Although computational simulation is extensively employed in industry, its wider use is limited by the complexity of the geometric models involved. This limitation is due to the excessive number of human hours, ranging from days to months, required to transfer information from a computer aided design (CAD) model to a computer aided engineering (CAE) model suitable for simulation. CAD models frequently involve a level of detail much greater than that required to perform a computational simulation with a CAE system. The preparation of CAD models for simulation, including mesh generation, is still a challenging bottleneck that needs to be resolved to enable realisation of the full potential of simulation tools in industry. This challenge is also a crucial factor delaying the industrial uptake of, the often computationally superior, high-order methods. Current research is focused on the development of algorithms for de-featuring complex CAD models. A major drawback of this process is the requirement for human expertise and manual interaction with CAD systems and geometry cleaning tools. Although engineers are aided by the semi-automatic tools that are included in many existing commercial mesh generation packages, such as COMSOL, ANSYS, CATIA, SolidWorks, Patran, MSC, CADfix, ESI Visual Environment, de-featuring cannot be fully automatised. In addition, it is usually not possible to know, a priori, the effect of de-featuring on the results of a simulation because this process depends upon the physical problem and the level of approximation required. At the heart of the problem is the traditional hierarchical paradigm implemented in many commercial mesh generators. The ultimate goal of this project is to develop a new computational environment that includes a feature-independent mesh generation paradigm and plug--and--play libraries to enable direct integration of the meshes into existing commercial and research solvers. The proposed approach is disruptive, as it proposes the development of unconventional computational approaches, not only at the stage of generating suitable meshes for computational simulations but also requires the incorporation of new plug-and-play libraries into existing solvers. The libraries will be delivered as part of this project and it will follow the rationale used in commercial software where the user can select a different type of element depending on the demands of a particular simulation. The advantage of the proposed mesh generation technique is not restricted to removing the bottleneck that has been highlighted by many industries that routinely use computational engineering in their design cycles. In addition, the new meshes will completely remove the uncertainty introduced by de-featuring CAD models. Instead of relying on the opinion of experts, to decide which features might not be relevant in a simulation, the CAD model will not be altered, leading to higher fidelity simulations and more confidence in the results. The proposed research is timely, tackling a problem that has been highlighted in the last three years by independent agencies (e.g. NASA), international associations dedicated to computer modelling (e.g. NAFEMS) and the private sector (e.g. Pointwise Inc.). Since the mid 1990s the research has focused on the development of tools for faster de-featuring. The fact that this issue has not been resolved in over two decades, suggests that the radical new approach proposed here, pursuing an orthogonal research direction, in which no de-featuring is needed, can lead to a breakthrough.

A particular aspect of polymer matrix composites is that in most cases the material structure is defined in the final stages of manufacture. This provides both advantages and challenges. Existing composites technologies are reaching maturity (e.g. Airbus A350 and Boeing 787), and new material forms are being developed to take further advantage of the opportunities that composites can offer (e.g. spatially varying properties, multi- functionality, light weight). The detailed material microstructure (e.g. final fibre paths, local fibre volume fraction and imperfections) is determined by the various processes involved in their manufacture. These details ultimately control the integrity of composite structures, however this information is not available at the early stages of conceptual design and stress analysis. This lack of suitable predictive tools means that the design of composite structures is often based on costly iterations of design, prototyping, testing and redesign. This Platform Grant will help replace some of this empiricism with fully predictive analysis capabilities. A suite of advanced composite manufacturing simulation tools will be developed, and a dedicated team of experienced researchers will be established to sustain knowledge on new simulation capabilities for new and emerging manufacturing methods. In parts made by Automated Fibre Placement (AFP) much of the tow path optimisation to improve part quality and production rate is done at the manufacturing stage. The research will develop numerical models that can accurately predict the as-manufactured geometry and fibre paths, making virtual manufacturing data available at a much earlier stage of design, ensuring parts are manufactured right-first-time with a minimum of defects. For liquid moulding technologies, it is necessary to control the deformable fibre preforms during handling, deposition, draping, infusion or high pressure injection using stabilisation techniques. However, some of these technologies are not yet widely used due to the lack of suitable modelling tools. The team will build on their extensive understanding of the compaction and consolidation processes in composite precursors, complex preforms and prepregs to devise process simulation tools that will unlock the full potential of new liquid moulding technologies. To maximise the reach of this research, the team will ensure that the simulation tools are suitable for future industrialisation. The software generated will be fully documented, optimised and robust, so that it can serve as a focal point for collaborative research with academia and industry on advanced process simulation techniques for composites. In the longer term, hybrid preforms and aligned discontinuous fibre composites will be explored. Hybrid preforms incorporate tailored metallic inserts or reinforcements (e.g. produced via additive layer manufacturing). Such technologies can only be optimised if appropriate numerical tools are available for suitable multi-material process simulation. Aligned discontinuous fibre composites based on novel manufacturing methods require new constitutive models and process simulation tools so that their complex forming characteristics, thermal distortion and final microstructure can be accurately predicted to facilitate their adoption by different industries. Working at the forefront of composites technologies, this Platform Grant stands in a highly advantageous position to step ahead of the current manufacturing paradigm, where modelling and understanding are at best catching up with the technology development, and pave the way for the manufacturing of tomorrow.

The proposed new CCP-WSI+ builds on the impact generated by the Collaborative Computational Project in Wave Structure Interaction (CCP-WSI) and extends it to connect together previously separate communities in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and computational structural mechanics (CSM). The new CCP-WSI+ collaboration builds on the NWT, will accelerate the development of Fully Coupled Wave Structure Interaction (FCWSI) modelling suitable for dealing with the latest challenges in offshore and coastal engineering. Since being established in 2015, CCP-WSI has provided strategic leadership for the WSI community, and has been successful in generating impact in: Strategy setting, Contributions to knowledge, and Strategic software development and support. The existing CCP-WSI network has identified priorities for WSI code development through industry focus group workshops; it has advanced understanding of the applicability and reliability of WSI through an internationally recognised Blind Test series; and supported collaborative code development. Acceleration of the offshore renewable energy sector and protection of coastal communities are strategic priorities for the UK and involve complex WSI challenges. Designers need computational tools that can deal with complex environmental load conditions and complex structures with confidence in their reliability and appropriate use. Computational tools are essential for design and assessment within these priority areas and there is a need for continued support of their development, appropriate utilisation and implementation to take advantage of recent advances in HPC architecture. Both the CFD and CSM communities have similar challenges in needing computationally efficient code development suitable for simulations of design cases of greater and greater complexity and scale. Many different codes are available commercially and are developed in academia, but there remains considerable uncertainty in the reliability of their use in different applications and of independent qualitative measures of the quality of a simulation. One of the novelties of this CCP is that in addition to considering the interface between fluids and structures from a computational perspective, we propose to bring together the two UK expert communities who are leading developments in those respective fields. The motivation is to develop FCWSI software, which couples the best in class CFD tools with the most recent innovations in computational solid mechanics. Due to the complexity of both fields, this would not be achievable without interdisciplinary collaboration and co-design of FCWSI software. The CCP-WSI+ will bring the CFD and CSM communities together through a series of networking events and industry workshops designed to share good practice and exchange advances across disciplines and to develop the roadmap for the next generation of FCWSI tools. Training and workshops will support the co-creation of code coupling methodologies and libraries to support the range of CFD codes used in an open source environment for community use and to aid parallel implementation. The CCP-WSI+ will carry out a software audit on WSI codes and the data repository and website will be extended and enhanced with database visualisation and archiving to allow for contributions from the expanded community. Code developments will be supported through provision and management of the code repository, user support and training in software engineering and best practice for coupling and parallelisation. By bringing together two communities of researchers who are independently investigating new computational methods for fluids and structures, we believe we will be able to co-design the next generation of FCWSI tools with realism both in the flow physics and the structural response, and in this way, will unlock new complex applications in ocean and coastal engineering