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Wide Chord Fan Blades provide a key competitive advantage for Rolls-Royce's £8.6bn aero-engine business employing 1500 staff. In service, blades experience massive loads and high-frequency vibration, creating the potential for failure. In response to blade-off events on the Trent™ 800 engine, Rolls-Royce (RR) urgently needed a means of inhibiting fatigue crack growth, and selected laser shock peening (LSP). Research in the UoA, elucidating the mechanism and outcomes of LSP, provided critical scientific underpinning for its introduction into the production process for the Trent™ 800 and, subsequently, other engines. Further the UoA now provides manufacturing process QA. Orders for the new Trent™ XWB engine, relying on LSP, exceed £60bn, with partners The Metal Improvement Company establishing dedicated LSP treatment facilities for RR in the UK (with 30 employees) and Singapore.
The lifetimes of Hartlepool and Heysham I nuclear power stations have been extended from 2011 to 2019 as a direct result of our research into the development and application of new measurement techniques for the accurate determination of residual stresses. These life extensions are contributing to the health of the UK economy, maintaining jobs, ensuring security of electricity supply, and deferring the need for decommissioning and replacement of two nuclear power stations at a cost of several billion pounds each. The electricity generated during the life extension period has a market value of over £8 billion. New numerical modelling methods, underpinned by our measurements, are now used by the nuclear industry in life assessment procedures.
Research at the University of Manchester has supported the development of inertia and linear friction welding of high temperature materials for aeroengine application. The research has guided process parameter development and led to deployment of these new welding techniques at Rolls-Royce plc. In particular, inertia friction welding is now used in modern gas turbine engines, such as the Trent 900, which powers the A380, Trent 1000 for the Boeing 787 and Trent XWB for the Airbus A350. In addition, research has enabled blisk technology (welding of blades on disks), which has delivered up to 30% weight saving on critical rotating components.
We have optimised aerospace structural designs and assessment methods through development and application of hybrid residual stress characterisation techniques. Our research results on bonded crack retarders have redirected industry development programmes on hybrid metal laminate material systems and been used to evaluate reinforced structural concepts for US Air Force wing and fuselage applications. Methods to assess and mitigate maintenance-induced damage have been developed and implemented based on our research. Our contour measurement technology has been transferred to the US Air Force, which now has the capability to perform measurements in-house and support work with both NASA and the US Navy.
This prize-winning outreach project exploits our capability in 3D X-ray imaging to showcase our world-leading research activities in aeroengine materials and manufacturing processes, stimulating young people's interest in science and technology by challenging them to design an engine of their own. Involving an extensive schedule of public events, workshops and activity days, as well as a permanent exhibit at Manchester's Museum of Science & Industry, the project has engaged and enthused hundreds of thousands of members of the public. These outreach activities were recognised by the Royal Academy of Engineering through the award of its Nexia Solutions Education Innovation prize.
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.
Our research has enhanced neutron diffraction instruments worldwide for strain measurements on industrial engineering components, moving the technique from a scientific to an engineering tool. We led the £3.5m consortium which designed and built the world's first neutron diffractometer optimised for engineering measurements (ENGIN-X at the UK ISIS neutron source). The Strain Scanning Software (SScanSS) we developed for experiment visualization, simulation and control vastly improved the utility of the instrument to execute engineering residual stress measurements in complex structures and is now adopted at eight facilities worldwide. Numerous multinational companies including General Motors, John Deere, Airbus, Tata Steel and Pacific Rail Engineering have used the methods from our research to support their development programmes.