Simon Quinn

Biography

As a mechanical engineering consultant I work on projects for industrial clients, the majority of which focus on bespoke structural and material testing.   Simon is currently a Professorial Fellow (Enterprise) and leads a consultancy team, the Research Institute for Industry (RIfI), within the Faculty of Engineering and the Environment. Simon’s primary technical expertise is in experimental stress analysis and structural testing. He has twenty years of structural integrity experience, which has also involved numerical analysis and design work. Since joining RIfI in 2003 Simon has worked on more than 150 consultancy projects, including a number of projects outside his own specific area of expertise, where his skills as both an experimentalist and a professional engineer have been utilised. Simon is also an experienced bid and project manager and supported many consultancy and research projects in this capacity.

Research Interest

Simon’s PhD research used thermoelastic stress analysis (TSA) to determine the stress concentration factors (SCFs) from a variety of complex hole geometries in metallic flat plates and cylinders. This was extended to composite materials and pin-loaded holes through research funded by EPSRC. Simon’s other research interests include the industrial application of TSA to assess real engineering structures, developing TSA as a non-contact, non-destructive tool to assess residual stresses in metals, using pulsed phase thermography (PPT) to reveal defects in hybrid metal/polymer composite joints, consideration of manufacturing defects in the production of composite hulls and decks in the marine industry, and development of a novel composite cabin module for cruise liners and other ships. This work is funded from a variety of sources: EPSRC, Innovate UK (TSB), EDA and directly from industry. Simon has published more than 75 papers in archival journals and conference proceedings.