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SUBLIME (Supporting Understanding of Boundary Layer Ingestion Model Experiment) The introduction of engines integrated with the rear fuselage (BLI engines) in large passenger aircrafts poses new challenges regarding accurate experimental assessment of their performance, especially in terms of power savings, over conventional propulsive architectures (e.g. podded engines) as the engine is fed with a distorted flow. The SUBLIME project will address this challenge, resulting in a flexible and robust experimental set-up to establish dependencies among the propulsor shape/position, the fan inlet distortion pattern and the corresponding power savings. A consortium of an R&D institute, an SME, and 2 Universities with complementary skills will produce this result in close coordination with the topic manager in 36 months, asking for a grant of € 3.612.500. Coordinator ARA will provide a number of aircraft configurations equipped with BLI propulsors integrated in the rear fuselage, designed and optimized in cooperation with HIT09 (mainly responsible for CFD studies and fan design), Cranfield University (mainly responsible for theoretical and experimental force bookkeeping) and Chalmers University of Technology (mainly involved in engine cycle studies), to be subsequently manufactured and tested by ARA in their transonic wind tunnel. The project will advance the state of the art in BLI studies by means of wind tunnel activities supported by high-fidelity CFD simulations to consistently predict full-scale behaviour of the aircraft architectures suitable for appropriate propulsor installation which minimizes inlet flow distortions and maximizes power saving. The results of installed wind-tunnel tested aircraft+propulsors will be delivered in full compliance with the call. SUBLIME will provide methodologies, tools and facilities to the European aviation industry, therefore contributing to releasing the full potential of power saving of BLI engines.

Integrated electronics technology continues to advance across an ever wider range of frequencies, at ever greater circuit densities. Increasingly research and development is being directed at supplementing the capabilities of monolithic silicon circuits with additional functional and structural materials, closely integrated using system-in-package (SiP) technology. This approach plays well to UK strengths, where the capability in advanced materials such as technical ceramics and polymers, and in alternative micro-structures such as MEMS devices, is very strong. This proposal brings together three leading groups in the areas of microfabrication and MEMS (Imperial), advanced thin film materials (Cranfield and Leeds), and radio frequency applications (Leeds), creating a consortium ideally placed to advance the SiP field. The project will develop enabling technologies for this industry trend through work on three themes:i. integration of functional ceramic films into electrical and RF components, for enhanced performance or new functionality;ii. development of novel functional ceramic films, including lead-free electro-ceramics for reduced environmental impact;iii. integration of material combinations traditionally seen as incompatible because of material mis-match or processing incompatibility, and technologies for building circuits on new low-cost substrates. For each theme, the work will be organised within a separate workpackage. Components which will be developed include variable capacitors, transmission lines and filters; and sensors based on thin-film bulk acoustic resonators. Research on materials will focus on microwave dielectrics and ferrites. The integration work will include several methods for the transfer of ceramic films from high temperature- to polymeric- substrates, and bonding techniques for such substrates. A fourth workpackage will target an overall systems demonstrator to integrate the results of the separate themes.The project will build on developments in the two Exploratory projects currently being undertaken by the proposers: on processes for Laser-Lift-Off and bonding (Leeds), and on integration of advanced ceramic films in MEMS 3D structures and devices (Cranfield and Imperial).

Additive manufacturing (AM) is a process of building a component layer by layer. In a simplified manner, it can be described as 3D printing of a component. The technology is important because it is logistically and conceptually extremely simple with major benefits. For example it would lead to significantly reduced material and energy use and manufacture of structures such as aircraft. Lowering of material wastage is an important issue as presently the aerospace sector machines out complex shapes from regular shaped structures. This causes significant wastage and a very high buy to fly ratio, i.e. A large amount of material needs to be purchased compared to that which goes on the aircraft. AM is able to create complex component architectures which would supplement the advancement in soft design technology. Therefore, it is no wonder that AM technique has been identified as one of the transformational technology for the future manufacturing sector. This project is tackling two major barriers to implementation of AM technology for applications such as making aircraft. These are the very high cost of the process and the properties of the material that is being deposited. In the present programme the multi-disciplinary team seeks to investigate the development of AM processes that are overcome the barriers. This includes a new AM process based around the use of the laser combined ways a new method of adding material. We are also developing a new process to go with the AM process which transforms the properties of the material so that it is similar to the material currently used on aircraft. This new process uses techniques like rolling to introduce cold work into the metal; this changes the structure of the material at the microscopic level. Finally manufacturing of complex shapes, out of position (not vertical down) and multi-axes deposition and integrated machining will be evaluated for production of near net shape from a single process. The research programme would also study the feasibility of developing an innovative and non-destructive way of online process control of microstructure by Spatially Resolved Acoustic Spectroscopy (SRAS) technique. The consortium is carefully formed with complimentary knowledge base between the partners so that a significant progression can be made within the project span. This cross continental activity will help in leveraging the tacit knowledge base through regular visits; web based discussions and investigator exchange programme. The project is expected to solve the major issues identified in AM Technology, leading to its early application in industry.

There is an urgent need to increase the amount of food crops that must be produced in order to meet the demands of an increasing global population. There are many challenges to be overcome to increase the amount of food crops produced, especially as previously increasing yields of these crops have levelled off in recent years. Some of the causal challenges include changes in climatic conditions that affect rainfall and temperature patterns, decline in soil fertility, soil contaminants, spread of pests, weeds and disease and their control, and adoption of new plant varieties. It is not possible to overcome all these challenges simultaneously, but the issue can be tackled in stages. One promising approach is to use organic waste materials that are being generated to enrich soil quality and improve its fertility. As organic waste is readily available, this represents a good starting point in addressing the challenges noted. There are many choices of organic waste that could be utilised, including manure, compost, and biosolids. However this project will focus on biosolids, due to its high phosphorus levels. Phosphorus is one of the major elements needed by crops. Currently phosphorus is extracted in mines, which are located mostly in North Africa. In order not to rely solely on one such source, it is deemed more sustainable to use renewable source phosphorus such as biosolids have been turned into fertilisers. Previous field scale applications were conducted for three years in three locations, in Bedfordshire, Shropshire and North Wales. That research showed there were no significant differences in biosolids-production yields of wheat, oilseed rape, barley, beans and forage maize, as compared with using chemical fertilisers. This is encouraging as the use of biosolids as fertiliser did not compromise yield and so over a number of years could potentially lead to reduced chemical fertilisers. However, these trials were undertaken at three specific sites. The focus of this current project is to build upon this to evaluate the factors that influence nutrient use efficiency (NUE) of crops applied with biosolids and, drawing on national collections of relevant environmental 'Big Data', to determine the widespread geographical opportunities to adopt biosolids across England and Wales. Nutrient use efficiency can be defined as ability in crops to utilise nutrients to produce yield (either as grain or fruit). The greater this is, the better will be the yield with lower use of nutrients. Challenges that influence crop production consequently influence NUE. However, as it will be challenging to consider all the factors that can influence NUE in a one year project, an alternative approach will be utilised in this work. Data on climate, crop variety, pest/disease and soil will be sourced from various organisations and harmonised to produce an analytical map. This map can then be utilised by end-users to better use biosolids in parts of the country where NUE will be high resulting in sustained or elevated crop yield. However before the map will be finalised two consultative sessions will be organised with stakeholders (such as farmers, Agricultural Trusts, National Farmers Union, water utilities, fertiliser and agro-chemical companies, policy makers, agronomists, Farm Assurance Schemes and food producing companies) that would benefit from using this map. The reason for consulting these groups is so the outcome can be produced by taking into account comments that can improve the quality to better suit demands of the end-users. There will also be produced a set of interpretative protocols that will accompany the maps which will help end-users interpret it in order to better use it to target areas where biosolids can be applied for increasing crop yield.