ASCEND - Accurate Simulation and Casting for EfficieNt Design

Caterpillar UK Engines Company Ltd in partnership with Grainger & Worrall Ltd and Loughborough University will launch a 22 month program of research into the localised material property dependance of the casting process for key engine components. The consortium aims to harness the combined capabilities of as-cast material property prediction, cycle dependant property evolution and advanced Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) processes to simultaneously and synergistically optimise engine component design and production processes to significantly impact engine capabilities for increased efficiency and productivity at reduced cost. This research project, scheduled to start in 2015, is enabled by an £623,000 grant from the UK government’s Innovate UK and builds on a previous project co-funded by the TSB (now Innovate UK). The programme of research will be performed across the consortium members' facilites in Peterborough, Bridgnorth and Loughborough.