Space West Spotlight - Mecha
Welcome to Space West Spotlight, a series celebrating the people, research and businesses that make up the Space West community.
Through this series we'll profile the individuals driving innovation, the pioneering research shaping the future and the local businesses powering growth across our region.
This edition, we're shining the spotlight on Mecha, a Bristol-based advanced engineering start-up, pioneering in research, technology, and development.
About the Business
What does your organisation do and who do you support?
The primary focuses are cyber security and space domain awareness.
Mecha specialises in Research and Development (R&D) and Research & Technology (R&T), providing advanced computational structural dynamics and stress engineering solutions. This is designed for impact, shock response, bird-strike, a part of NAFEMS Particle Methods Working Group (PMWG), fatigue and damage tolerance (F&DT), and mechanical integrity of metallic and composite aerostructures across both civil and defence aerospace sectors. we also specialise in vibro-acoustics analysis solutions, using the statistical energy analysis method through a solution channel partnership with ESI Group and Keysight Technologies and developing toolsets.
What makes your organisation different?
As an emerging advanced engineering start-up, we fuse PhD level academic perspective with over 12 years of professional experience in combined aerospace & mechanical engineering R&D which built expertise in computational analysis, validation and global airworthiness regulations and standards, including EASA CS, 14 CFR, CAA, ASTM, and MIL-STD-810. Mecha supports original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and Tier-1 companies in overcoming complex structural challenges, achieving ruggedised designs, and advancing & leveraging product TRL from conceptual design through PDR and CDR stages. We are particularly aligned with the Aerospace Technology Institute strategic roadmaps and Clean Aviation goals.
Expertise and Offer
What are your core products and specialisms?
Computational high-fidelity structural dynamic analysis, validation, Design of Experiments (DoE) and light-weighting of composite and metallic aerostructures, aligned with the airworthiness and defence regulations & standards and toolset development are our core specialisms.
VA One, which is a vibro-acoustic computational solver, enables accurate structure-borne and airborne noise as well as a frequency response for vibration characteristics of composite, sandwich and metallic aerostructures, space components and satellites particularly for high-frequency applications using Statistical Energy Analysis (SEA), Finite Element Analysis (FEA), and SEA/FEA hybrid modules. With the inclusion of the Boundary Element Method (BEM) module within the software, as a solution provider and reseller of VA One, specific to vibroacoustics, validation in collaboration with the UK based organisations, numerical DoE and vibroacoustic signature enhancement are within our capabilities that we experienced.
Which sectors do you operate in?
We operate in a variety of areas and are not limited to one application. Our work includes the aerospace, defence, computer-aided-engineering (CAE), and cross-sectoral areas where our expertise is transferable.
Growth and Innovation
What innovations, technologies or approaches are central to your work?
Airworthiness aligned structural dynamic analysis toolset development with an aim of contributing to CbA toolset development is the core engineering business of Mecha. We aspire to be a dominant developer and key collaborator in next-generation aerospace technologies delivering cross-sector advanced engineering solutions. The goal is to achieve a sustainability driven future through cutting-edge research and development, empowering a diverse and inclusive skilled workforce to engineer transformative solutions across sectors and advancing progress through innovation that shapes next generation technologies to higher technology readiness levels.
Regional Connection
Why is being part of the region important to your business?
The South West, particularly the greater Bristol area hosts many OEM/Tier-1 aerospace companies and the leading RTO in advanced composite materials which are the future of aerospace and space industries. Alignment with our professional background and future objectives made it a vital strategic decision to be a part of Bristol and Bath Science Park.
How can others get involved or work with you and what kind of collaborations are you looking for?
Advanced precise manufacturing capabilities and demonstrated Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) expertise are always essential of the efficient physical product development. This eliminates unexpected failure modes, therefore, we would be more than happy to contribute to computational analysis methodology and tool development with our expertise and through our working group membership of NAFEMS with supportive talents expected to be onboarded soon. They will collaborate for project proposals in order to leverage technology and certification readiness of products.