James Thompson

My primary areas of interest from a research perspective have been in the Mechanical Engineering area. More specifically I have extensive research experience in the areas of computational analysis and numerical methods structural analysis. I have over thirty year’s experience of Finite Element Analysis and have written FE codes, pre-processors as well as post-processing software with both the pre and post processors being commercialised.

I also have extensive experience in the design and analysis of laminated composite structures. I have experience of these materials with specific reference to the aerospace and automotive industries where I have been involved in the design and optimisation of structures to showcase the potential advantages of these materials to industry.

I also have significant experience in the design of prosthetic devices, in particular heart valves. I was involved in a multidisciplinary team with the Royal Infirmary Cardiac Surgery Unit and have designed and developed an aortic tri-cuspid heart valve replacement, gaining experience on complex non-linear analytical modelling of hyper-elastic materials and complex bio-compatible material modelling.  

More recently I have contributed to work with colleagues in the area of machine tool health during manufacturing processes. I have also been involved in the predication of ice accretion on aircraft wings using neural network techniques in collaboration with a colleague and with international partners in China.

I am currently conducting research into fuel cell design, particularly PEM fuel cells and their design using a mixture of experimental and computatinal fluid dynamics work.

I am interested in pursuing education based around pedagogy, with a particular bias towards issues around delivering complex subject to undergraduates and how technology can be used to enhance and support the learning processes in these environments.

I will also keep my interest in engineering related fields and still wish to revisit my interest in impact damage and assessment of composite materials, particularly low velocity impacts and how these can be modelled using indicial response techniques.

Any Engineering organisations using Computer Aided Engineering.

Any Educational organisations developing pedagogy around Engineering and Computing based subjects.