W. Bavaresco Project title Novel experimental characterisation of elastic & acoustic metamaterial as produced using additive manufacturing technology.
ESR4: Khandokar Abu Talha Project title Fatigue evaluations of additively manufactured materials in novel heat exchanger designs.
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InDEStruct Integrated Design of Engineering Structures
Project Objectives
The main driver for the InDEStruct project is training of scientists in the area of multidisciplinary optimisation of engineering systems that involve thermal and mechanical loading. Such scientists can integrate technologies to provide indicators of engineering performance, which can be used in the context of a digital twin. Thereby facilitating the digital transformation inherent in Industry 4.0.
Project Funding
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 765636.
Project Partners
• https://indestruct.eu/about-us/partners/
Contact Details
Project Coordinator, Claus H. Ibsen PhD Manager of Research and Development Vestas aircoil A/S Smed Hansen Vej 13, DK-6940 Lem, Denmark T: +45 9975 2341 E: ci@vestas-aircoil.com W: https://indestruct.eu Claus Hessler Ibsen
Atul Bhaskar
The progressive collaboration of the four researchers was seen as paramount for success. Whilst the pandemic often prevented the close interaction for the researchers that they would like, frequently two researchers would manage to sit in a room together at least to discuss face-to-face findings and ideas. It was seen as important to bring each researcher involved up to speed with the others’ work, always with an eye on where it is headed. Ibsen observed: “There is a challenge with how to implement this, to use those interesting results because PhD students are going to look very narrowly into the smallest details but still need to look at an end where someone is going to use it in practice, so that is something we are still trying to learn and develop. We need to look at a setup where we use academic findings.” For the researchers, that setup for using findings is being slowly but surely defined. For Talha, the problems were initially with methodologies around data. “We’re looking at the way we collect data,” said Talha, “There was this missing link between data they get from heat exchangers and being able to use that data to calculate the fatigue life. If we can correct this, that would be good progress. It would be academically valuable and industrially valuable.”
The technology of the future Claus Hessler Ibsen is Group Research & Development Director at Vestas aircoil and has worked on a number of innovative projects for the company. He is the Project Coordinator for InDEStruct. Atul Bhaskar is the Professor of Applied Mechanics at the University of Southampton. His research spans structural mechanics, vibration, design, and additive manufacturing. He has published widely, led major research projects, knowledge transfer partnerships, industrial consultancies and patents.
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At Vestas aircoil, there are state of the art technologies and techniques to help in the project’s drive to create something new, such as additive manufacturing, where computer aided design in combination with 3D printing can explore design concepts in engineering by producing parts. One focus for this project is pushing, exploring and developing the technology of additive manufacturing. Atul and Talha are embracing this as a focus in research. Additive manufacturing will form part of Vestas aircoil’s strategy for innovation, where the designs could lead to scaled up manufacturing of new components in the coming years. “The additive manufacturing opens up new possibilities in the future,” confirms Claus, “you can build in crack arresting properties in 3D printed material or you can change the thermal elongation and you can focus on stress concentrations, so you don’t have these kinds of issues. You can have smarter things that you can build into a heat exchanger.” Their academic supervisor, Professor Bhaskar, recognised that by closely working together in an industrial setting, the researchers were exposed to and shared knowledge in ways that were necessary to make progress with toward the design goal. “The technologies they are working with, like additive manufacturing, are emerging,” said
Bhaskar, “They can create complex shapes that previously they could not make simply because of the restrictions of manufacturing. This allows the creativity of the engineer to develop. You can test designs by printing differently with great flexibility. It’s unlikely that all the four researchers would learn these kinds of skills outside this type of scheme but all of them are familiar to a basic level with what this technology is all about.” Whilst new insights, greater understanding and improved designs will no doubt reap benefits for heat exchanger efficiency, a legacy of InDEStruct is in the creation of a methodology of working for subsequent Early Stage Researchers with interdisciplinary specialisms, to demonstrate how they can combine and make use of their research and findings together, with a common goal to tackle real world problems in industry. A driver of the project is not just creating future technology, but creating future technology leaders, who can effectively bridge the divide that often occurs between academia and industry. By weaving together academic structured thinking with a goal to address sector needs, the project could help form a template for researchers and private companies to work toward tangible advances that benefit the world.
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