Developing a metamaterial-based experimental technique for friction monitoring

The aviation industry is posing aero-engine designs which must be light and flexible in order to meet Net Zero targets. Satisfying these constraints could result in implications such as increased vibration levels, which could lead to significant loss of performance, higher maintenance costs due to larger stresses. Therefore, it is fundamental that these implications are addressed at the design stage, through the use of models that predict engine dynamic behaviour.

However modelling engine dynamics is very complicated due to the millions of components in contact, whose understanding is limited by the lack of experimental friction data.

This PhD will contribute to developing an experimental technique, and related theory, to monitor friction contacts during vibration. To meet this objective, solitary waves are going to be used to monitor frictional interfaces. Solitary waves are strongly nonlinear waves which travel through media such as granular crystals, which are a type of phononic metamaterials.

Granular crystals are made of ordered arrays of spherical particles in contact that can support solitary wave propagation because of their contact nonlinearities. Friction monitoring based on metamaterials has never been proposed before, therefore this PhD creates an opportunity for a breakthrough in the fields of tribology and dynamics. This PhD project will make positive impact on the future of aviation, contributing to safer, cleaner and more efficient air travel.