Masters Degrees (Crashworthiness)

Course Description

Structural Design aims to provide an understanding of aircraft structures, airworthiness requirements, design standards, stress analysis, fatigue and fracture (damage tolerance) and fundamentals of aerodynamics and loading. The suitable selection of materials, both metallic and composite is also covered. Manufacturers of modern aircraft are demanding more lightweight and more durable structures. Structural integrity is a major consideration of today’s aircraft fleet. For an aircraft to economically achieve its design specification and satisfy airworthiness regulations, a number of structural challenges must be overcome. This course trains engineers to meet these challenges, and prepares them for careers in civil and military aviation.

Overview

This course is suitable for students with a background in aeronautical or mechanical engineering or those with relevant industrial experience.

The Structural Design option consists of a taught component and an individual research project.

In addition to management, communication, team work and research skills, each student will attain at least the following outcomes from this degree course:
- To build upon knowledge to enable students to enter a wide range of aerospace and related activities concerned with the design of flying vehicles such as aircraft, missiles, airships and spacecraft
- To ensure that the student is of immediate use to their employer and has sufficient breadth of understanding of multi-discipline design to position them for accelerated career progression
- To provide teaching that integrates the range of disciplines required by modern aircraft design
- To provide the opportunity for students to be immersed in a 'Virtual Industrial Environment' giving them hands-on experience of interacting with and working on an aircraft design project.

English Language Requirements

If you are an international student you will need to provide evidence that you have achieved a satisfactory test result in an English qualification. The minimum standard expected from a number of accepted courses are as follows:

IELTS - 6.5
TOEFL - 92
Pearson PTE Academic - 65
Cambridge English Scale - 180
Cambridge English: Advanced - C
Cambridge English: Proficiency - C

In addition to these minimum scores you are also expected to achieve a balanced score across all elements of the test. We reserve the right to reject any test score if any one element of the test score is too low.

We can only accept tests taken within two years of your registration date (with the exception of Cambridge English tests which have no expiry date).

Core Modules

The taught programme for the Structural Design masters is generally delivered from October to March. After completion of the four compulsory taught modules, students have an extensive choice of optional modules to match specific interests.

Core:
- Fatigue Fracture Mechanics and Damage Tolerance
- Finite Element Analysis (including NASTRAN/PATRAN Workshops)
- Design and Analysis of Composite Structures
- Structural Stability

Optional:
- Loading Actions
- Computer Aided Design (CAD)
- Aircraft Aerodynamics
- Aircraft Stability and Control
- Aircraft Performance
- Detail Stressing
- Structural Dynamics
- Aeroelasticity
- Design for Manufacture and Operation
- Initial Aircraft Design (including Structural Layout)
- Airframe Systems
- Aircraft Accident Investigation
- Crashworthiness
- Aircraft Power Plant Installation
- Avionic System Design
- Flight Experimental Methods (Jetstream Flight Labs)
- Reliability, Safety Assessment and Certification
- Sustaining Design (Structural Durability)

Individual Project

The individual research project aims to provide the training necessary for you to apply knowledge from the taught element to research, and takes place from January to September.

Recent Individual Research Projects include:
- Review, Evaluation and Development of a Microlight Aircraft
- Investigation of the Fatigue Life of Hybrid Metal Composite Joints
- Design for Additive Layer Manufacture
- Rapid Prototyping for Wind Tunnel Model Manufacturing.

Group project

There is no group project for this option of the Aerospace Vehicle Design MSc.

Assessment

Taught modules (20%); Individual Research Project (80%)

Career opportunities

The AVD option in Structural Design is valued and respected by employers worldwide. The applied nature of this course ensures that our graduates are ready to be of immediate use to their future employer and has provided sufficient breadth of understanding of multi-discipline design to position them for accelerated career progression.

Graduates from the have gone onto pursue engineering careers in disciplines such as structural design, stress analysis or systems design. Many of our former graduates occupy very senior positions in their organisations, making valuable contributions to the international aerospace industry.

Many of our graduates occupy very senior positions in their organisations, making valuable contributions to the international aerospace industry. Typical student destinations include BAE Systems, Airbus, Dassault and Rolls-Royce.

For further information

On this course, please visit our course webpage - http://www.cranfield.ac.uk/Courses/Masters/AVD-Option-in-Structural-Design

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Course Description

Today’s military aviation platforms are complex systems and it is essential, therefore, that they are deployed and maintained in such a way as to ensure their continued airworthiness and the safety of the crew operating them. To achieve this requires engineers to be cognisant of a broad range of aerospace engineering, airworthiness and safety disciplines.

The MSc in Military Aerospace and Airworthiness has been designed to address these needs by providing a course aimed specifically at employees in the MoD, the Armed Forces and the international defence industry. It provides practicing engineers with the knowledge and skills to enable them to work more effectively in aerospace engineering, airworthiness, and safety. The course structure allows students to continue in full-time employment whilst they are studying.

Cranfield University has been at the forefront of postgraduate education in aeronautics and engineering for over 60 years, so you can be sure that your qualification will be valued and respected by employers.

Overview

The MSc distinguishes itself from similar courses offered by leading UK Universities by offering one focussed specifically on the Military context and offers unique subject areas unavailable elsewhere. You will be taught by staff, primarily from Cranfield Defence and Security at Shrivenham, and the School of Engineering at Cranfield, Bedfordshire, many of them world leaders in their field. Visiting lecturers include experts from industry, research establishments, and the MoD. The course draws students from the UK and Western Europe giving an eclectic mix to the classroom environment. Maximum number of places: 25 per year.

Course overview

The course is delivered on a part-time basis. It contains five compulsory modules:
- Airworthiness of Military Aircraft
- Aviation Safety Management
- Fixed-Wing Aeromechanics
- Propulsion Systems
- Safety Assessment of Aircraft Systems

which together provide an overarching introduction to the subject of military aerospace and airworthiness and impart the essential knowledge required by all students on the course.

Students choose one further module to complete the PgCert or a further seven modules to complete the PgDip (MSc taught phase). This provides students with the flexibility to tailor their studies to account for prior educational and work experience and the current and future needs of their employment role.

The modules taken in the taught phase of the MSc (the PgDip) provide students with the knowledge and skills necessary to complete a research-based project, which forms the final part of the Masters award.

Modules

Core:
- Study Skills (non-assessed)
- Airworthiness of Military Aircraft
- Aviation Safety Management
- Fixed-Wing Aeromechanics
- Fundamentals of Aeronautical Engineering Top-up (FAE qualified students only)
- Propulsion Systems
- Safety Assessment of Aircraft Systems
- Research Project (MSc only)

Elective:
- Aircraft Accident Investigation and Response
- Aircraft Fatigue and Damage Tolerance
- Aircraft Survivability
- Air Transport Engineering - Maintenance Operations
- Design Durability and Integrity of Composite Aircraft Structures
- Fundamentals of Aircraft Engine Control
- Guided Weapons
- Human Factors in Aircraft Maintenance
- Introduction to Aircraft Structural Crashworthiness
- Introduction to Human Factors
- Mechanical Integrity of Gas Turbines
- Military Aircraft Systems
- Military Avionics -STA Communications and Navigation
- Practical Reliability
- Rotary-Wing Aeromechanics

Individual Project

The individual research project would focus on a topical subject area covered by the taught phase of the course. The subject of the project can be chosen to match the research needs of the sponsor and/or the interests of the individual student and students are encouraged to utilise their employment resources to place the project in context. Lecturing staff on both campuses will undertake supervision of research projects.

Assessment

Specific assessment details will be dependent upon the modules chosen but will include closed-book written examinations, individual and group design exercises, technical essays, engineering calculations, computer-based assessment.
In addition, for MSc students, the assessment includes lectures and tutorials relating to research, methodologies, project planning, research ethics, plagiarism and technical writing skills, one-to-one discussion with a nominated
academic supervisor, examination of a written dissertation and viva voce examination.

Career opportunities

The course creates opportunities to develop your career at a more senior level and in achieving Incorporated or Chartered Engineer status.

For further information

On this course, please visit our course webpage http://www.cranfield.ac.uk/courses/masters/military-aerospace-and-airworthiness.html

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There are no other courses that provide dedicated specialist training in crashworthiness and impact, resulting in many of our graduates securing employment or research offers before the course finishes. Established in 2003, this course is supported by close ties with industry, through student projects, specialist lectures and more importantly, by employing our graduates.

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