Department of Mechanical Engineering
Research Activities
The Department has research activities in all the major areas of mechanical engineering. Follow the links below for more details.
Aeronautical and Space Engineering
This area of engineering encompasses all aspects of aerodynamics, aircraft and spacecraft design, flight stability and propulsion.It also includes structural design, fluid/structure interactions, advanced materials, vibrations and controls - in short, most activities in the field of mechanical engineering.
Biomedical Engineering
Biomedical engineering is currently the most rapidly growing area of engineering. Many important areas in medical research and practice interact with mechanical engineering: research in biological materials such as bone, cartilage, and soft tissues, implants and prostheses, artificial hearts and other organs, biomechanics, instrumentation, and rehabilitation engineering.
Dynamics, Controls, Automation and Robotics
Mechanical engineering deals with things that move and change, and the field of dynamics, controls and automations broadly comprises understanding and measuring the dynamics of complex systems and learning how to control them. The Department’s expertise includes “mechatronics”, robotics, and a variety of sensing and instrumentation applications.
Thermal and Fluids Engineering
Fluid mechanics and thermal engineering are the foundation of almost all energy conversion processes. They also play major roles in aeronautics, biomedical engineering, chemical processes, and in manufacturing. The Department of Mechanical Engineering offers a broad coverage of this field, with major research initiatives in aerodynamics, combustion, nuclear engineering, gas turbines, and industrial spray coating processes.
Materials and Manufacturing Engineering
Advanced materials and manufacturing processes are vital to the innovation of new products. The Department of Mechanical Engineering has numerous current research projects on fibre composites, metallic and metal matrix composite materials, and coatings, as well as on the advanced manufacturing processes required to make these products.
Solid Mechanics and Design Engineering
Stress analysis and the modelling of material responses are the foundation of mechanical design. Well-established techniques such as analytical methods and finite element analysis are being applied to increasingly more complex materials and structures, in particular biological ones. Computational methods are also being applied more intensively to the design and optimization process itself. The Department offers a broad range of expertise and projects in these areas.