Informed design of superior panels
Panels impart not only structural support but also modify acoustics and vibration and can be specialised to enable thermal and fire-retardant properties. Despite tremendous advances in mechanical engineering designs and panel performance, detailed knowledge of the behaviour of these panels under varying conditions is still limited. With EU support of the project 'Strengthening and upholding the performances of the new engineered research panels' (SUPERPANELS), scientists applied novel predictive structural and structural-acoustic tools to test and verify them against experimental data. Outcomes have been important to validation of the tools themselves and have elucidated mechanisms for increases in performance of certain panels. In addition, through numerous secondments among the five partners, fellows received broad cross-disciplinary training bridging mechanical engineering and transportation. The partners have already agreed to continue the collaboration beyond the scope of the project. Understanding the correlation between structure and function will enable better knowledge-based design of panels in the future. The transportation and construction sectors can begin immediately testing their new design concepts with the predictive design tools now validated by SUPERPANELS project scientists.
Keywords
Panels, design tool, structural, acoustic, mechanical engineering, performance, knowledge-based design