ISSUE 8: December2015
MechEngNews MechEngNews
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Contents.
Hello!
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The Big Walk Les hikes 286 miles for Lung Disease Research
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Profile Dr Beverley Gibbs
As another year draws to an end and we all start to wind down for the Christmas break we’ve got lots to report from the last quarter!
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Gordon Franklin In memory
07 What’s Whitworth? Joseph Whitworth Scholarship 08
Where are they now? Henry Brunskill
10 Exyo Put their best foot forward 11
U AV to be in it to win it IMechE’s UAV challenge
12 Get a grip Effects of friction on tennis courts 14
Research focus This quarter’s grants
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Making work work for you Flexible working
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Big boots to fill The new SELA cohort
18 Read all about it! News from around the Department 20
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Everyone has been busy, both in work and out, with Les Morton walking 286 miles for charity, Ben Hughes becoming president (for the Joseph Withworth Award scheme. not the country, silly!), and alumni and students winning prestigious awards, there’s been loads to talk about! And, let’s not forget, our big move into the Diamond! Thanks to everyone who has contributed to MechEngNews with some fantastic stories this year! We’re looking forward to seeing what 2016 brings! We wish everyone a fun filled break and a fantastic New Year!
Kat Kat Buck
Editor k.buck@sheffield.ac.uk
Follow us: @SheffMechEng
The Final Word.
/SheffMechEng MechEngNewsThis publication is produced using 100% recycled FSC certified paper
The Big Walk Mech Eng technician Les Morton donned his running shoes again this year, this time for a feat (excuse the pun) of stamina, will power and bravery, for an epic 286 mile trek from Scotland to Sheffield. Les completed the walk with a team of 20 others from the University, including professional staff, alumni, academics and even 2 Faculty Pro VCs, all raising funds for lung disease research at the University of Sheffield. In its 50th anniversary year, the team spent 15 days walking the Penine Way, one of the most spectacular and well loved trails in the UK, crossing 249 stiles, 204 bridges and 287 gates and taking in sights such as Kinder Scout, Stoodley Pike, Top Withins, Malham Cove, Pen-y-ghent, Tan Hill, High Force, Cauldron Snout, High Cup Nick, Cross Fell, Hadrian’s Wall and The Cheviot.
The team completed the Penine Way on day 14 at Edale where they were greeted with champagne and after their long and exhausting journey, a few tears were shed before heading off to the pub for a well earned pint (or ten).
As the days wore on the walk started to take it’s toll on people’s feet so Sudocrem, Compeed, Zinc tape and painkillers were being used by a lot of the team.
So far, the Big Walk has raised over £61,000 towards lung disease research, specifically Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension - a life threatening condition affecting the lungs and the right side of the heart. Sheffield is a major international centre for the diagnosis, treatment and research of this condition. We are already making exciting discoveries that we hope will lead to better treatments and ultimately defeat this condition. The money raised from this event will accelerate our research and help us to develop and test new treatments.
The group were joined on the last day by over 100 one day walkers, including Jamie Booth, Phil Pickstock, Ian Hammond, Michael Jackson and Karl Rotchell from the Department of Mechanical Engineering. The last stretch took the walkers from Edale back into Sheffield for a big heroes welcome at Firth Court.
To donate, visit https://www.justgiving.com/ Les-Morton1/
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Profile: Dr Beverley Gibbs
Bev in Nuuk, Greenland, while looking at mining of rare earth elements.
What made you want to become a mechanical engineer? I’m fascinated by how things are made – what materials things are made from, how it’s been manufactured, where the joints are, what the design philosophy is - has it been designed to be repaired? Maintained? Replaced? For longevity? Adaptability? Modularity? These things run through my mind whether I pick up a book, choose a lamp or stand under a bus shelter.
Where did you train? For me, training took place on the job as well through formal education. I started as an apprentice at my local FE College then a day release BEng at Loughborough whilst working
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as a Production Technician/Engineer. After I graduated I went to work at the National Physical Laboratory in Teddington as a research engineer where I was Chartered, and then moved into formulating and managing research programmes when I was sponsored to do an MBA at Cranfield. Working in mining I got interested in the social context of engineering so finally moved to academia to do an MA and PhD at Nottingham on a 3+1 studentship.
What are your research interests? My primary role at Sheffield relates to teaching, and I’m interested in the idea of the T-shaped engineer, what one looks like and how they learn. In terms of the implementation of engineering, I’m
MechEngNews
A local woman from Bev’s latest trip to Nuuk in Greenland.
interested in how we govern very complex systems amongst policy, industry and public stakeholders. If anyone has a grant idea or a studentship where they’d like to bring in public responses, business environment or policy implications I’d be really happy to chat about that!
What projects are you currently working on? Unusually within this Department, my research uses qualitative techniques. I’m interested in what the particular attributes of interdisciplinary learning are and how we manifest them in course design and classroom strategies. More generally, I’ve been looking at the mining of rare earth elements in Greenland as a possible way for the country to become independent from Denmark. Installing engineered systems in the Arctic – onshore and offshore – is risky, expensive and disruptive, sometimes politically attractive and potentially very lucrative.
If there was one MechEng problem you could solve, what would it be? Design for disassembly, for example in consumer electronics so we could recover the critical raw materials in them at the end of their life. We are about to mine the Arctic for these materials when there are tonnes in waste mountains.
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Recognise an opportunity when you see it, and just take it!
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What words of advice would you give to your student-self about the future? Recognise an opportunity when you see it, and just take it….life isn’t the straight path you think it is.
Icebergs on the beach in Nuuk, Greenland.
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Investing in the
engineers of the future The Department of Mechanical Engineering has received a generous donation in memory of Gordon Franklin, a man who spent most of his life working in and loving mechanical Engineering. Gordon was not a Sheffield graduate but achieved his B.Eng degree in Mechanical Engineering from Imperial College London in the years just after the Second World War. Lectures were in draughty church halls with boarded up windows, and living accommodation was not the best. With no parental support, Gordon worked in term time for a dairy company on a delivery round at first, but later as manager, and supplemented a meagre diet with milk. In the holidays, he sought employment with various engineering companies to gain practical experience. After graduation, with no means of support, he signed up for one trip in the Merchant Navy as a junior engineering officer with responsibility for the engine, boilers and refrigeration system for food storage. The trip took him to the Far East, Japan and China and gave valuable experience not only as an engineer but also of life generally. He became interested in production engineering and, through the sponsorship of the father of his
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childhood American pen-friend, was accepted at the University of Tennessee to study for a PhD in production engineering which was awarded in 1952. Returning to the UK, he joined a civil engineering company, which he had worked for as a student and supervised the building of bridges, docks, laying railway tracks in colliery yards as well as on the East Coast mainline and even house building in Harlow new town. Finally settling in Sheffield, he joined the production engineering team at British Acheson Electrodes (later Union Carbide), ending his working life as chief production engineer. The gift of £70,000 will be split between undergraduates (£20k) and PhD students (£50k) in the form of scholarships to support them in their living costs during their university careers. Julia Boler is a law graduate of Sheffield and knew Gordon well for over thirty years. Julia says, “My experience of university life in the late 1960’s was very different from his and what I’ve seen of today’s student experience it is very different again. I admired Gordon’s determination to experience all he could in his early life and to innovate and apply his knowledge and skills to any job, large or small. I felt he would empathise with any similarly disadvantaged young person seeking a career in engineering which can be so varied in its application. I hope he would have agreed with the funding I have made available in his memory.”
MechEngNews
What’s
Wh
itworth?
Dr Ben Hughes from the Department of Mechanical Engineering has recently been elected President for 2015/16 for the Sir Joseph Whitworth Award scheme, an initiative under the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE). The Whitworth Scholarships originate from the foresight and passion of Sir Joseph Whitworth, one of history’s most famous engineers. A former apprentice himself, he left a legacy to fund engineering scholarships to assist technicians and apprentices wishing to pursue an academic engineering degree. As a Trustee of this legacy, the IMechE offers a number of awards each year from the Whitworth Scholarship Trust to support students through their degree programme, as well as senior scholarships for postgraduate research.
complete my PhD. I know first-hand how it can benefit students through their education and career by providing finance, guidance, support and access to a unique network of contacts. “As President, it was an honour for me to present the scholarships to the next generation of students who will no doubt go on to become the engineering leaders of tomorrow.” For further information about the Scholarships, visit: http://goo.gl/xtW8FD.
The scholarships are awarded to the brightest and most tenacious apprentices and those who have spent a minimum of two years as an apprentice. In return, they receive £5,000 for each year of full-time study on an MEng or MSc course in any engineering discipline. Dr Hughes presented this year’s Scholarships at the IMechE vision awards ceremony in London. He said of the scheme: “Having started my career as an apprentice and after going onto complete my degree in Mechanical Engineering, I was supported by a Whitworth Senior Scholarship to
Joseph Whitworth left a legacy to fund engineering scholarships to assist technicians and apprentices to pursue an academic
engineering
degree. MechEngNews
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Where are they now? Henry Brunskill graduated in 2013 after almost 10 years in the Department, having studied for his undergraduate and PhD with us. He now works for Tribosonics Ltd where he recently created a dedicated tribology and applications department. and interact with some of the leading engineering organisations worldwide, allowing me to work closely with many talented and experienced engineers and further my development.”
Henry’s PhD looked at the characterisation of dynamic machine element contacts using ultrasonic reflectometry with a focus on realtime measurement of dynamic tribological contacts that can be applied to real engineering problems. During his research it became evident that there was a great demand from industry to apply some of the techniques he had developed to solve real life industrial tribological problems and Tribosonics Ltd, an engineering firm based in Sheffield, asked him to join the company. “I was always sure I would pursue a career in academia, but I was persuaded to join the company I now work for, Tribosonics, as a full time employee. Tribosonics agreed to support the completion of my PhD and other responsibilities at the University, whilst nurturing my desire to increase my tribological industrial problem solving activity.” says Henry, “My current position at Tribosonics gives me the opportunity to travel
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Henry has recently created a dedicated tribology and applications department at Tribosonics. He now leads a team of young engineers and oversees the whole project lifecycle (sales, proposals, planning, engineering, and reporting). “The new role and department I’ve created has guaranteed that I will stay within the field of tribology as the company expands and becomes more diverse. I have great confidence with the organisation and I feel we can make a significant difference in industry with our next generation measurement and monitoring systems.” he says. Since joining Tribosonics Henry has been responsible for delivering measurement and monitoring systems to many engineering organisations; both small organisations and large engineering multinationals in oil, gas, renewable energy, marine diesel, power generation, Formula 1, nuclear, lubrications, universities, NDT, civil, motorsport, bearings, aerospace and tribometer manufacturers. The bespoke products are often retrofitted to existing industrial systems across a wide range of applications to measure things such as lubricant film thickness in combustion engines, wear in various machine elements, contact pressures between a train wheel and rail and stress in steel structures. Henry tells us, “Initially my work at Tribosonics centred around providing short term consultancy projects providing customers with understanding of their tribosystems in test rigs and one off
MechEngNews
field tests. More and more, though, the focus is to provide permanently installed condition monitoring systems allowing real-time feedback in order to control parameters to improve efficiency and increase reliability in these complex systems.” Henry has never really left us and has continued to work closely with the University. “I have pioneered an ongoing summer placement scheme at Tribosonics, to which I act as a primary mentor. I also help supervise MEng and MSc industrially linked individual projects each year and help a number of the PhD students working in the fields of ultrasonics and tribology.” Each year Henry takes on an intern who is studying the MEng course with a year in industry and also offers a number of student summer placements. “Students will find themselves working on real-life tribological problem solving projects in which they learn a significant amount about tribology and its importance in industry.” he says. There is no such thing as a typical day for Henry as his job is so widely varied. “One day I could be at a research facility in India, the next I could be up a wind turbine in Germany. The only thing I can guarantee is variety.” Henry has recently been awarded the IMechE Tribology Bronze Medal for his work in the fields of friction, lubrication and wear, a highly regarded award which will, no doubt, enhance his career even further. And he’s not the only one at Tribosonics to receive that award, Director Phil Harper, another alumni from Mech Eng received the award in a previous year.
Henry’s advice to anyone studying engineering is, “Engineering is such a broad multi-disciplinary subject that requires individuals with highly varied talents. Even if you struggle with some aspects of the engineering degree, don’t be disheartened as once you enter industry, you don’t have to be an expert in everything. Make sure you try many different roles before settling down to any one.” If you’d like to know more about placements at Tribosonics Ltd, please visit http://www.tribosonics.com/pages/abouttribosonics/placements.htm
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Exyo put their best foot forward Graduates from the Department of Mechanical Engineering won the ‘Business Concept’ category at this year’s annual University of Sheffield Enterprise (USE) Evolve Business competition, held recently. The concept building and business planning competition, organised by USE each year, gives enterprising students and recent graduates of the University of Sheffield the opportunity to develop an innovative business idea, produce a creative video pitch and prove its potential to a panel of expert judges in a Dragons’ Den-style final. The prize for the winner of the Business Concept category was £1000 and was won this year by Exyo, comprised of mechanical engineering graduates, Christopher Hughes, Andrew Morgan and Jonathan Charlesworth. After completing Professor Elena RodriguezFalcon’s Mechanical Engineering ‘Technology Strategy and Business Planning’ module a couple
of years ago, the three graduates developed their idea from the module to create an innovative posterior walker. The idea of the module is that students work in teams to find technical solutions to a real problem, provided by a member of the community, such as those with disabilities. The walker that Exyo have developed is much sturdier and more lightweight than conventional posterior walkers, making it more suitable for use on rough outdoor terrain. This allows users much more freedom to walk in the countryside and take part in sporting activities. Christopher Hughes said: “We’re so grateful for all that USE does in providing opportunities such as the business concept award. Negotiating a startup is challenging so funding and resources will quite simply enable us to get this life enhancing product to market faster.” Congratulations to Exyo and all of the finalists, it’s always amazing to see how our innovative and enterprising students and graduates are putting their engineering knowledge and experience to great use! Please visit exyo.co.uk to find out more and sign up to their mailing list.
L-R: Jonathan Charlesworth, Christopher Hughes & Andrew Morgan
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MechEngNews
U AV to be in it
to win it
The IMechE’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems Challenge asks undergraduate teams to design and build an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) before competing in a final ‘fly-off’, allowing them to work on cutting edge research, with real industrial applications.
Throughout the last year, the team worked with Dr Simon Hayes and Dr Austin Lafferty at the Composite Systems Innovation Centre (CSIC) in Sheffield to create a complex carbon fibre structure using electrical curing techniques. Curing is traditionally done by ovens or autoclaves, which are expensive and inefficient. By applying a direct electrical current through the carbon structure, a resistance heater is created allowing for a similar level of cure but using considerably less energy. The team is led this year by MecEng students Ilgit Ercan and Lewis Parsons, and with over 50 active members they continue to push the boundaries of engineering and technology. Working closely with academics and industry they continue to develop new and exciting UAV designs.
Last year, 2nd year MechEng student Yun Hang Cho and 3rd year Aerospace student Jonathan Eyre formulated a plan to enter a Sheffield team into the 2015 competition. UAVs can be used to deliver humanitarian aid to remote areas where access is difficult. Their mission objective was to design, develop and deliver a system, which could autonomously deliver two 1kg packages, over 2 km, in under 2 minutes.
If you are interested in learning more or sponsoring the team, please contact team leaders Lewis Parsons (lwparsons1@sheffield.ac.uk) and Ilgit Ercan (iercan1@sheffield.ac.uk).
At the competition, the team achieved 3rd place overall and came 2nd in the design, manufacturing and business categories. They competed against 14 other teams from Universities across the country; developing an autonomous carbon fibre quadcopter, with image recognition technology to identify the drop zone and precisely deliver packages without any human interaction.
MechEngNews
Team leader Lewis Parsons works on the final touches of their UAV
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Get a
grip
Engineers in the Department of Mechanical Engineering are working with the International Tennis Federation (ITF) on a device that can measure the effects of friction on tennis courts.
Modern tennis players like Nadal, Murray and Djokovic don’t just run around the court, they slide around it too. It’s a move that wows audiences and amateurs, and can often give those players the edge over their opponents.
“We are working with the ITF to create a handheld device to test friction. This will help them to develop a series of guidelines and parameters for elite tennis courts, ensuring that they provide enough grip for players to play their natural game and to slide in a controlled manner,” he adds. While currently focussed on the professional game, the test may, in due course, have an impact on the amateur and recreational level as these
Keen to keep players informed and audiences entertained, the Sheffield team’s research will help tennis professionals to understand and measure tennis court friction, ensuring the world’s best players are able to slide to success. Sliding on clay courts like those at Roland Garros is made easy due to the low-friction nature of the surface. On hard courts, where the friction is much higher, sliding to meet the ball is much like sliding on the pavement. It’s a move that has come to the attention of expert observers - including those at the ITF - keen to understand what this new move means for players and for courts. Dr Matt Carré and Daniel Ura (PhD) are working with the ITF to explore the amount of friction generated when players slide with the aim of creating a simple-to-use and portable hand-held device to measure friction. “Research has shown that the act of sliding is, perhaps counter-intuitively, better for an elite player like Djokovic who will take every advantage to win. The slide enables them to change direction and quickly position themselves on the court to return the ball, and set off for the next return,” Daniel Ura explains.
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As well as ensuring, quite literally, a level playing field, the research could potentially help tennis shoe manufacturers to create new and exciting shoe designs that will maximise elite players’ ability to control their slides. Inevitably surface manufacturers - those responsible for creating the tennis courts for elite play - will become involved in this rapidly developing field too, working together across the sport for the benefit of players and the public.
players begin to emulate the sliding movements of the elite level players. The device Carré and Ura are creating works by mechanically replicating the frictional parameters involved in the complex interaction between the player, the shoe and the surface. This includes the surface type, player force, sliding shoe orientation and speed that occur during critical player movements like the push off and the slide where maximum performance is needed.
Jamie Capel-Davies at the ITF explains what the test will mean for the custodians of the sport, and how it will be used: “The ITF already classifies surfaces by their speed of play using court pace rating, which involves firing a ball at the surface and measuring its speed before and after the bounce. We know that the interaction between the shoe and the surface is also important to players. “Our aim is to have a standard test that will enable us to develop a ‘sliding scale’ for surfaces. Surfaces can then be rated by their propensity for sliding, e.g. high, medium, low, giving players – as well as court owners and tournament organisers – more information on what the court is like to play on.” In a sport where winning could be the difference between a slip and a slide, it’s research with a real impact.
“Our role in the process is to develop a test that is quick and easy to use, but is based on evidence,” explains Dr Carré. “The purpose is to ensure that courts reach the standard required for elite play, and enable all players to play to the best of their abilities.”
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Research focus: UK’s largest dynamic test facility A new £4m grant from EPSRC will support the University of Sheffield to build one of the largest dynamic test facilities in the UK, taking the total current investment in the facility to £11m. The Structural Dynamics Laboratory for Verification and Validation (LVV), which will be built on the second phase of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Park, will be unique in its research and development offer to businesses across the UK. It will drive forward collaborative research with industry and cement Sheffield’s position as a world leader in structural dynamics. The facility will enable the University of Sheffield to work with industry to test and research engineering structures and systems from the component level to full scale. It will also allow testing across a range of environments previously inaccessible to academic research. A modular environmental chamber in the laboratory will be able to control temperature, humidity and wind speed as well as simulate rain and snow. The ability to test in realistic conditions at full scale will pave the way for engineers to create lighter, greener, safer structures. The development of the LVV has been widely endorsed by industry. Many leading companies, including Airbus and Rolls-Royce, have written letters of support for the new facility which will transform the opportunities to research in structural dynamics in the UK. Professor Richard Jones, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation at the University, said: “Computer simulation of models of the way large structures behave in use are increasingly powerful, but for industry to realise the full benefits of these techniques we need to test these models against large scale experimental data, so they can be confident of their results.
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Mechanical Engineering student Daniella Tiboaca is pictured measuring the acceleration of a Piper Tomahawk wing.
“This facility will allow us to do this testing, giving industry confidence in the models and allowing faster and therefore more cost effective product developments in a number of different industry sectors. “Better modelling also means we will be able to move from structures that have a safe-life design philosophy to a damage-tolerant one which offers cost savings through extending the lifetime of existing structures.” Led by the Dynamics Research Group (DRG) in the University’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, the laboratory will offer significant benefits across a range of industrial sectors including energy, aerospace, renewables and medical engineering. The DRG is already one of the largest specialist groups in the world; it is hoped the new facility will enable the DRG to become the primary resource for structural dynamics within the European Union. Professor Keith Worden, head of the DRG, is set to become Director of the new Structural Dynamics Laboratory for Verification and Validation.
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Funding received
“This new facility is extremely important for the University of Sheffield and will give the UK a world-lead in verification and validation research while accelerating new methods and test protocols,” said Professor Worden. “Advances in structural dynamics hold the key to major cost reductions across many of the UK’s priority industrial engineering sectors. “This facility will have the ability to test structures like helicopters and airframes at full-scale and will present the UK with a unique opportunity to take a world lead in verification and validation.”
Innovate UK £249,928 EPSRC £401,041 EE Commission £28,140 Rolls-Royce £10,000 Airbus £20,000 Royal Society £28,600
It has been identified that there is a critical gap in UK Universities in medium and large scale infrastructure for structural dynamics and furthermore, this gap has been identified as detrimental to UK innovation. Speaking about the major investment from the EPSRC, Professor Philip Nelson FREng, Chief Executive of the EPSRC, said: “This £4m investment will provide a step change in structural dynamics research and position the UK as a world leader in this field. By investing in this area of research and innovation at Sheffield, we are providing an internationally excellent platform supporting industry and business to help deliver a successful economy and future growth.” This new development contributes towards the vision for the UK’s first Advanced Manufacturing Innovation District, which will provide a centre of productivity for the Northern Powerhouse. Construction is already underway on the first project at the site, the £43m Factory 2050 which will be the UK’s first fully reconfigurable assembly and component manufacturing facility for collaborative research. Plans are also in place to develop the existing Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre which could create 1,800 new jobs and provide an annual direct contribution of up to £74.2 million to the local economy.
MOD £250,302
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Biomech
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Dynamics
Energy
Solid mech
Thermofluids
Design & man.
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Making work
work for you
Since the introduction of the University’s flexible working scheme in 2014, more and more men and women have been taking the opportunity to make their work work for them, whether it’s to take care of their kids, a family member or just to enjoy more ‘me time’. Chris Drew, Business Development Manager in Mechanical Engineering and his wife Amanda, who also works at the University, both switched to flexible working after the arrival of their second child in April. Chris says, “Working flexibly, has allowed us to minimise the amount of time that Elsie has to be in nursery, while also making sure that someone is there for our son Roman when he comes home from school. My mum was always at home and my dad worked just around the corner so I always had my parents around, I wanted the same for my kids.” Chris works condensed hours meaning that he gets one afternoon a week to spend alone with the kids. “My flexible contract has drastically improved my work life balance and with a half day off each week, I get to enjoy a couple of hours of daddy-daughter time before picking Roman up from school and cooking dinner for the family, something I couldn’t do on my old contract.”
Chris Drew enjoying cuddles at home with Elsie and Roman.
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Dr Rachel Tomlinson has had a flexible contract since joining the Department 17 years ago. As the first female academic in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Rachel felt pressured at first to come back to work full time after having her first child but quickly found that the Department was very amenable to her new working arrangements. “My hours have varied over the years, from working 3 days a week after my first child was born, to working shorter days so I could pick the kids up from school, and now I have Fridays off to go swimming and keep on top of house stuff, which is great because it frees up the weekends for family time.” says Rachel. “Flexible working works both ways, I’ve had to make changes too and be much more organised, but I think that the new 10-3 core working hours will make a huge difference to those with caring responsibilities who need some flexibility in work.”
Dr Rachel Tomlinson on a recent family day trip to Bakewell.
MechEngNews
Big boots
to fill
After a successful inaugural year, the Sheffield Engineering Leadership Academy (SELA) has welcomed a new cohort of students, including four from Mechanical Engineering, into the programme. Meet the engineering leaders of the future.
Mech Eng members Deven Darshane and Vamesh Jajoo.
Mech Eng members Sam Barnes and Samuel Grant.
This year’s bootcamp, held at Wortley Hall in September, was the result of a year long project assigned to the 2014 cohort. The students worked tirelessly to gain sponsorship from industry contacts and raised a whopping £9000 to pay for the two day event.
impressed.” says SELA Director, Professor Neil Hopkinson, “I am very pleased to see that the outstanding standard of SELA members has been maintained in our SELA 2015 cohort and I expect very good things from this group including the delivery of an excellent Boot camp 2016.”
The new cohort includes four students from Mechanical Engineering (pictured above) as well as others from across the Faculty of Engineering.
Mech Eng student and SELA member Deven Darshane says, “I see SELA as an excellent opportunity to build on and facilitate my growth into an industry leader. My favourite part of the bootcamp was the negotiation workshop. It demonstrated how knowing all the information from both sides can lead to a mutually beneficial outcome. By the end of the weekend I certainly felt confident I had the skills to put on another for next year’s cohort, just like the 2014 cohort did for us.”
SELA member Sam Barnes says, “The 2014 Cohort did a brilliant job organising the bootcamp, it was really well thought out and informative while still being very enjoyable. I think it was the perfect way to start my time with SELA.” “Boot camp 2015 was delivered by SELA 2014 members to a standard that exceeded my high expectations and it was clear that our external stakeholders including senior industrialists and representatives of the IET were similarly
To find out more about SELA, please visit www.sela-sheffield.org.uk
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Read all about it! News from around the Department Diamonds are forever Students in the Department of Mechanical Engineering are enjoying lectures in the University’s new £81m Diamond building after it opened its doors on 28 September. The building, which will be home to engineering undergraduates, has an aluminium diamond shaped facade exterior and stands at the heart of the University campus as a major investment in learning and teaching. Inside, the six-storey Diamond boasts specialist teaching facilities including a range of lecture theatres, seminar rooms, open-plan learning spaces, library and IT services, and space for informal study including a cafe.
Richard Pover fund reaches £15k Richard Pover was a dedicated Mechanical Engineering student who passed away in 2013 due to an agressive form of testicular cancer.
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His family have ever since been raising funds for a scholarship in his name. Richard’s fund currently stands at £15,280 following various fund raising events by Richard’s mum, Anne. The latest event was the Superbike Championships at Oulton Stadium where Anne and members of staff from the University took collections and raised a fantastic £682. Since beginning to raise funds for the scholarship, the Pover family have been nominated for a Team of the Year award by their local newspaper. To make a donation visit justgiving. com/rememberingrichardpover/
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contact can result in loss of performance and in the worst case lead to a safety issue. The reasons for low adhesion are still not fully understood. The aim of the international research project is to gain a deeper physical understanding of the phenomenon and to develop reliable prediction models to further enhance the safety of railway vehicles.
New rail research collaboration The Department of Mechanical Engineering’s Professor Roger Lewis will be working with VIRTUAL VEHICLE Research Center and the University of Pardubice to model and quantify the influence of water on wheel/rail adhesion levels on the international research project, T1077, which is funded by the UK Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB).
The project will review current research relating to the effect of water in the wheelrail contact patch, and develop a model that can predict its influence on wheel-rail adhesion. It aims to provide an adaptable and scalable model, enabling industry to take more targeted and effective shortterm measures, and to identify long-term measures and solutions to be pursued. VIRTUAL VEHICLE Research Center will be responsible for modeling issues while the Universities will conduct necessary testing for parameterisation and validation of the models.
Low adhesion phenomena in wheel-rail
Green Impacts goes silver What a great year we’ve had and we’re ready for another fun-filled year of Green Impact events and initiatives. This year not only did we achieve our Silver award but we also won most improved team and got to plant a tree on campus! The Department are now the proud owners of a Himalayan Birch Tree aka the Snow Queen as she will produce an incredible white trunk. Landscape Supervisor Alan Henderson was on hand to help us plant our new addition just outside the Student Union. He told us that across the campus the university is in the care of just over 10
thousand trees and for everyone that has to be felled two are replanted in its place. So if you’re passing by the Student Union keep an eye out for our Queen!
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The Final Word. This first term always seems to fly by, and is it any wonder with our big move to the Diamond as well as all of the fantastic things people have been getting up to in and around the Department? Once again, we have an issue jam packed with stories from our staff, students and alumni and I love to see the variety of the things going on. I’d like to congratulate Les Morton and the other walkers from the Department, who have (quite literally) worn their feet into the ground to raise huge amounts for a great cause in the University’s Big Walk. Congratulations, also, to the team who worked on the Athena Swan submission, gaining the Department a Bronze Award. This is a demonstration of our commitment to advancing the careers of women in engineering employment in higher education and research, and yet another example of why ours is a great Department in which to study and work. It’s time now for me to wish everyone reading this a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year! I’m sure there will be lots more exciting news to come in 2016.
Neil Sims
Head of Department, Mechanical Engineering
This publication is produced using 100% recycled FSC certified paper
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