ÂãÁÄÖ±²¥

To introduce the programme and the courses and the facilities available at Cranfield.

• Team working
• Project management
• Various interpersonal skills: report writing and presentation skills 
• Various MS Office training packages
• Library sessions with the Information Team covering qualitative information, referencing, ethics and plagiarism.
• Careers sessions including CV writing, preparation for interviews and assessment centres, interview techniques

On successful completion of this module you will be able to:

1. Have an appreciation of the Automotive Engineering Masters programme and course philosophy, structure, content, teaching methods, staff and administration.
2. Be familiar with key facilities (internal and external to Cranfield) and resources such as the library, computer network and Careers Service.
3. Have experienced team building and other interpersonal skills including written and verbal communication skills.
4. Appreciate the importance of time/project management and health and safety throughout the study.
5. Appreciation of the fundamentals of Engineering Ethics

• Provide deep understanding of vehicle propulsion options and driveline.
• Establish approaches and procedures to analysing and predicting vehicle performance.
• Provide a framework for the appreciation of the interdependency of vehicle systems.
• Critically evaluate the integration of different alternative powertrain options and be able to select appropriate solutions within legislation framework.
• Evaluate vehicle emissions and control systems to identify appropriate solutions.

Basic vehicle characteristics: Vehicle concepts, centre of gravity position, static and dynamic loads and weight distributions, front, rear and all wheel drive. Adhesion coefficient and influencing factors. Traction, braking and resistance to motion.

Fuel consumption: Engine characteristics & fuel maps. Determination of fuel consumption. Energy aspects. Legislative Drive Cycles.

Off-Road: Introduction to off road vehicle design characteristics.

Autonomy: Review of the current technologies surrounding Vehicle Autonomous Driving.

Braking performance: Influence of resistances and inertia. Brake force distribution. ECE 13 legislation. Calculation of required braking characteristics. Stopping distance.

Safety: Principles of passenger restraints, elastic/plastic restraints, energy dissipation, rebound energy (whiplash). Vehicle restraint systems and safety features. Hybrid and electric vehicle safety considerations.

Legislation: Introduction to regulations, European directories, USA federal motor vehicle safety standards. Understanding the influence of relevant legislation on vehicle systems design.

Driveline components: Driveline components: Friction clutches, Final drives, Differentials including e-Diff

Manual & automatic transmissions: Description of gearbox layout and gear change mechanisms.

Hybrid and electric vehicles: Basic definitions, HEV and EV architectures, advantages and disadvantages. Electrical and mechanical energy storage technologies including battery management considerations.

Brakes and braking systems: Disc and drum brakes, braking systems – design, dimensioning and evaluation. Materials, manufacturing methods and testing.

Vehicle refinement: Basic details of noise vibration and harshness and attributes for Driveline refinement.

The aims of this module are to introduce the following elements:

• Experimental techniques for analysis and characterization of various engineering materials.

• Full-field, non-contact optical methods (including photoelasticity) for deformation and strain measurements.

The module offers combination of fundamental concepts lectures, engineering theories, lab exercises and tutorials.

Mechanical Testing Methods: point measurements - theory, installation technique and practice; flexure tests (beam bending); tensile test - evaluation of shear modulus, advanced characterisation techniques. Optical full field methods: photoelasticity; interferometry; digital image correlation, thermography, high strain rate testing, joints testing for opening modes characterisation, fatigue crack growth and fracture toughness, non-linear elasticity and static vs dynamic stiffness.

On successful completion of this module you should be able to:

1. Select and apply specific types of experiments to characterise materials/components at the appropriate level of rigour.

2. Understand the relative (dis)advantages of the available techniques and the relative costs involved in carrying out such experiments in an industrial set-up.

3. Distinguish between theoretical material parameters and experimentally evaluated material parameters and the sources of error associated with experimental techniques.

4. Identify the most appropriate experimental techniques for evaluating material response in a specific setting and for different types of materials.

The module aims to:

• To provide an understanding of global and local buckling and the mechanisms involved in material failure.

• To introduce the testing methodology in crashworthiness to assess energy absorption capability of metallic and composite structures.

• To introduce the most common features required in the simulation of crash behaviour of metallic and composite structures.

• To review passive safety in the automotive context including current regulations and anthropomorphic test device (ATD).

The module offers combination of fundamental concepts lectures, engineering theories, lab exercises, finite element modelling, simulations and tutorials.

The module will provide knowledge in automotive crashworthiness to be able to develop crashworthy vehicles and the related simulations and testing protocols for the optimisation and validation. The interior safety and passenger injury is a key part of safety, and testing protocols with key features will be reviewed.

Core topics:

• Folding mechanisms and structural collapse.

• Implicit vs explicit simulations.

• Drop tower, sled testing and ATD.

• Simulation of metallic and composite structures under dynamic loading.

• Validation of numerical models.

On successful completion of this module you should be able to:

1. Demonstrate understanding of automotive crashworthiness and the mechanisms involved in the energy absorption systems.

2. Critically evaluate crashworthiness designs and propose experimental protocols to validate numerical models.

3. Demonstrate an understanding of the fundamentals and practical issues of crash testing and numerical simulation of dynamic phenomena.

4. Critically evaluate the interior safety of vehicles and propose measure to mitigate secondary impacts.

• To provide a fundamental understanding of vehicle dynamics as applied to wheeled vehicles.


• To introduce students to road vehicle ride and handling, from requirements to analytical modelling and practical viewpoints.

• To link understanding of vehicle dynamics, ride and handling to the practical implications for suspension and steering system design.

The module will provide knowledge in vehicle dynamics ride and handling from subjective and objective requirements to analytical methods in developing passive ride and handling models. 

Core topics:

1. Vehicle ride, ride modelling and terrain modelling 
2. Vehicle handling, steady-state and transient handling
3. Tyre characteristics and tyre modelling 
4. Suspension system types, typical designs and practical implications
5. Kinematics, wheel motion control, instantaneous centres of rotation
6. Steering system, steering kinematics and compliance.

On successful completion of this module you will be able to:

1. Demonstrate understanding of vehicle dynamics models, including first principles, associated assumptions and implications to numerical simulations.
2. Critically evaluate vehicle ride and handling performance and the role of tyre and suspension characteristics.
3. Demonstrate an understanding of the fundamentals and practical issues of vehicle suspension and steering systems and their influence on ride and handling. 
4. Critically evaluate suspension and steering designs, including layout, geometry and materials.

To provide a fundamental understanding of the simulation and testing protocols to be followed to design vehicle structures. The focus is on fatigue and NVH of structural components including battery shells and powertrain components. The module offers combination of fundamental concepts lectures, engineering theories, lab exercises, finite element modelling, simulations and tutorials.

The module will provide knowledge in the standards to be followed for the assessment of the durability, load spectrum, environmental conditions, testing methods, data analysis and material characterisation for fatigue and fractures. The module will also cover fundamental of modal analysis of vehicle components combining experimental techniques and numerical strategies for the modal analysis.

On successful completion of this module you should be able to:

1. Demonstrate understanding of durability simulation and testing.

2. Critically evaluate vehicle durability performance and the definition of boundary conditions and environmental conditions.

3. Demonstrate an understanding of NVH and implication on durability.

4. Critically evaluate material performance in the context of fatigue.

The module aims to provide an introduction to the selection and processing, of materials for vehicle structures. Emphasis will be given to practical experience of the use of a range of materials for automotive structures focussing on manufacturing and assembly technology. The module is delivered with a combination of lectures, lab activities, and tutorials.

 

• Physical properties and material models of high strength steels, stainless steels, metal matrix composites, aluminium and titanium alloys, rubbers, elastomers, plastics, honeycomb and polymer composites.
• Manufacturing technology in the automotive industry.
• Comparison of the most common joining techniques in the automotive industry.
• Introduction to damage tolerance and failure mechanisms under static and dynamic load.
• Case studies of different mechanical failures.

On successful completion of this module you should be able to:

1. Evaluate material selection and performance for the manufacturing of automotive structures.
2. Assess the design, manufacturing, assembly and testing of composite components and sub-systems.
3. Critically evaluate innovative materials and their application.
4. Develop an understanding of relevant failure analysis.

The module aims to provide an introduction to the design and analysis of vehicle structures. Emphasis will be given to understanding and practical experience of the use of a range of materials in car structures including design, stress analysis and performance. 

The module offers combination of fundamental concepts lectures, engineering theories, lab exercises, finite element modelling, simulations and tutorials.

 

• Review and analysis of different types of vehicle structures.
• Load paths and interaction with other vehicle systems.
• Structural response and stiffness analyses.
• Design of safety and crash structures.
• Finite element modelling and simulations.

 

On successful completion of this module you should be able to:

1. Critically evaluate fundamental properties of metallic and non-metallic material for automotive structures.
2. Design metallic and non-metallic components and sub-systems.
3. Construct and validate finite element models.
4. Assess active and passive automotive safety and crashworthiness.

Provide detailed understanding and practical experience of the use of composite materials in racing car structures including materials selection, component design, manufacturing technology processing and performance.

• Materials forms, performance and selection.

• Manufacturing technology and joining techniques, including manufacturing technique training.

• Composite structures design, analyses and optimisation techniques.

• Design of safety structures.

• Stress Analysis of composite Structures and simulation strategies.

On successful completion of this module you should be able to:

1. Apply the principles of composite material selection and performance in the design and manufacturing of structures in motorsport.

2. Evaluate upcoming materials/structural technologies and judge their possible applications.

3. Evaluate and compare the techniques used for the design, processing and assembly and testing of motorsport structural components.

4. Apply and analyse crashworthiness concepts and the influence of Motorsport regulations on the structure design.

To plan, conduct and report on an original, individual programme of research within the field of Automotive Engineering/Automotive Mechatronics/Virtual Prototyping for Vehicle Structures.

On successful completion of this module you should be able to:

1. Identify, search for, and find research literature on a given topic.

2. Summarise, synthesise and critically evaluate literature from various sources.

3. Express technical information to various audiences as a poster and as a scientific paper.

4. Plan, implement and write up a research project.