Dr Tao Liu
PhD, FHEA

Research Funding

On this page:

• Current Funded Research Projects
• Current PhD Studentship Projects
• Previous Funded Research Projects

Current Funded Research Projects

Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) collaborative research project “Next Wing” in collaboration with Airbus Funding source: Innovate UK Start: 01-04-2022  /  End: 30-09-2025 Amount: £458,219 The project aims to develop next generation wing structures for future passenger jets . The project is led by airbus and the QMUL team will develop novel wing topologies and advanced simulation and modelling approaches .

Marine mussel plaque-inspired anchorages for floating offshore wind platforms (EP/X017559/1) Funding source: EPSRC Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council Start: 10-04-2023  /  End: 10-03-2025 Amount: £201,751 Marine mussels can survive the harsh marine environment at intertidal zones by anchoring themselves to various wet surfaces through adhesive plaques. Recent research progress has highlighted that, in addition to the interaction of protein-based chemistry at the adhesion sites, the unique adhesive structure of a mussel plaque plays an important role. Motivated by this natural phenomenon, the proposal aims to establish the knowledge on the underwater adhesive behaviours of mussel plaque-inspired anchoring systems for the applications of the offshore floating structures.

Mechanics and biomimicking of marine mussel plaques (RPG-2020-23 ) Funding source: Leverhulme Trust Start: 18-10-2017  /  End: 31-12-2024 Amount: £323,000 To survive the turbulent marine environment, mussels anchor themselves to various wet surfaces via adhesive plaques. Motivated by the unique mechanical behaviours of the plaques, the project will (i) develop the fundamental understanding on how the stiffness and the surface texture pattern of an underlying surface influence the adhesive structure and adhesive behaviour of a mussel plaque; and (ii) establish the principles to design plaque-inspired lightweight porous materials of high load bearing capacity and ductility as well as plaque inspired approaches for joining the materials with distinct mechanical properties.

Current PhD Studentship Projects

EPSRC DTP PhD studentship - Ultralightweight Mechanical Metamaterials for Future Sustainable Air Transportation Funding source: EPSRC DTP PhD studentship ( 3.5 years) Start: 15-09-2023  /  End: 14-03-2027 Ultralightweight Mechanical Metamaterials for Future Sustainable Air Transportation

Previous Funded Research Projects

Lightweight Innovative Generator for Future Air Transportation (LIFT) Funding source: EU Horizon 2020 Start: 01-11-2018  /  End: 31-10-2021 Hybrid-electric propulsion systems or fully electric ones will be enablers of the new aircraft under development by the aerospace industry to achieve significant reductions in CO2 emissions. The successful realisation of such aircraft will largely depend on the development of propulsion motors with power densities an order of magnitude higher than existing ones. The EU-funded LIFT project is supporting this endeavour by various innovations applied to the LIFT machine, including passive-component lightweighting, innovative high frequency windings, together with a targeted thermal management approach using oil-spray cooling. The aim is to make them part of future hybrid-electric aircraft architectures such as those targeted in Clean Sky 2’s large passenger aircraft programme.

Understanding strain rate sensitivity of fiber reinforced composite materials : a multiscale approach. Funding source: Royal society Research grant scheme Start: 01-06-2016  /  End: 31-05-2018 The project investigates a critical material behavior of fiber reinforced composites relating to shock loadings such as bird/ice strike and blast. Correct understanding of the behavior facilitates (i) design of novel high performance fiber reinforced composites and (ii) modelling of failure and damage under shock loading. The knowledge gained from the project could be applied for the scenarios on which shocking loadings impose significant threats, such as composite fan blades for aeroengines, composite structural elements in aerospace and transportation, and composite marine structures.

Development of bioinspired, lightweight self-healing composite synthetic foam core sandwich structures for blast mitigation Funding source: DSTL Start: 01-09-2016  /  End: 30-06-2017 The proposed project aims to develop novel, bio-inspired lightweight self-healing composite synthetic foam core sandwich structures. The target application of the sandwich structures is for the lightweight armor systems of the military land/sea vehicle or maritime platforms that may be subject to intensive dynamic loadings from water blasts or air blasts.