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University of Nottingham (UoN) research into optimum plant populations and lodging in wheat has led to advances in agronomic practices for winter wheat in the UK, in particular changes in the way that seed rates are calculated (by number, rather than weight) to establish optimum plant populations. Most significantly, growers and agronomists now have an improved understanding of the crop characteristics that affect wheat lodging risk and have made changes to crop management to minimise the problem. This has led to reduced incidence of lodging in the UK, thereby protecting yield and quality of UK's most important arable crop.
Impact on industry, academia and government institutions from engineering materials research in the Mechanical Engineering department has been delivered through it directly leading to UK, USA and International Standards and Codes relating to three themes:
The results of the research of staff in this unit have led directly to UK, US and International Standards and Codes: ASTM Standards E1457-07 (2012) and E2760-10 (2012); R5 EDF Energy Code of Practice (2012); BS 7910 (2013); ISO 25217 (2009); ISO CD 15114 (2011) and ISO 13477 (2008). These documents all cite peer-reviewed publications by staff from this unit. These Standards and Codes are now the basis of fracture-mechanics methodologies used by leading engineering companies like Airbus, EDF, E.ON, GKN, Rolls-Royce and Vestas, whose commercial success depends upon technological leadership. In this way our research has led to savings by UK industry of many millions of pounds, as detailed in Section 4.
Diseases of plants impact upon global food production and the environment, necessitating careful control. University of Nottingham (UoN) research has contributed to new lab-based and in-field tests that are extensively used by plant health inspectors and overseas organisations. The research has produced validated, accurate pathogen detection systems for use by plant health inspectorates and quarantine services as part of their testing services. The methods have been adopted by the Food and Environment Research Agency (Fera) in the UK for routine testing, and also by the Swiss diagnostics company Bioreba as part of their diagnostic services.
The vulnerability of both military and civilian infrastructure to the threat of terrorist activity has highlighted the need to improve its survivability, and this poses a significant design challenge to engineers. Research work at Imperial has led to the development of novel constitutive relationships for polymeric materials coupled to novel analysis procedures; software algorithms for effective simulations of blast and impact events; and enhanced experimental testing methods allowing a fundamental understanding of the structures. According to Dstl, this body of research has `unquestionably improved the security and effectiveness of the UK armed forces operating in hostile environments abroad as well as the safety of citizens using metropolitan infrastructure within the UK'. The techniques have been applied to vehicles and UK infrastructure, including for high profile events, such as the 2012 Olympics.
The supply of electrical energy to centres of demand is an increasingly important issue as our power generation sources decarbonise. Without innovation in our use of high voltage cables, security of supply to our major cities cannot be guaranteed. Our research has:
The Computational Mechanics and Reliability Group at the University of Greenwich has been developing computational methods for predicting material behaviour and component reliability since the late 1990s. This case study details economic and environmental impacts and impacts on practitioners. In particular it shows how our expertise has:
The key impact is to have improved the economic performance of both multinational companies and SMEs through the introduction and performance enhancement of new electronic products.
Lancaster's research on reliability modelling technologies for use in the characterisation and optimisation of the reliability of MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) products such as accelerometers and gyroscopes has been used by ST Microelectronics to achieve mass market penetration of its MEMS. Specifically, the market share of ST (a French-Italian multinational electronics and semiconductor manufacturer) has doubled to $900M since 2008, with its MEMS accelerometers and gyroscopes now being found in, inter alia, Apple's iPhone, iPad and iPod.
Lancaster's test engineering research has also delivered a novel self-test technology that can be activated during normal operation of a MEMS based system. This capability has been integrated into an inertial device commercialised by QinetiQ for classified applications. Additionally, through assisting BCF-Designs (a UK SME specialising in electronic test systems for the military and civil aerospace sectors) in the development of its R&D portfolio and associated intellectual property in the area of on-line (in situ) testing, research conducted at Lancaster directly supported the tripling of BCF's turnover to £9M and more than doubling of its sale value to £12.5M (to ULTRA Electronics, 2008).
This case study deals with research undertaken at Plymouth University leading to the development of an innovative friction stir welding process (friction hydro-taper pillar processing, FHPP) and a bespoke welding platform that improves the assessment and repair methodology for creep damaged thermal power station components. This technology, developed in collaboration with Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University and with industry investment, enables power station engineers to extend the life of power generating plant leading to multi-million pound cost savings (over £66M in direct financial savings are demonstrated in this case) plus significant safety and societal impacts. It has been patented in South Africa and a spin-off company has been formed.
Please note that economic impact values were achieved in Rand (R) but are expressed in £ and therefore worth less in £ today than during the period when the stated impact was achieved.
The research produced accurate simulation models of piezoelectric actuators for investigating sensitivities to parameter variations that led to maximum power for minimum electric field. This was the basis of design rules for determining new products at the industrial partner NXT, now named Hi-Wave Technology, headquartered in Cambourne, UK. Old design rules had led to two failed products whereas these new design rules have guided successful products with a major Japanese television manufacturer, a Japanese printer company and a Russian mobile phone company. Without this research Hi-Wave would have stopped activities in this technology. To date, licences for more than 24 million units per annum have been sold and more than 280,000 units manufactured.
The Cullen Report into the Ladbroke Grove rail crash attributed the catastrophic failures of the rail vehicles to "weld unzipping" (brittle fast fracture). Research carried out at Newcastle University into the fabrication and design of aluminium rail vehicles has informed two new European standards: EN 15085 "Railway applications — Welding of railway vehicles and components" and EN 15227, "Crashworthiness requirements for railway vehicle bodies". These two standards have been developed to ensure that the "weld unzipping" failure cannot re-occur in a rail crash. The two standards were formally adopted throughout the EU in 2008, and are mandatory for all aluminium rail vehicles used across Europe.