What is your background?
I am currently a PhD student with an interest in materials engineering. Before beginning my post graduate research, I studied for a masters in engineering here at Nottingham, which I completed in 2019.
I was fortunate to have parents who are engineers, and they often talked about the exciting projects they were working on, and on occasion I was able to visit their places of work; a nuclear power station and an RAF base. A particularly fond memory was on one visit to the RAF base, where I was able to walk along the wings of a Tornado fighter jet or sitting in the cockpit of a red arrow. From this moment I was sold and wanted to pursue a career in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths (STEM). Perhaps clichéd, growing up I would spend hours taking apart electronic devices or designing and making my own 3D printers, all too often creating and solving problems that did not really exist, a true sign of a budding engineer.
Following the completion of my A-levels, which were unsurprising STEM orientated, I began studying for my masters in engineering at the University of Nottingham. Here I was given the opportunity to think critically and creatively, applying what I had learnt to design and make projects. In my final two years I was given to opportunity to work on a project designing a test rig to support a PhD student, visit Diamond Light Source, the UK’s national synchrotron facility, and analyse the results that came from this work. This made me decide to pursue a PhD of my own.
What is your research about?
My research is focussed on the characterisation of abradables and compressor blade-casing interactions within modern gas-turbines. An improved understanding of these will facilitate smaller compressor blade tip clearances with the surrounding casing, which will in turn lead to increased engine efficiency and performance.
However, when the compressor blades rotate at high speeds they elongate due to centrifugal loading, or when the plane goes through turbulence the engine casing deforms ovally, causing blade casing rubs. This rubbing can cause severe damage to both the blades and the casing, leading to reduced engine efficiency and increased maintenance costs. To mitigate this problem, engineers have developed abradable coatings. Abradable coatings are designed to wear preferentially to the compressor blades, enabling a reduced clearance between the blades and the engine casing. This reduces upstream air leakage over the blade tips, increasing the compressors performance.
While abradable coatings have been designed to reduce compressor blade tip clearance and improve gas turbine engine efficiency, they are not without their challenges. One of the main issues is the adhesion of the abradable material to the compressor blade tip. If the abradable material adheres to the blade tip, the length of the blade is increased and can lead to more aggressive subsequent interactions. This can cause damage to or even complete loss of the blade during operation. Additionally, excessive heating due to the friction between the abradable material and the blade can cause the abradable to melt, reducing its effectiveness over time.
Ultimately, my research aims to characterise the abradables, so that blade-casing interactions can be better modelled, enabling specific blade geometries and abradable systems to be designed that can tolerate the smaller tip clearances.
Why did you choose the University of Nottingham?
Nottingham is a large university with state-of-the-art equipment and exciting practical modules that provide you with experience in the workshop and labs. There are research and teaching staff who are leaders in their fields, and continually want to push the boundaries in their areas of interests. Furthermore, and perhaps most importantly, it is close to the city centre which has a great nightlife to help you unwind.
What would you say to aspiring engineers?
Go for it!
Pursuing a degree or career in engineering will be challenging and oftentimes leave you banging your head against the wall, but ultimately there is nothing to lose. You will have an exceptional degree with lots of transferrable skills, and plenty of new and exciting opportunities along the way.