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The School of Engineering at MMU has longstanding research into many aspects of railway engineering. This commenced in 1998 under the leadership of Professor Simon Iwnicki, who carried out research into the interaction between railway vehicles and the track. The understanding of the dynamics of the wheel rail contact that has resulted from this work has been developed into a number of tools and techniques that are being used on a daily basis by the rail industry both to design new railway systems and to predict the deterioration of railway wheels and rails. This allows railway engineers to predict and control roughness growth on rails and to optimise wheel profiles and maintenance intervals on wheel and track.
This work is now helping the railway industry internationally to realise both economic and environmental impacts as track maintenance costs are reduced, safety levels are enhanced and passengers continue to switch from road to rail in increasing numbers. This is evidenced by the award of new research contracts and industry funding and by direct input into industry standards.
ERPE, through the application of XiTRACK technology (using advanced polyurethane polymers to reinforce the ballast matrix, enhancing strength, stiffness and resilience) — has reduced track maintenance by a factor of up to 40, increased maintenance intervals from 3-monthly to 10 years with track speeds increased up to 125 mph in critical sections of the UK, Italy and Hong Kong rail networks. Developments in Finite Element (FE) geomechanics related to Rayleigh waves are used by HS2; and FE backed artificial neural networks are informing US High Speed operators on ground borne vibrations. The financial impact of XiTrack is estimated at least £50M; and avoidance of Rayleigh wave problems and ground borne vibration mitigation, in the region of £10M; plus benefits to millions of passengers.
HDM-4 is the most widely used system for road investment appraisal and decision making, generating improvements in public policies and services. Economic development and road agencies in developing countries are major users of the tool. HDM-4 has become the de facto standard used by the World Bank for its road investment appraisals and has been used to assess more than 200 projects since 2008, with some $29.5bn of World Bank loans, credits or grants drawn-down to fund these. Uptake of the tool has led to the commercial success of HDMGlobal, a consortium which manages the distribution and development of the software under exclusive licence from the World Road Association-PIARC, with revenues of £1.6m generated since 2008. HDM-4 has also been utilised for economic assessment and road systems investment management in the UK.
Rail transport is the greenest form of transport in that it produces the least pollution of the environment. However, the noise from squealing trains has been a major factor preventing the wider use of rail transport in populated areas, especially in cities, where trains have to traverse tight curves in built-up areas. Research carried out at Keele University on curve squeal gave crucial input to developing an effective control method (KELTRACK friction modifier, developed by the company LB Foster Friction Management). This is a device by which a thin film is applied at the wheel-rail interface, which in turn destroys the generation mechanism of curve squeal. The KELTRACK friction modifier is now used in transport systems all over the world, especially in underground systems, such as the metros of Tokyo, Beijing and Madrid.
The Railway Systems Group develops state-of-the-art condition monitoring and instrumentation systems that identify system faults before they degrade into failures that cause passenger disruption. The key impacts of the Railway Systems Group lie in the following areas:
Examples of direct quantifiable impact are a reduction of over 60,000 minutes in train delays over the last one year period through monitoring of 5,600 railway point machines (the cost to Network Rail of delays is between £20/min to £160/min). Also, the deployment of an award winning conductor shoe monitoring system, which has resulted in an estimated savings of 12,150 minutes. Expert advice and practical prototypes have been through active contracts from railway companies totalling £4.2M. This includes an influence in the £7 billion successful order from the Department for Transport to Hitachi for new trains, energy saving strategies reported by the Office of the Rail Regulator and evidence to the Transport Select Committee on winter operations. These have been achieved by working extensively with the British and international railway industries in the area of condition monitoring and bespoke instrumentation systems that support an improvement in the dependability of rail travel.
The transport of people, goods, and utilities (e.g. electricity, oil, gas and water) is essential to civilised life, and in turn depends on a robust, reliable and affordable infrastructure. Since 1995, the University of Southampton Geomechanics Group (SGG) has led the development of an enhanced, science-based framework for understanding the behaviour of geotechnical transport infrastructure through monitoring, modelling and analysis. The techniques we have developed have been used by the builders, owners and operators of transport infrastructure both nationally and internationally to develop improved understandings of infrastructure geotechnical behaviour both during construction and in service. This has led to substantial savings in build, maintenance and operational costs; the implementation of effective remediation and management strategies; and significantly improved infrastructure performance.
Research by UCL's Centre for Transport Studies using PAMELA, a real-world-scale facility for conducting experiments into pedestrian movement, has improved transport services for customers on Thameslink trains and the London Underground, including increasing accessibility to London's transport for people with barriers to mobility, who make 7.1 million journeys each day. The work has led to multimillion-pound savings for Transport for London by reducing the cost of Underground platform humps. It has also informed government advice on procurement and enabled the resolution of concerns raised by the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association about the safety of the Exhibition Road redevelopment in South Kensington.
As a direct result of University of Glasgow research, there have been no deaths in a gyroplane accident in the UK since 2009. Previously, gyroplanes (also known as autogyros) had a questionable safety record. Following fifteen years of comprehensive studies, researchers recommended innovative new design standards to the Civil Aviation Authority. These recommendations led to the introduction of new civil airworthiness requirements in the UK, subsequently adopted by Australia and Canada. The implementation of these revised regulations has forced gyroplane manufacturers to change their designs. Close to 2000 machines have been produced since this design change, revolutionising gyroplane safety worldwide.
A computational aerodynamics design system (FLITE) developed by Swansea researchers has been of significant economic benefit to the aerospace industry. When introduced, the unstructured mesh FLITE approach was considered by BAE Systems to be a step change in their design cycle. Using FLITE, highly complex modern aerospace configurations could be analysed in short timescales. The FLITE system has since been utilised by a number of international organisations. Its use in the design of the BLOODHOUND project has also contributed to significant public engagement in science and engineering, including a large-scale education programme with which over 5,000 schools have fully engaged.
Research by Professor Vardy's team on unsteady pipe-flows has found direct application in road/rail tunnel design practice and in offshore engineering. The impact is exemplified by Vardy's participation in the design of many of the world's longest road and rail tunnels and in his work with industry on the detection and location of blockages in offshore pipelines. His flagship software ThermoTun, which predicts transient velocities, pressures and temperatures in complex train:tunnel systems, is licensed internationally by several major engineering consultancies and his software (MPVC) controls ventilation systems in seven Japanese road tunnels. His oil pipeline software (PipePulse) is used currently in the offshore oil industry to identify and clear flow obstructions in pipelines.