Current research funding in the Centre for Intelligent Transport
£3,251,864

Centre for Intelligent Transport

Funded Research Projects

The following are current funded research projects taking place within the research centre:

Life-like Resilient Materials for Mitigating Liquid-Solid Impact Damage (LSIMPACT)
Life-like Resilient Materials for Mitigating Liquid-Solid Impact Damage (LSIMPACT)


Principal Investigator: Wei TAN
Funding source: EPSRC - EU Scheme
Start: 01-04-2024  /  End: 31-03-2029
Amount: £1,270,404

How can high-velocity liquid cause major damage to solid materials, such as erosion of wind blades? LSIMPACT embarks on a journey to not just understanding the failure mechanisms of solid materials under liquid impact, but also to create new materials with ‘life-like’ features. The team will develop materials that can heal themselves, adapt, and endure — greatly enhancing the lifetime of engineering structures,**

Aeroacoustics of Dynamic Stall


Principal Investigator: Sergey KARABASOV
Co-investigator(s): Eldad AVITAL
Funding source: EPSRC Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
Start: 01-09-2023  /  End: 28-02-2027
Amount: £487,827

Data-Driven Surrogate Modelling for Liquid Ammonia Direct Injection Spray Characteristics
Data-Driven Surrogate Modelling for Liquid Ammonia Direct Injection Spray Characteristics


Principal Investigator: Amin PAYKANI
Funding source: Royal Society
Start: 31-03-2024  /  End: 28-02-2027
Amount: £225,000

In this project, we are proposing a direct research and partnership building between QMUL with Kyushu University with the aim of developing data-efficient ML models for the prediction of liquid ammonia DI spray characteristics to tackle the computational and experimental costs and time.

PALPABLE: Multi-sensing tool for Minimally Invasive Surgery


Principal Investigator: Kaspar ALTHOEFER
Funding source: EPSRC - EU Scheme
Start: 01-01-2023  /  End: 31-12-2026
Amount: £566,718

Cross-section showing leaf anatomy in a bifacial leaf
The Architecture of Photosynthesis


Principal Investigator: Haibao LIU
Funding source: Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP)
Start: 01-05-2024  /  End: 30-09-2026
Amount: £13,846

Leaf structure, like a sandwich structure, has stiff upper and lower epidermal layers (face sheets) surrounding mesophyll tissue with veins (soft core). Computational models will be developed to fit diverse leaf architectures across plant species, aiming for accurately predicting the effects of mesophyll anatomical features on overall leaf stability.

iCASE Award Industrial Contribution (NDA) - Eversion robots for radiologically constrained environments characterisation and decommissioning


Principal Investigator: Kaspar ALTHOEFER
Funding source: Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd
Start: 19-09-2022  /  End: 18-09-2026
Amount: £29,628

iCASE Award Industrial Contribution (Airbus) Rich Simulation Driven Design Optimisation


Principal Investigator: Vassili TOROPOV
Co-investigator(s):
Funding source: Airbus Defence & Space Ltd
Start: 12-09-2022  /  End: 11-09-2026
Amount: £37,428

Integrated Human-Augmented Robotics and Intelligent Sensing Platform for Precision Viticulture


Principal Investigator: Ketao ZHANG
Co-investigator(s): Lei SU
Funding source: Innovate UK
Start: 01-09-2023  /  End: 31-08-2026
Amount: £297,599

This project aims to revolutionize the way high-value horticultural crops such as grapes, berries, and other fruits are grown by developing and implementing a precision farming ecosystem.

DISTOPIA - Distorting the Aerospace Manufacturing Boundaries: Operational Integration of Autonomy on Titanium (TS/Y016548/1)


Principal Investigator: Chinnapat PANWISAWAS
Co-investigator(s): Harry BHADESHIA
Funding source: Innovate UK
Start: 01-02-2024  /  End: 31-07-2026
Amount: £120,000

Innovate UK - Eureka collaborative R&D: smart advanced manufacturing Cluster (Project number 10086469)

HyPStore (Accelerating low-carbon Hydrogen Production and Safe storage for utilisation in mobility) UK-Australia Renewable Hydrogen Innovation Partnership


Principal Investigator: Tao LIU
Funding source: Innovate UK
Start: 01-07-2024  /  End: 31-03-2026
Amount: £128,750

The project aims to develop self-healing solution for Type V all composite hydrogen storage tanks.

Solar-powered VTOL UAS-based Intelligent Sensing/Monitoring Applications of Precision Agriculture (S&E Industry Studentship Model)


Principal Investigator: Hasan SHAHEED
Funding source: Uavictor Aerospace Ltd
Start: 01-02-2023  /  End: 31-01-2026
Amount: £72,964

Nonlinear mechanics of rods subject to surface constraints


Principal Investigator: Rehan SHAH
Funding source: Quaterly Journal of Mechanics and Applied Mathematics Fund (QJMAM)
Start: 16-10-2024  /  End: 16-10-2025
Amount: £1,700

Slender, elastic rod-like structures on or inside constrained rigid surfaces are prevalent in a wide range of engineering (drill strings in borewells, pipelines under the seabed, ocean cables), medical (stents in angioplasty of arteries), biological (DNA toroidal condensates, bacterial flagella), electronic (carbon nanotubes) and robotic (soft robots for in-pipe inspection) applications. This project seeks to employ a comprehensive variational theory of elastic two-strand braids to investigate the post-buckling behaviour of elastic rods lying on rigid tubular surfaces. Methods comprising the calculus of variations and Lagrangian and Hamiltonian mechanics are utilised to procure more general types of solutions to various nonlinear boundary value problems, using both analytical and numerical approaches. Journal Paper Publications:  Shah R and van der Heijden GHM (2024). Buckling and lift-off of a heavy rod compressed into a cylinder. Journal of The Mechanics and Physics of Solids, Elsevier vol. 182, 105464-105464.   Shah R and van der Heijden GHM (2023). Static friction models for a rod deforming on a cylinder. Journal of The Mechanics and Physics of Solids, Elsevier vol. 173, 105224-105224.**