Advanced Lightweight Structures and Impact

Start: October

Duration: 1 year full-time

Course overview

Crashworthiness accounts for an increasingly significant proportion of development costs in industries such as automotive, aerospace, railway and shipping. Crashworthiness and impact is therefore increasingly topical and regulations are under development requiring companies to consider structural integrity and crashworthiness as a priority in design. These developments are leading to employer demand for graduates with strong skills in crashworthiness and advanced structural analysis techniques applied to practical problems in industry.

This course is founded upon the knowledge and experience gained by the Crashworthiness, Impacts and Structural Mechanics Group through its strong industrial links.  The aim of this programme is to develop graduates with excellent analytical skills in structural behaviour and failure, who can practically apply this knowledge to real engineering problems using the latest industry standard numerical tools.

The programme employs a wide range of teaching methods designed to create a demanding and varied learning environment including: structured lecture programmes, tutorials, case studies, "hands-on" computing, individual projects, and guest lecturers.  Students also benefit from our industry-standard software and extensive computing resources, along with access to a range of laboratory equipment including material testing machines and a drop test tower.

Backed by the University's unique reputation for applied research, the Structures, Crashworthiness and Impact MSc course offers students an excellent start to their career.

Structure:

The MSc is made up of 3 components - taught specialist lecture modules, a group design project and an individual thesis.

Modules:

A total of 255 hours of lectures must be completed. This consists of assessed compulsory and optional lecture courses, along with lectures from visiting industrial experts.

The compulsory modules are:

• Structural Mechanics
• Fibre reinforced plastics
• Finite element methods
• Applied finite element methods
• Crashworthiness (automotive or aerospace)
• Impact dynamics
• Simulation for impact and crashworthiness
• Introduction to continuum mechanics
• Material characterisation for simulation

The optional modules are:

• Structural integrity and testing
• Structural stability
• Fatigue and fracture
• Structural Dynamics
• Maritime structures
• Shockwaves and explosives
• Automotive vehicle structures

Group project:

One of the greatest challenges graduates face is the lack of experience in dealing with the complexities of working within a design team. This part of the course consolidates the taught material and is student-led, which develops both technical and project management skills on an industrially relevant project.

Research thesis:

Research thesis topics can vary greatly, allowing students to develop their own areas of interest and often have industrial input. Recent topics include racing car crashworthiness; helicopter crash simulation; composite impact resistance and roll cage design.

Entry requirements:

1st or 2nd class UK honours degree (or equivalent) in an engineering discipline

English Language Requirements - Our normal minimum requirement is a TOEFL score of 580 (paper test) or 237 (computer test), essay rating 4.5 or 92 (Internet test), all skills 19 or an IELTS 6.5 with 6.0 for writing, a TOEIC overall score of 830, or a Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English grade C or Cambridge Certificate in Advanced English grade C, although a number of our programmes require higher scores.

Funding:

For details of any bursaries that may be available please contact the Enquiries Office on the details shown below.

Want to know more?

Contact our Enquiries Office for further details, E: enquiries@cranfield.ac.uk, T: +44 (0)1234 758008

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