We are witnessing huge global shifts towards cleaner growth and more resource efficient economies. The drive to lower carbon emissions is resulting in dramatic changes in how we travel and the ways we generate and use energy worldwide. Electrical machines are at the heart of the accelerating trends in the electrification of transport and the increased use of renewable energy such as offshore wind. To address the pressing drivers for clean growth and meet the increasing demands of new applications, new electrical machines with improved performance - higher power density, lower weight, improved reliability - are being designed by researchers and industry. However, there are significant manufacturing challenges to be overcome if UK industry is going to be able to manufacture these new machines with the appropriate cost, flexibility and quality. The Hub's vision is to put UK manufacturing at the forefront of the electrification revolution. The Hub will address key manufacturing challenges in the production of high integrity and high value electrical machines for the aerospace, energy, high value automotive and premium consumer sectors. The Hub will work in partnership with industry to address some common and fundamental barriers limiting manufacturing capability and capacity: the need for in-process support to manual operations in electrical machine manufacture - e.g. coil winding, insertions, electrical connections and wiring - to improve productivity and provide quality assurance; the sensitivity of high value and high integrity machines to small changes in tolerance and the requirement for high precision in manufacturing for safety critical applications; the increasing drive to low batch size, flexibility and customisation; and the need to train the next generation of manufacturing scientists and engineers. The Hub's research programme will explore new and emerging manufacturing processes, new materials for enhanced functionality and/or light-weighting, new approaches for process modelling and simulation, and the application of digital approaches with new sensors and Industrial Internet of Things (IoT) technologies.

Strategy=======The overall aim of the Cambridge EDC is to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of engineering designers and design teams by undertaking research into the theories that will underpin the design methods of the future. These methods will be embodied in software tools, workbooks and publications that support the creation of reliable, high-quality, cost-effective products.Research Themes==============The EDC's is structured under the following research Themes: * Healthcare Design: Design for Patient Safety * Inclusive Design: Designing for the Older and Disabled Users (1) * Process Modelling: Modelling the Design Process * Change Management: Tracking Changes in Products * Design Practice: Understanding Practice * Engineering Knowledge: Capture, Storage and Retrival (1) * Computational Design: Integrated Optimisation Methods and Tools Note (1) These Themes receive zero or minimal support from the IMRC Block Grant.

The ACCIS CDT will continue to address the EPSRC's goal of Developing Leaders in the key area of advanced materials under the EPSRC priority area of Materials Technologies. The underpinning philosophy will be to train the next generation of pioneers in composites technologies at the interface between engineering, life sciences, physics and chemistry, noting that within ACCIS, composites are defined as synergistic combinations of materials which may exhibit multifunctional attributes. The need for the ACCIS CDT is now even more important strategically than was the case for the initial award. The utilisation of composites is growing at an unprecedented rate, as illustrated by the significant UK technological contribution to both the Boeing 787 and Airbus A350 with composite airframes, the need for rapid development of renewable energy (wind turbine blades) and the nascent interest in large scale production of automotive components by organisations such as McLaren and BMW. The need for lightweight, high performance, multifunctional materials is a key element in meeting the goals of a sustainable future. Thus, industrial usage is within a period of exponential rise. Furthermore, composite materials has been recognized as one of the key industries by which the UK can seek to rebalance the economy towards export driven high value manufacturing. We intend to build upon our strong existing platform by further increasing our international engagement and by attracting elite home and overseas students to widen the pool of highly skilled labour for UK industry, supported by a combination of industrial and scholarship funding.

In recent years, significant improvements in vehicle handling and engine noise reduction, together with the growing use of lighter materials in powertrain components have led to the emergence of a plethora of Noise, Vibration and Harshness (NVH) concerns, establishing them as indicators of vehicle quality with direct impact on sales (J. D. Power & Associates Reviews). The cost to industry of meeting customers' NVH expectations is in the order of tens of millions of Pound, whilst warranty claims may further increase the total cost. Transmission gear rattle is now recognised by manufacturers and customers as the number one target for NVH improvement, following the continuous development of engines with higher cylinder compression ratios.Transmission rattle is the result of repetitive impacts between lubricated surfaces in the presence of backlash at the meshing gear teeth, under various loaded or unloaded conditions. Engine torque fluctuations due to combustion and the inertial forces, together with the dynamic response of the complete system result in vibration of the lightly loaded components in the gearbox, such as the idler gears, synchronizer rings and sliding sleeves. Transmission of vibration from the gear shafts through bearings to the gearbox housing is the principal mechanism, radiating noise to the environment. Current vehicle design trends towards lighter flywheels and lower idling speeds increase the prominence of gear rattle as a major noise source.Lack of understanding of the complex interactions between the drivetrain system and its constituent components and industry's need for timely solutions have resulted in costly palliative methods. The common characteristic of all these quick fixes , late in the design process, has been their application-specific nature. Therefore, these approaches do not follow a root-cause, sustainable system method.The proposed research introduces a holistic, wide-ranging and fundamental numerical and experimental study of the drivetrain system, focusing on the gear rattle root cause identification, with emphasis on the effect of lubricated gear meshing surfaces. The development of virtual prototypes, simulating system behaviour will result in sustainable solutions for attenuation of rattle, assisting car manufacturers in their primary target of reducing time to market. The approach proposed here aims to bring a powerful competitive advantage to the UK automotive industry and its supplier base by following a preventive approach to achieve significant cost-savings.

The research will be based on the themes (i)-(iii) given in 'Objectives' above, with a concentration on understanding and predicting water-droplet into water-layer interactions only at first. The model there involves fundamental new problems scientifically as well as industrially, requiring difficult novel analyses followed by reduced system computation, including interface evolution dynamics, to explain detailed changes in topology and formation of splashed droplets. Incidence, air-water interactions, layer depth, underlying surface roughness, pre-existing air or water motions, and viscosity are among the realistic effects to be added in analytically. The mathematical models will be validated through the UCL-Cranfield linkage in terms of simulations and experiments, as well as being used to predict rebound criteria, mass exchange and droplet disintegration properties, in preparation for the identified exploitation routes particularly in industrial splashing-droplet modelling cases.