General Description

Loughborough University (LU) (www.lboro.ac.uk) dates back to 1909 and received its Royal Charter in 1966. The University currently has over 16,000 students, including 2000 international students, and 3000 staff. It is organised into 23 Departments in 11 Schools and is situated on one of the largest single site campuses in the UK (1.75 km²). Research generates half of the University’s income and it is consistently ranked in the Top 20 of UK Universities with most Engineering subjects being ranked in the Top 10. Automotive research is primarily conducted within the Department of Aeronautical and Automotive Engineering (www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/aae) and the School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering (www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/mechman).

Supervisors and Expertise

Dr Stephen Walsh: Brake squeal; Panel sound radiation; Pass-by noise prediction; Turbocharger noise; Tyre noise; Structural intensity; Vibration transmission through joints; Dr Dan O’Boy: Tyre external and internal noise, ultrasonic wave transmission, dynamic contact modelling, panel vibration damping; Dr Stephanos Theodossiades: Tribo-dynamics of systems with lubricatedconjunctions; Noise, Vibration and Harshness (NVH) in automotiveapplications; geardynamics; Multi-body dynamics with flexiblecomponents;Numerical/analyticalmethods on large and small scale applications with localnonlinearities.Mr Nader Dolatabadi: mechanicalvibrations; powertraindynamics and noiseradiation; pistontribology.    

Key Facilities and Infrastructure

Powertrain Laboratory with 8 engine test cells, a chassis dynamometer and a new transient engine dynamometer; 6-axis flight/car simulator and four-poster vehicle road simulator;176 m³fully anechoic test chamber; complete drivetrain experimental rigs;modern data acquisition systems and equipment for contact and non-contact (optical) vibration measurements; equipment to measure surface topography and micro/nano-scale evaluation of friction.

Previous Involvement in Research and Training Programmes

Funded research from EPSRC, DTI, as well as directly from industry. Involved in national and international research and training programmes with companies such as Ford, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), Aston Martin, JCB, BP Castrol to name but a few.

Current Involvement in Research and Training Programmes

Recently commenced research on EPSRC/JLR Programme for Simulation innovation (£1.8m, 2013-2018). EPSRC Programme Grant Encyclopaedic (£1.2m, 2009-2013). Research directly funded from industry. Currently delivering MSc in Automotive Systems Engineering (open course) and MSc in Powertrain and Vehicle Engineering (JLR employees only).

Publications

      1-  Kumar G, Walsh S J and Krylov V V. Structural-acoustic behaviour of automotive-type panels with dome-shaped indentations. Applied Acoustics 74(6):897-908 2013.

      2- D. J. O'Boy and A. P. Dowling. "Tyre / road interaction noise: Numerical noise prediction of a patterned tyre on a rough road surface". Journal of Sound and Vibration, 323:270-291, 2009.

       3-   I. Karagiannis, S. Theodossiades and H. Rahnejat. On the dynamics of lubricated hypoid gears. Mechanism and Machine Theory, 2012, 48, 94-120.