Institute for Composites ScienceInnovation (InCSI) has built a long-run collaboration with the world-leadingcomposite research institute ACCIS in Bristol University, UK. InCSI has signeda collaboration agreement with ACCIS to provide possible opportunities onjointly training PhD students under the support of scholarship funding by ChinaScholarship Council (CSC). A research partnership has been kicked-off with Prof.Michael Wisnom, Prof. Kevin Potter, Prof. Fabrizio Scarpa now appointed asForeign Experts in Zhejiang University.
ACCIS was established in 2007 to bring togethercomposites activities across the Bristol University which was then rebranded asBristol Composites Institute in 2017 after being recognized as SpecialistResearch Institute. ACCIS is a world-leading institute for composites researchand education, combining cutting-edge fundamental science with strongindustrial links for exploitation and technology transfer. ACCIS now has astrong core team of 24 academic staff and more than 30 postdoctors contributingto composites research. Current funded research projects within the centre areworth over 250 million pounds. The Composites University Technology Centre(UTC), supported by Rolls-Royce was also launched in 2007 based in ACCIS,providing validated analysis capability for the response of composites that canbe used in the design and manufacture of components.
ACCIS is in very close relationship with NationalComposites Centre (NCC) UK (owned by University of Bristol), which is the UK’sleading centre of excellence for advancing commercialisation of compositestechnologies. NCC works closely with ACCIS provide a seamless, effective routefor the exploitation of research outputs, and to enhance opportunities forstaff, students and customers. In the past ten years Bristol CompositesInstitute (ACCIS) has successfully hosted nine cohorts of PhD students underthe support of the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Advanced Compositesfor Innovation and Science (ACCIS CDT), which has led the training anddevelopment of over 100 researchers, significantly widening the pool of highlyskilled engineers and scientists for the UK labour market, and advancingworld-leading composites research.
InCSI has facilitated collaboration with Profs MichaelWisnom, Kevin Potter and Fabrizio Scarpa in ACCIS in areas of novel compositeprocessing technologies, design and failure analysis, intelligent structures,etc.
Michael Wisnom is Director of the Advanced CompositesCentre for Innovation and Science. He is a leading expert on the mechanics offibre reinforced composites, failure mechanisms and finite element analysis,with over 350 published papers. He is a member of the steering board ofthe National Composites Centre and Editor in Chief and European Editor forApplied Science and Manufacturing of the international journal Composites PartA. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, of the Institution ofMechanical Engineers and of the American Society for Composites. ProfessorWisnom was awarded a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award in2005 and was President of the International Committee on Composite Materialsfrom 2009-2011.
Kevin Potter is a world-renowned expert in the designand manufacture of advanced composites. Since his joining in ACCIS, he has beenresponsible for developing and running a number of research programmes in thegeneral area of materials and manufacturing. These include looking atinnovative approaches to composite structures, generating an understanding ofdimensional variability in composite components, developing technology tocontrol crack propagation in bonded joints and improving the understanding ofreinforcement deformation and drape over the tool geometry. Almost all of thework is carried out in collaboration with industrial companies such as Airbus,Agusta Westland and Bombardier.
Fabrizio Scarpa is a leading scientist in smartstructures and composites. His research activities span the field of auxetics(foams and honeycombs), shape memory alloy honeycombs, smart multifunctionalcellular solids, viscoelasticity and structural-acoustic coupling. He isPrincipal Investigator in EPSRC, European Framework 6, Transfer Technologypartnerships and DTI projects, working also in International Collaborationprojects with US Army ARO and Georgia Institute of Technology. He is a memberof the Royal Aeronautical Society and features in the Editorial team of theAircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology Journal.
