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Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference: GR/N03648/01
Title: MODELLING THE EFFICIENCY OF GEOMETRICALLY CONSTRAINED STRUCTURES
Principal Investigator: Burgess, Professor S
Other Investigators:
Smith, Professor D
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:
Department: Mechanical Engineering
Organisation: University of Bristol
Scheme: Standard Research (Pre-FEC)
Starts: 04 September 2000 Ends: 03 September 2003 Value (£): 50,641
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:
Design Engineering Materials testing & eng.
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:
Aerospace, Defence and Marine Transport Systems and Vehicles
No relevance to Underpinning Sectors
Related Grants:
Panel History:  
Summary on Grant Application Form
The optimisation of material and form in structural design has the advantages of producing high technical performance, low material cost and low environmental impact. Finding an optimum design is difficult because there are many types of materials, shapes and forms to choose from. A further problem is that if there are geometrical constraints on the design space then the optimum design is usually different to the case where there are no constraints. Recent research has concentrated mainly on the development of performance factors for unconstrained design. This proposed project will model the efficiency of geometrically constrained structures based on the parameters of the structures and the constraints. This modelling will lead to the production of shape and form factors for a range of standard sections and forms for the case of constrained design. This work will include homogenous materials and material combinations. The performance factors will help designers to quickly home-in on optimum designs, especially at the early stages of the design process. The project will investigate when and why the design space is often geometrically constrained. The project will also include some experimental testing to verify the models and test the validity of the shape and form factors.
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Organisation Website: http://www.bris.ac.uk