Michael Lowe

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Michael (Mike) Lowe FREng is a British mechanical engineer. Since 2019, he has been the Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Imperial College London. [1] He is a Professor in Non-Destructive Testing (NDT), with particular interests in structure-guided ultrasound, wave theory, wave scattering, materials characterisation, and analytical and numerical modelling.

Contents

Education

Lowe received a Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree in civil engineering from the University of Edinburgh in 1979. He received Master of Science (MSc) and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degrees in mechanical engineering from Imperial College London in 1987 and 1993 respectively. [2] His PhD research was performed under the supervision of Professor Peter Cawley. [3]

Research and career

Between 1979 and 1989 he worked for WS Atkins (Consultant Engineers, Epsom, UK), specialising in the application and development of numerical methods for the solution of problems in solid mechanics. In 1989 he moved to a research position at Imperial College London, was appointed as an SERC Research Fellow in 1992, and onto the academic staff in 1994. [1]

He is a director of Guided Ultrasonics Ltd., a spin-out company that was set up to commercialise the outputs of research in ultrasonic guided waves.  He was the creator of the leading software modelling tool DISPERSE, [4] which calculates the properties of elastic/sound waves that are guided in structural forms such as plates and pipes. [1]

As of December 2020, his research had been cited over 14,600 times. [5]

Honours and awards

He was elected Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng) in 2014. [6] Since 2002, he has been a Fellow of the British Institute of Non-Destructive Testing (FInstNDT) and a Fellow of the Institute of Physics (FInstP). Since 1986, he has been a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (FIMechE) and a Chartered Engineer (CEng). [7]

He was awarded the Roy Sharpe prize from the British Institute of Non-Destructive Testing in 2010 [8] and the Roentgen Award from the International Committee for Non-Destructive Testing in 2012. [9]

Family

His brother, Paddy Lowe, is a British motor racing engineer. [10] They were the first brothers to both be elected as a FREng. [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nondestructive testing</span> Evaluating the properties of a material, component, or system without causing damage

Nondestructive testing (NDT) is any of a wide group of analysis techniques used in science and technology industry to evaluate the properties of a material, component or system without causing damage. The terms nondestructive examination (NDE), nondestructive inspection (NDI), and nondestructive evaluation (NDE) are also commonly used to describe this technology. Because NDT does not permanently alter the article being inspected, it is a highly valuable technique that can save both money and time in product evaluation, troubleshooting, and research. The six most frequently used NDT methods are eddy-current, magnetic-particle, liquid penetrant, radiographic, ultrasonic, and visual testing. NDT is commonly used in forensic engineering, mechanical engineering, petroleum engineering, electrical engineering, civil engineering, systems engineering, aeronautical engineering, medicine, and art. Innovations in the field of nondestructive testing have had a profound impact on medical imaging, including on echocardiography, medical ultrasonography, and digital radiography.

Laser-ultrasonics uses lasers to generate and detect ultrasonic waves. It is a non-contact technique used to measure materials thickness, detect flaws and carry out materials characterization. The basic components of a laser-ultrasonic system are a generation laser, a detection laser and a detector.

Acoustic emission (AE) is the phenomenon of radiation of acoustic (elastic) waves in solids that occurs when a material undergoes irreversible changes in its internal structure, for example as a result of crack formation or plastic deformation due to aging, temperature gradients, or external mechanical forces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ultrasonic testing</span> Non-destructive material testing using ultrasonic waves

Ultrasonic testing (UT) is a family of non-destructive testing techniques based on the propagation of ultrasonic waves in the object or material tested. In most common UT applications, very short ultrasonic pulse-waves with center frequencies ranging from 0.1-15 MHz, and occasionally up to 50 MHz, are transmitted into materials to detect internal flaws or to characterize materials. A common example is ultrasonic thickness measurement, which tests the thickness of the test object, for example, to monitor pipework corrosion.

Sir Eric Albert Ash was a British electrical engineer, past Rector of Imperial College and President of IEE, UK. He was elected an international member of the National Academy of Engineering in 2001 for innovations in optics and acoustics and for leadership in education.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phased array ultrasonics</span> Testing method

Phased array ultrasonics (PA) is an advanced method of ultrasonic testing that has applications in medical imaging and industrial nondestructive testing. Common applications are to noninvasively examine the heart or to find flaws in manufactured materials such as welds. Single-element probes, known technically as monolithic probes, emit a beam in a fixed direction. To test or interrogate a large volume of material, a conventional probe must be physically scanned to sweep the beam through the area of interest. In contrast, the beam from a phased array probe can be focused and swept electronically without moving the probe. The beam is controllable because a phased array probe is made up of multiple small elements, each of which can be pulsed individually at a computer-calculated timing. The term phased refers to the timing, and the term array refers to the multiple elements. Phased array ultrasonic testing is based on principles of wave physics, which also have applications in fields such as optics and electromagnetic antennae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Time-of-flight diffraction ultrasonics</span>

Time-of-flight diffraction (TOFD) method of ultrasonic testing is a sensitive and accurate method for the nondestructive testing of welds for defects. TOFD originated from tip diffraction techniques which were first published by Silk and Liddington in 1975 which paved the way for TOFD. Later works on this technique are given in a number of sources which include Harumi et al. (1989), Avioli et al. (1991), and Bray and Stanley (1997).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electromagnetic acoustic transducer</span>

Electromagnetic acoustic transducer (EMAT) is a transducer for non-contact acoustic wave generation and reception in conducting materials. Its effect is based on electromagnetic mechanisms, which do not need direct coupling with the surface of the material. Due to this couplant-free feature, EMATs are particularly useful in harsh, i.e., hot, cold, clean, or dry environments. EMATs are suitable to generate all kinds of waves in metallic and/or magnetostrictive materials. Depending on the design and orientation of coils and magnets, shear horizontal (SH) bulk wave mode, surface wave, plate waves such as SH and Lamb waves, and all sorts of other bulk and guided-wave modes can be excited. After decades of research and development, EMAT has found its applications in many industries such as primary metal manufacturing and processing, automotive, railroad, pipeline, boiler and pressure vessel industries, in which they are typically used for nondestructive testing (NDT) of metallic structures.

Thermographic inspection refers to the nondestructive testing (NDT) of parts, materials or systems through the imaging of the temperature fields, gradients and/or patterns ("thermograms") at the object's surface. It is distinguished from medical thermography by the subjects being examined: thermographic inspection generally examines inanimate objects, while medical thermography generally examines living organisms. Generally, thermographic inspection is performed using an infrared sensor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Wells (medical physicist)</span> British medical physicist (1936–2017)

Peter Neil Temple Wells CBE DSc FMedSci FREng FIET FInstP FLSW FRS was a British medical physicist who played a major role in the application of ultrasound technology in medicine.

Terahertz nondestructive evaluation pertains to devices, and techniques of analysis occurring in the terahertz domain of electromagnetic radiation. These devices and techniques evaluate the properties of a material, component or system without causing damage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jason Reese</span> British engineering scientist (1967–2019)

Jason Meredith Reese (24 June 1967 – 8 March 2019 was a British engineering scientist, and Regius Professor of Engineering at the University of Edinburgh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James H. Williams Jr.</span>

James Henry Williams Jr. is a mechanical engineer, consultant, civic commentator, and teacher of engineering. He is currently Professor of Applied Mechanics in the Mechanical Engineering Department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He is regarded as one of the world's leading experts in the mechanics, design, fabrication, and nondestructive evaluation (NDE) of nonmetallic fiber reinforced composite materials and structures. He is also Professor of Writing and Humanistic Studies at MIT.

Microwave imaging is a science which has been evolved from older detecting/locating techniques in order to evaluate hidden or embedded objects in a structure using electromagnetic (EM) waves in microwave regime. Engineering and application oriented microwave imaging for non-destructive testing is called microwave testing, see below.

Carbon fiber testing is a set of various different tests that researchers use to characterize the properties of carbon fiber. The results for the testing are used to aid the manufacturer and developers decisions selecting and designing material composites, manufacturing processes and for ensured safety and integrity. Safety-critical carbon fiber components, such as structural parts in machines, vehicles, aircraft or architectural elements are subject to testing.

Active thermography is an advanced nondestructive testing procedure, which uses a thermography measurement of a tested material thermal response after its external excitation. This principle can be used also for non-contact infrared non-destructive testing (IRNDT) of materials.

Floyd Alburn Firestone (1898–1986) was an acoustical physicist, who in 1940 while a professor at the University of Michigan invented the first practical ultrasonic testing method and apparatus. He was granted US Patent 2,280,226 for the invention in 1942. Manufactured by Sperry Corporation, the testing device was known variously as the Firestone-Sperry Reflectoscope, the Sperry Ultrasonic Reflectoscope, the Sperry Reflectoscope and sometimes also just as a Supersonic Reflectoscope, the name Firestone had originally coined for the instrument. The technology is not just used in quality control in factories to reject defective parts before shipment, but also revolutionized transportation safety. For example, ultrasonic testing is used for safety maintenance inspection of railroad cars, particularly axles and wheels, aircraft, particularly fuselages, and other transportation vessels for material fatigue. Dr. Firestone's ultrasonic pulse echo technique for metal defect testing was also later applied in medical diagnosis, giving birth to the field of Echocardiography and to the field of Medical Ultrasonography, generally. Dr. Firestone was the editor of the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America from 1939 to 1957. Among Firestone's many other inventions in his field are in a single year an “automatic device for the minute inspection of flaws”, “a new and useful improvement in hook-up of electrical apparatus”, and “[a] device for measuring noise”, and, even, later a “musical typewriter”.

Welding of advanced thermoplastic composites is a beneficial method of joining these materials compared to mechanical fastening and adhesive bonding. Mechanical fastening requires intense labor, and creates stress concentrations, while adhesive bonding requires extensive surface preparation, and long curing cycles. Welding these materials is a cost-effective method of joining concerning preparation and execution, and these materials retain their properties upon cooling, so no post processing is necessary. These materials are widely used in the aerospace industry to reduce weight of a part while keeping strength.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laszlo Adler</span>

Laszlo Adler is an American physicist and a Taine McDougal Professor Emeritus in the Department of Integrated Systems Engineering at the Ohio State University. He is known for his work in Ultrasonics, Acousto-optics, and Nondestructive Evaluation of Materials. He is a holocaust survivor and has been active in scientific research for over 60 years.

Rebecca "Becky" Hall Sparling, P.E. was an American materials engineer and registered mechanical engineer in the manufacturing, automotive, and aerospace industries from the 1930s to the late 1960s, who had "established a nation-wide reputation as a metallurgist". Often working on classified projects, Sparling advanced the field of metallurgy in severe environments and developed non-destructive engineering test methods, especially in brittle, high-strength, or specialized materials.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Barbu, Nadia (2019). "New Head of Department in Mechanical Engineering". Imperial College London.
  2. "M Lowe". Imperial College London. 2020.
  3. Lowe, Michael (1991). "Plate waves for the NDT of diffusion bonded titanium". hdl:10044/1/8011.
  4. Pavlakovic, Brian; Lowe, Mike; Alleyne, David; Cawley, Peter (1997), Thompson, Donald O.; Chimenti, Dale E. (eds.), "Disperse: A General Purpose Program for Creating Dispersion Curves", Review of Progress in Quantitative Nondestructive Evaluation: Volume 16A, Review of Progress in Quantitative Nondestructive Evaluation, Boston, MA: Springer US, pp. 185–192, doi:10.1007/978-1-4615-5947-4_24, ISBN   978-1-4615-5947-4 , retrieved 20 January 2021
  5. "M Lowe". Google Scholar. 2020.
  6. De Faveri, Giorgio (2014). "Stars of industry and academia elected to the Royal Academy of Engineering". Royal Academy of Engineering.
  7. "M Lowe - Honours and Memberships". Imperial College London. 2020.
  8. "Roy Sharpe Prize". www.bindt.org. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  9. "World Conferences and Roll of Honour". www.icndt.org. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  10. 1 2 Kenward, Michael. "A formula for success". www.ingenia.org.uk. Retrieved 30 December 2020.