An essential element of the first-year taught program of the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Composites Science, Engineering, and Manufacturing (COSEM CDT) is the Design, Build and Test (DBT) group project. Each year, the cohort takes on an exciting new project that aligns with ongoing research at the Bristol Composites Institute. In this year's DBT project, students were challenged to develop a bio-inspired lattice structure within a rocket interstage fairing, with the goal of demonstrating the potential mass and performance benefits offered by nature-inspired design strategies supported by NextCOMP.
The students were divided into three groups, Designing, Manufacturing and Testing, with each group focusing on a specific area while working collaboratively across the full project scope. Together, they tackled all aspects of the design and development process, from the conceptual design of the sea sponge lattice structure and development of an FEA model to the fiddly manufacturing and implementation of a bespoke testing rig. Finally, the lattice structures and reference cones were subjected to compressive loads until buckling or (dramatic) failure.
The cohort recorded their exciting progress and activities throughout the unit, and with support from James Griffith (2021 CDT cohort), the work was compiled into a short video showcasing the entire project.
The DBT group project challenges students to apply their theoretical knowledge in a practical, research-driven setting. By working on real-world engineering problems, students develop valuable skills not typically gained through traditional teaching methods. Running alongside other units, the project also helps build essential skills such as time management, teamwork, and project planning. A real taster for future academic and industry roles.
Cam Abercromby, who concentrated on the project's design aspect, stated: “Working in a multi-disciplinary group carried through a lot of different learning opportunities, with good communication being essential to the project. Within the design team, we balanced trying to optimise the design whilst ensuring direct communication with manufacturing and test teams to ensure the structure could be manufactured in house and that the modelled environment reflected the test setup. The varying experiences off all team members lead to challenges to work out best communication practices and balancing workloads however the team managed to overcome these to deliver the lattice cones to the customer requirements.”
Ian Lee (2021 CDT cohort), who supported the project on behalf of NextCOMP, said: “The DBT project was a highlight of the CDT taught component for me and I had the pleasure to support this year’s cohort as the lead teaching assistant. As a member of the NextCOMP programme grant my research is aiming to improve the compressive performance of manufactured composites through applying biomimetic systems architectures. As such, the theme for this year’s project had direct relevance both to my own work and the broader interests of the programme’s research and industrial partners.
In September I had the honour of presenting the DBT groups work to the wider research community at the British Society for Strain Measurement annual conference (BSSM-18). I was able to demonstrate the wide range of conceptual, manufacturing, experimentation, and project management techniques that the group had collectively gained and applied during the project. Of particular interest to the audience were the images the group generated during testing, highlighting the significant improvement in specific compressive performance for the biomimetic structure they had manufactured.”
More Bristol Composites Institute news.