Advanced Manufacturing Technology Research Group
 

Image of Atanas Popov

Atanas Popov

Professor of Engineering Dynamics, Faculty of Engineering

Contact

Expertise Summary

Atanas Popov is a member of the Advanced Manufacturing Technology Research Group.

Atanas is Professor of Engineering Dynamics in the Department of M3. Previously, he held a fellowship from the Conference of the German Academies of Sciences in Mainz and Foundation Volkswagen, Germany and a Royal Society Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in the Centre for Nonlinear Dynamics at University College London. He has been the principal investigator on two EPSRC-funded grants and one KTP-project in automotive engineering and the supervisor of seven PhD and one MPhil projects in vehicle dynamics, vibration, control and dynamics of structures and machines. Dr Popov has published widely on nonlinear dynamics of shell structures, vehicle dynamics, control and tyre mechanics. He is a member of the editorial board of two journals (Journal of Multi-Body Dynamics and Recent Patents on Mechanical Engineering) and the CEng Panel of the Institute of Physics.

Research Summary

Rider-Motorcycle Modelling for Motorcycle Handling and Stability Analysis: The aim of this project is to improve understanding on the interaction between rider and motorcycle in extreme riding… read more

Selected Publications

Current Research

Rider-Motorcycle Modelling for Motorcycle Handling and Stability Analysis: The aim of this project is to improve understanding on the interaction between rider and motorcycle in extreme riding situations, such as instabilities occurring during motorcycle racing. The objective is to implement generic mathematical models and simulations in order to improve the design process and facilitate rapid virtual prototyping. The work on this PhD project started in July 2004.

Modal and Optimal Control of Rotating Machines Using Structure-Preserving Transformations, with Prof. S.D. Garvey, funded by EPSRC and Rolls-Royce plc.: The control of rotordynamic behaviour in aero-engines is entirely passive. The passive methods provide sub-optimal solutions and two main obstacles stand in the way of progress towards effective active control: the provision of controllable actuators in an engine, and the availability of robust and optimal control algorithms. The PhD project is addressing the development of control algorithms, more precisely, the objective is to extend the concept of modal control for undamped structures as fully as possible to systems having significant gyroscopic forces and general non-classical damping. The work started in March 2004.

FP6 IP AFFIX, Aligning, Holding and Fixing of Flexible and Difficult to Handle Components, with Prof. S.M. Ratchev and Dr. P.H. Webb, grant by the E.U., 2006-2010: The project is aimed at reducing the overall costs and lead-time of new fixture development and at verifying efficiently and accurately future fixture design. This will be achieved through new simulation techniques which are capable of predicting the dynamic behaviour of fixture-workpiece systems and are at the same time compatible with the available commercial FEA platforms. Ultimately, this will lead to the application of adaptive fixtures exhibiting some form of automatic feedback control. My input to the project is in the dynamics, vibration and stress behaviour characterisation and the implementation of different control strategies; one PhD student began work under my supervision in August 2006.

Future Research

Modelling and Simulation of Coordinated Control Strategies for Cooperative Vehicle-Highway Systems, long-term plans for participation in consortia: The concept of Cooperative Highway-Vehicle Systems (CHVS) has attracted the attention of government, industry and academia as a strategic approach to improving road network management. Despite significant recent interest in such systems, in particular in the U.S.A., little work has gone beyond initial conceptual design and preliminary testing of feasibility of concept, involving vehicle following of a low number of passenger cars or buses. The overall aims of the research are to obtain deeper understanding of the benefits from the adoption of CHVS and to model and simulate the interaction between vehicles, and vehicles and infrastructure, with the objective to develop in-vehicle intelligent transport systems (ITS) and to facilitate automated close following (platooning) on motorways in the near future.

The Dynamics and Stability of Super-Extended Space Tethered Systems: Since the start of active space exploration it has been widely known that an exploration based on rocket technology is quite expensive, due to rockets consuming large quantities of chemical propellant. On these grounds, the concept of tethered satellite systems, two or more satellites connected by thin and long cables (up to 100 km), has been gradually establishing itself in astronautics circles. The overall aim of the project is to obtain a deeper understanding of the dynamics and stability of super-extended space tethered systems (SESTS) and to investigate their feasibility from the practical viewpoint.

Advanced Manufacturing Technology Research Group

The University of Nottingham
Faculty of Engineering
The University of Nottingham
University Park
Nottingham, NG7 2RD



email:AdvManufacturing@nottingham.ac.uk