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The NCC has successfully completed a proof-of-concept project that demonstrates the transformative impact of digital tools on the design process for the complex engineering industry.  The application of Multi-Disciplinary Optimisation (MDO) techniques to a composite hydrogen pressure vessel has resulted in identifying an optimum design five times faster than a traditional, sequential approach.

The NCC, in partnership with the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult, launched the SusWIND programme to drive the future sustainability of composite wind turbine components. In its first annual review, the NCC has published the key findings of the programme and sets out ambitious plans to tackle the main challenges of legacy and future blades.

NCC engineers, along with British SME partners B&M Longworth Ltd and Cygnet Texkimp, have successfully reclaimed continuous carbon fibres from a whole pressure vessel and re-used them to manufacture a new pressure vessel. This is the first time this process has been achieved in the UK and represents a significant milestone in the development of Britain’s hydrogen capability.