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Former PhD student now Industrial Supervisor to new student

Mon, 24 February, 2020

Former PhD student Dr Vasiliki Loukodimou is now an Industrial Supervisor to a new NSIRC student

Vasiliki Loukodimou studied at the Polytechnic School of Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics, University of Patras in Greece and graduated in December 2014, subsequently joining TWI in April 2015 where she worked in the Adhesives, Composites and Sealants (ACS), and Numerical Modelling and Optimisation (NMO) sections as an Erasmus placement student for 6 months.

During this time, Vasiliki participated in the European project: ‘Global in flight health monitoring platform for composite aerostructures based on advanced VIBRATION based methods’.

Then in October 2015 she started a PhD on: ‘Development of leak-before-break (LBB) filament wound composite structures’, with the application on composite pressure vessels (CPVs), as an NSIRC student in the ACS section, continuing to be based at TWI.

Vasiliki presenting her PhD research at the NSIRC 2017 Annual Conference. Photo: TWI Ltd / NSIRC
Vasiliki presenting her PhD research at the NSIRC 2017 Annual Conference. Photo: TWI Ltd / NSIRC

Failure of CPVs usually occurs in an unpredictable and abrupt way that takes place through explosion incidents.  It can lead to injuries and fatalities, and cause dramatic environmental and economic impact.

The existence of a leak that could provide prior warning is usually accompanied by a burst, which leaves no margin for reaction.  The aim of Vasiliki’s PhD was to develop fail-safe designs for the prediction and control of failure in CPVs, to avoid catastrophic consequences and provide a progressive, gradual manner of failure.

Vasiliki carried out her PhD, which was sponsored by Lloyd’s Register, in collaboration with the School of Aerospace, Transport and Manufacturing (SATM) of Cranfield University.  Her Industrial Supervisor was Dr Mihalis Kazilas, TWI and her Academic Supervisor was Dr Alex Skordos.

In October 2018, Vasiliki became a Project Leader at TWI in ACS, then went on to pass her VIVA in 2020.  As a result of her successful research, Vasiliki is now the Industrial Supervisor of a recent NSIRC PhD student who is continuing Vasiliki’s PhD research work in collaboration with Brunel University London.

The student, Burak Serhat Sakarya’s PhD title is ‘Design of composite pressure vessels with built-in variability in their structure for inherent leak-before-break capability’.  Burak is also sponsored by Lloyd’s Register Foundation.

Vasiliki Loukodimou. Photo: NSIRC / TWI Ltd
Vasiliki Loukodimou. Photo: NSIRC / TWI Ltd