Latest News December 2021
Seasons greetings and welcome to Frewer’s Latest news December 2021. Enjoy our review of the last year & the latest updates to our world-class consulting services…
Composite Space Structures
The growing use of composites throughout the space sector opens up new opportunities for Frewer Engineering, not only in design and analysis of rocket componentry but the development of space grade composite manufacturing and handling equipment. Frewer has recently completed the design of a versatile multi-purpose machining setup to allow composite components to be manufactured to the precision required within the space industry. The fixture assembly allowed the customer to achieve high accuracy levels in all components with significant savings in cost and time due to the versatile design of the machining fixture. Frewer therefore is able to couple detailed composite design and analysis with final design for manufacture alongside our manufacturing and material supplier partners for rapid project design and implantation.
Cyclosymmetric Analysis
Frewer Engineering routinely carries out cyclo-symmetric (or periodic) modelling in both FEA and CFD simulation tools. This modelling method is useful in a variety of situations where rotationally symmetric repeating patterns are found about the circumference of a design. The method is particularly useful in the analysis of aerospace gas turbine engines, where repeating patterns are found in the blades and stators, as well as other highly loaded geometric features such as curvic roots and helical spline shaft connections. In all cases the cyclo-symmetric modelling method can be used to focus mesh density and computational effort where it is needed most, to yield the most accurate results for the least computational cost.
Gas Turbine Industry Update
Our team have been very busy during 2021 on a number of projects associated with the development of a very large civil aircraft aero engine. Working on equipment to test new fan blades, design of exit nozzles and the design of a flight representative wing support pylon that will allow testing and validation of technologies that can be included in new engine designs. Providing design support to high speed spinning equipment development for the verification of future, greener and more environmentally friendly engines is the key here. Improving internal aerodynamics of gas turbines and the development of future combustor test rigs that will facilitate the use of cleaner emissions is also another area of our thriving gas turbines business.
Aerothermal Modelling
Frewer Engineering are specialists in aerothermal modelling, with our advanced CFD and analysis team able to model and predict high temperatures in components resulting from exposure to hot gas flows in high definition. Seamless integration of agile design services with our analysis allows us to iteratively form high efficiency heat management systems around heat critical components, accounting for thermal stresses, differential thermal strains and subsequent thermal expansion. By coupling heat transfer coefficients with structural analyses we can build full multi-physics models of complex high temperature systems to ensure they will operate for their full mission cycle without failure.
The Cutting-Edge of Rotordyamics
In recent years, we have seen an increase in demand for high-end rotordynamic assessment. To ensure we continue to address these requirements with internationally recognised methodologies, members of the Frewer Engineering team have been attending a dedicated rotordynamics course held by Cranfield University, bolstering our overall capability and keeping up to date with the latest and greatest modelling techniques from the academic community. The course covered key aspects of rotordynamic analysis from the prediction of critical speeds to rotor mode shapes and shaft whirl, as well as learning from the investigation of real rotor case studies. By harnessing FEA and analytical solutions, Frewer offers a full suite of rotordynamics services. Critical speed analysis, bearing and squeeze film damper performance analysis, lateral and torsional modal analysis, forced response analysis, and more!
One Small Step Into Space Services
Frewer Engineering has extensive experience in delivering full turnkey design and analysis services to the space sector from ground support structures through to space-bound solar array design. Our capabilities built around the needs of the aerospace sector include the demanding environment of space. In fact, we have performed launch simulation of composite structures located in a rocket head. During launch these structures are subject to extreme acoustic vibrations that can lead to fatigue. Through efficient design and analysis iterations, aluminium honeycomb core structures were optimised to be as light as possible whilst withstanding extreme operational loading with a high fatigue life. The successful delivery of this project resulted in the development of design methods for large satellite solar arrays, allowing the customer to meet the demands of new markets, particularly in the field of future GPS location satellites.
Business Update: Closing out a Successful Year
2021 has seen us capitalise on our divisionalisation allowing us to grow our capability across different industry sectors. We have also settled into our new offices and have expansion plans for more office space too! Our new offices now have much faster internet access with greater security along with a super fast intranet system now in place, speeding up our large analysis models for our clients.
New members of staff have already been contracted to start in 2022 – we will report more on them in the first quarter of 2022. Our investment program for 2022 is not just limited to new staff, considerable investment is also planned in our software tools too.
