A team led by Dunlop Aircraft Tyres has secured £120,000 of funding from the Midlands Aerospace Alliance (MAA) to research new ways to embrace modelling technology to reduce the time and cost of aircraft tyre development.  

The project, which will also involve significant investment from Dunlop Aircraft Tyres, is being run in conjunction with the University of Birmingham's School of Mechanical Engineering and with support from Airbus.  

It will help Dunlop Aircraft Tyres to identify how it can use modelling to improve the design process of aircraft tyres and, consequently, to bring advanced products to market quicker than ever before.  

Alongside this, airframe, landing gear and wheel and brake manufacturers will be able to use output from this innovative supply chain partnership project to improve aircraft and landing gear system modelling and simulation – helping them to reduce design time and cost.  

"We have an aggressive new product programme as part of our overall expansion strategy," said Dunlop Aircraft Tyres' chairman, Ian Edmondson.  

"This funding and the support of the University of Birmingham and Airbus gives us the opportunity to research new ways to use the very latest modelling technology to make advancements in aircraft tyre design and to remain at the leading edge of the industry."  

The project is part of the MAA's Aerospace Technology Exploitation Programme, funded by the European Regional Development Fund and Advantage West Midlands. It is being led by Dunlop Aircraft Tyres' head of research, Dr Wei Ding.  

Wei previously worked for Airbus where he was project manager for tyre research and team leader for tyre, wheel and brake modelling and simulation.