Associate Professor

Christopher Bronn YORK

Cluster:

Engineering

Profile

Biography

I gained a first in Civil Engineering in 1990 and completed a PhD in Structural Engineering in 1993; both at the University of Wales, Cardiff.

Following a two-year period of post-doctoral research, investigating structural optimisation methodologies for application to lightweight air-vehicle design, I joined the University of Edinburgh in 1995 as a Lecturer in Civil Engineering.

My continuing research interests in lightweight structures attracted me to Glasgow in 2001, which at that time was the only institution in Scotland delivering an Aeronautical Engineering degree program. Glasgow University offered an opportunity to engage in research led teaching with close interaction with the aerospace industry.

A Royal Academy of Engineering supported industrial secondment with BAE Systems in 2003, involving structural optimisation studies for the future Joint Strike Fighter aircraft, provided the catalyst that gave rise to my current research interests in laminated composite materials.

My current research activities are focused on laminated composite materials involving: algorithm development for identification and characterisation of thermo-mechanical coupling behaviour and; critical assessments of the benefits, or otherwise, to a wide range of functional and/or structural material applications. These activities include composite tailoring strategies for introducing passive-adaptive behaviour in wing-box type structures, which have been developed in collaboration with the University of São Paulo and a leading Brazilian airframe manufacturer, with support from the Newton Research Collaboration Programme in 2016 and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council in 2018.

SIT Appointments

Programme Leader, Master of Science in Civil Engineering
2021 – 2025
Programme Leader, SIT-UofG BEng (Hons) Civil Engineering
2021 – 2023

Professional Certification

Chartered Engineer
Royal Aeronautical Society

Research

Research Interests

Composite Materials and Structures
Algorithms for thermo-mechanical laminate classification and database development.

Tailoring strategies for thickness tapering, passive-adaptive mechanical behaviour and hygro-thermally curvature stable behaviour.
Buckling and Vibration of Thin Walled Structures
Minimum mass design of composite plate assemblies subject to buckling and strength constraints.

Exact infinite strip analysis; Finite element analysis.

Experimental Mechanics.

Current Projects

AirX - Composite material qualification
2024 – Present

This ongoing Reasearch and Development project involves qualification testing of various composite systems relating to WiG marine aircraft.
The Flexible Wing Project
2018 – Present

The Flexible Wing Project represents an ongoing joint research collaboration with the University of São Paulo and Brazilian industry partners to develop a passive adaptive wing for drag reduction.

Past Projects

Design Characterization of Composite Sandwich Structures for WiG Applications - R-MOE-A403-G011
2020 – 2023

This experimental project involved: the characterization of the damage resistance and damage tolerance and failure envelope for sandwich composite configuration used for the airframe of a Wing-in-Ground effect (WIG) vehicle; an evaluation of the effect of joint geometry, face sheet fiber orientation, and varying core density on the bearing strength; an investigation of different failure modes on sandwich composite joint construction and; characterization of the different failure modes in adhesive joints to develop optimum adhesive joint strategies to maximize strength.
Prototype Tooling Set for Composites Manufacture - R-MOE-E103-D020
2019 – 2020

This project led to the manufacture of closed mold tooling for fabrication of thin-walled Z-section composite columns, with 80mm webs and 40mm flanges, up to 1m in length. Together with grooved compression platens, forming either simple or clamped end supports, buckling phenomena was studied for non-standard laminate designs. Bending stiffness matching between standard and double angle ply laminates has been employed to study the isolated effects of axial stiffness, which serves to increase the apparent effective length of the column by delaying the transition from local to overall buckling.

Publication

Journal Papers

Kennedy, D., Butler, R., York, C. B. (2023). Professor Frederic Ward Williams 1940–2019, Thin-Walled Structures, 182, 110241. (doi: 10.1016/j.tws.2022.110241)
York, C. B. (2021) Laminate stiffness tailoring for improved buckling performance. Thin-Walled Structures, 161, 107482. (doi: 10.1016/j.tws.2021.107482)
York, C. B. and Lee, K. K. (2020) Test validation of extension-twisting coupled laminates with matched orthotropic stiffness. Composite Structures, 242. (doi: 10.1016/j.compstruct.2020.112142)

Lee, H.S. J. and York, C. B. (2020) Compression and shear buckling performance of finite length plates with bending-twisting coupling. Composite Structures, 241. (doi: 10.1016/j.compstruct.2020.112069)
York, C. B. and de Almeida, S. F. M. (2018) Effect of bending-twisting coupling on the compression and shear buckling strength of infinitely long plates. Composite Structures, 184, pp. 18-29. (doi:10.1016/j.compstruct.2017.09.085)
York, C. B. and Almeida, S. F. M. (2017) Tapered laminate designs for new non-crimp fabric architectures. Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing, 100, pp. 150-160.(doi:10.1016/j.compositesa.2017.04.023)

York, C. B. and Almeida, S. F. M. (2017) On extension-shearing bending-twisting coupled laminates. Composite Structures, 164, pp. 10-22. (doi:10.1016/j.compstruct.2016.12.041)

York, C. B. (2017) On bending-twisting coupled laminates.Composite Structures, 160, pp. 887-900.(doi:10.1016/j.compstruct.2016.10.063)

Mania, R. J. and York, C. B. (2017) Buckling strength improvements for Fibre Metal Laminates using thin-ply tailoring. Composite Structures, 159, pp. 424-432.(doi:10.1016/j.compstruct.2016.09.097)
Li, D. and York, C. B. (2015) Bounds on the natural frequencies of laminated rectangular plates with extension-bending coupling. Composite Structures, 133, pp. 863-870.(doi:10.1016/j.compstruct.2015.07.076)

Li, D. and York, C. B. (2015) Bounds on the natural frequencies of laminated rectangular plates with extension-twisting (and shearing-bending) coupling. Composite Structures, 131, pp. 37-46. (doi:10.1016/j.compstruct.2015.04.027)

York, C. B. (2015) On tapered warp-free laminates with single-ply terminations. Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing, 72, pp. 127-138.(doi:10.1016/j.compositesa.2015.01.022)

York, C. B. (2015) On extension-shearing coupled laminates.Composite Structures, 120, pp. 472-482.(doi:10.1016/j.compstruct.2014.10.019)
Shamsudin, M.H. and York, C. B. (2014) Mechanically coupled laminates with balanced plain weave. Composite Structures, 107, pp. 416-428. (doi:10.1016/j.compstruct.2013.08.004)
York, C. B. (2013) Tapered hygo-thermally curvature-stable laminates with non-standard ply orientations. Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing, 44, pp. 140-148.(doi:10.1016/j.compositesa.2012.08.023)

Shamsudin, M.H., Chen, J. and York, C. B. (2013) Bounds on the compression buckling strength of hygro-thermally curvature-stable laminate with extension-twisting coupling.International Journal of Structural Integrity, 4(4), pp. 477-486. (doi:10.1108/IJSI-09-2012-0025)
Baker, N., Butler, R. and York, C.B. (2012) Damage tolerance of fully orthotropic laminates in compression. Composites Science and Technology, 72(10), pp. 1083-1089.(doi:10.1016/j.compscitech.2011.09.010)
York, C. B. (2011) КВАЗИОДНОРОДНЫЕ ОРТОТРОПНЫЕ СЛОИСТЫЕ КОМПОЗИТЫ С ИЗГИБНО-МЕМБРАННЫМ ВЗАИМОДЕЙСТВИЕМ. КВАЗИОДНОРОДНЫЕ ОРТОТРОПНЫЕ СЛОИСТЫЕ КОМПОЗИТЫ С ИЗГИБНО-МЕМБРАННЫМ ВЗАИМОДЕЙСТВИЕМ, 47(4), pp. 579-606.

York, C. B. (2011) Coupled quasi-homogeneous orthotropic laminates. Mechanics of Composite Materials, 47(4), pp. 405-426. (doi:10.1007/s11029-011-9219-5)

York, C. B. (2011) Unified approach to the characterization of coupled composite laminates: Hygro-thermally curvature-stable configurations. International Journal of Structural Integrity, 2(4), pp. 406-436.(doi:10.1108/17579861111183920)
York, C. B. (2010) A unified approach to the characterization of coupled composite laminates: benchmark configurations and special cases. Journal of Aerospace Engineering, 23(4), pp. 219-242. (doi:10.1061/(ASCE)AS.1943-5525.0000036
York, C. B. (2009) Characterization of non-symmetric forms of fully orthotropic laminates. Journal of Aircraft, 46(4), pp. 1114-1125. (doi:10.2514/1.32938)
York, C. B. (2007) Buckling interaction in regular arrays of rigidly supported composite laminated plates with orthogrid, isogrid, and anisogrid planform. Journal of the American Helicopter Society, 52(4), pp. 343-359.
York, C. B. (2006) Buckling analysis and minimum-mass design procedures for composite wing-box structures. Journal of Aircraft, 43(2), pp. 528-536. https://doi.org/10.2514/1.16277
York, C. B. (2003) Buckling interaction in regular arrays of distorted hexagonal plates. Aeronautical Journal, 107(1074), pp. 461-468.
Huyton, P. and York, C. B. (2001) Buckling of skew plates with continuity or rotational edge restraint. Journal of Aerospace Engineering, 14(3), pp. 92-101. (doi:10.1061/(ASCE)0893-1321(2001)14:3(92))
York, C. B. and Pedreschi, R. (2000) The influence of geometry on the strength of shear wall panels in light steel construction.Construction and Building Materials, 14(5), pp. 277-285.(doi:10.1016/S0950-0618(00)00027-1)

York, C. B. (2000) Elastic buckling design curves for isotropic rectangular plates with continuity or elastic edge restraint against rotation. Aeronautical Journal, 104(1034), pp. 175-182.
York, C. B. and Williams, F. W. (1998) Aircraft wing panel buckling analysis: efficiency by approximations. Computers and Structures, 68(6), pp. 665-676. (doi:10.1016/S0045-7949(98)00050-9)
York, C.B. (1996) Influence of continuity and aspect-ratio on the buckling of skew plates and plate assemblies.International Journal of Solids and Structures, 33(15), pp. 2133-2159. (doi:10.1016/0020-7683(95)00139-5)
Williams, F. W., Ouyang, H. J., Kennedy, D. and York, C. B. (1995)Wave propagation along longitudinally periodically supported or stiffened prismatic plate assemblies. Journal of Sound and Vibration, 186(2), pp. 197-205. (doi:10.1006/jsvi.1995.0443)

York, C. B. and Williams, F. W. (1995) Buckling analysis of skew plate assemblies: classical plate theory results incorporating Lagrangian multipliers. Computers and Structures, 56(4), pp. 625-635. (doi:10.1016/0045-7949(94)00568-N)
York, C. B. and Williams, F. W. (1994) Theory and buckling results for infinitely wide, stiffened skew plate assemblies.Composite Structures, 28(2), pp. 189-200. (doi:10.1016/0263-8223(94)90048-5)
York, C. B., Williams, F. W., Kennedy, D. and Butler, R. (1993) A parametric study of optimum designs for benchmark stiffened wing panels. Composites Engineering, 3(7-8), pp. 619-632.(doi:10.1016/0961-9526(93)90086-Y)

Conferences

Manikandan, P. and York, C. B. (2023). Influence of delamination interface location on compression strength of fully isotropic laminates after impact. 23rd International Conference on Composite Materials (ICCM23), Belfast, UK, 30th July - 4th August 2023.
Lee, H. S. J. and York, C. B. (2019) Design Procedures for Improved Laminate Performance in Bending and Extension. 22nd International Conference on Composite Materials 2019 (ICCM 22), Melbourne, Australia, 11-16 Aug 2019.

York, C. B. (2019) Laminate Design for Improved Post-Critically Stable Performance. 22nd International Conference on Composite Materials 2019 (ICCM 22), Melbourne, Australia, 11-16 Aug 2019.

York, C. B. and Lee, K. K. (2019) Test Validation of Extension-Twisting coupled laminates with matched orthotropic stiffness. 22nd International Conference on Composite Materials 2019 (ICCM 22), Melbourne, Australia, 11-16 Aug 2019.
York, C. B. (2018) Insights Into the Buckling Behaviour of Finite Length Composite Plates with Continuity Over Supports. Stability of Structures XV-th Symposium, Zakopane, Poland, 17-21 Sep 2018.

York, C. B. (2018) New Insights Into Stiffness Matching Between Standard and Double Angle-ply Laminates. 11th Asian-Australian Conference on Composite Materials, Cairns, Australia, 29 Jul - 01 Aug 2018.

York, C. B., Murta, Y. B. and Frascino Müller de Almeida, S. (2018) A Passive-adaptive Wing for Drag Reduction. 31st Congress of the International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences (ICAS 2018), Belo Horizonte, Brazil, 09-14 Sep 2018.
York, C. B. and Almeida, S. F. M. (2017) Effect of Design Heuristics on the Compression and Shear Buckling Performance of Infinitely Long Plates With Bending-Twisting Coupling. 21st International Conference on Composite Materials, Xi'an, China, 20-25 Aug 2017.
Mania, R. J. and York, C. B. (2016) A Study on Buckling Response of FML Members of ‘Classical’ Versus Thin-Ply Design. In: International Conference on Vibrations and Buckling, Porto, Portugal, 7-9 March 2016.

York, C. B. and de Almeida, S. F. M. (2016) Design Space Interrogation for New C-Ply Laminate Architectures. In: ECCM 17: 17th European Conference on Composite Materials, Munich, Germany, 26-30 June 2016.
Shamsudin‎, M. H. and York, C. (2015) On Mechanically Coupled Tapered Laminates with Balanced Plain Weave and Non-Crimp Fabrics. 20th International Conference on Composite Materials (ICCM20), Copenhagen, Denmark, 19-24 Jul 2015.

York, C. (2015) A Two-Ply Termination Strategy For Mechanically Coupled Tapered Laminates. In: 20th International Conference on Composite Materials (ICCM20), Copenhagen, Denmark, 19-24 Jul 2015.

York, C. (2015) Composite Materials as an Enabling Technology. MARA Aerospace Seminar 2015 - Realizing The Nation Aerospace Vision, Langkawi, Malaysia, 19 Mar 2015.

York, C. B. (2015) Influence of bending–twisting coupling on compression and shear buckling strength [Keynote]. Stability of Structures 14th Symposium, Zakopane, Poland, 8-12 Jun 2015.
York, C. B. (2013) On tapered warp-free laminates. In: 3rd EASN International Workshop on Aerostructures, Bovisa Campus, Politecnico di Milano, Italy, 9-11 Oct 2013.

Shamsudin, M., Rousseau, J. and York, C. B. (2013) Warping curvature predictions for non-symmetric woven cloth laminates. In: Designing Against Deformation & Fracture of Composite Materials: Engineering For Integrity Large Composite Structures (DFC-12/SI-6), Cambridge, uk, 8-11 Apr 2013.

York, C. B. (2013) Thermo-mechanical tailoring strategies for uni-direction, woven-cloth and hybrid laminate systems [Keynote]. In: 50th Anniversary of Stability of Structures Symposia, Lodz, Poland, 16-18 May 2013.

York, C. (2013) Unbalanced and symmetric laminates: new perspectives on a less common design rule. In: 19th International Conference on Composite Materials, Montreal, Canada, 28 Jul - 2 Aug 2013.
York, C. B. and Kennedy, D. (2012) Application of quasi-homogeneous anisotropic laminates in grid-stiffened panel design. In: 53rd AIAA/ASME/ASCE/AHS/ASC Structures, Structural Dynamics and Materials Conference, Honolulu, Hawaii, 23-26 Apr 2012, pp. 1-23. (doi:10.2514/6.2012-1369)

Li, D. and York, C. B. (2012) Natural frequency prediction for laminated rectangular plates with extension-bending or extension-twisting and shearing-bending coupling. In: 1st International Conference on Mechanics of Nano, Micro and Macro Composite Structures, Torino, Italy, 18-20 June 2012.

Shamsudin, M., Chen, J. and York, C. B. (2012) Buckling response of hygro-thermally curvature-stable laminates with extension-twisting coupling. In: 1st International Conference of the International Journal of Structural Integrity, Porto, Portugal, 25-28 June 2012.

Shamsudin, M. and York, C. B. (2012) Thermo-mechanical behaviour of balanced plain weave laminates. In: Aerotech IV Conference on Recent Advances in Aerospace Technology, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 21-22 Nov 2012.

York, C. B. (2012) Coupled quasi-homogeneous anisotropic laminates. In: 17th International Conference on Mechanics of Composite Materials, Jurmala, Latvia, 28 May - 1 Jun 2012.

York, C. B. (2012) Extension-twist coupled laminates for aero-elastic compliant blade design. In: 53rd AIAA/ASME/ASCE/AHS/ASC Structures, Structural Dynamics and Materials Conference, Honolulu, Hawaii, 23-26 Apr 2012, pp. 1-22. (doi:10.2514/6.2012-1457)
Shamsudin, M. H., Rousseau, J., Verchery, G. and York, C. B. (2011) Experimental validation of the mechanical coupling response for hygro-thermally curvature-stable laminated composite materials. In: 6th International Conference "Supply on the wings" in conjunction with AIRTEC 2011, International Aerospace Supply Fair, Exhibition Center, Frankfurt / Main, Germany, 2-4 November 2011.

Baker, N., Butler, R. and York, C. B. (2011) Maximizing compression after impact strength of uncoupled symmetric and non-symmetric laminates. In: 52nd AIAA/ASME/ASCE/AHS/ASC Structures, Structural Dynamics and Materials Conference, Denver, CL, USA, 4-7 Ap 2011. (doi:10.2514/6.2011-1862)

Rhead, A., Butler, R. and York, C. B. (2011) Damage tolerance of asymmetric fully orthotropic laminates in compression. In: 11th Deformation and Fracture of Composites and 5th Structural Integrity and Multi-Scale Modelling Conference, Cambridge, UK, 12-15 Apr 2011.

Rousseau, J., Verchery, G. and York, C. B. (2011) Experimental validation of design concepts for laminated composite materials with thermal and/or mechanical coupling response. In: 11th Deformation and Fracture of Composites and 5th Structural Integrity and Multi-Scale Modelling Conference, Cambridge, UK, 12-15 Apr 2011.

York, C.B. (2011) Hygro-thermally curvature-stable laminates with non-standard ply orientations. In: 18th International Conference on Composite Materials, Jeju Island, South Korea, 21-26 Aug 2011.
York, C. B. (2010) Design concepts for laminated composite materials with thermal and/or mechanical coupling response. In: 1st EASN Association Workshop on Aerostructures, Serenes, Paris, France, 7 - 8th September 2010.

Weaver, P. M., O’Donnell, M. P. and York, C.B . (2010) Approximations for warp free laminate configurations. In: 51st AIAA/ASME/ASCE/AHS/ASC Structures, Structural Dynamics, and Materials Conference, Orlando FL, USA, 12-15 Apr 2010. (doi:10.2514/6.2010-2774)

York, C. B. (2010) Coupled quasi-homogeneous orthotropic laminates. In: 16th International Conference on Mechanics of Composite Materials, Riga, Latvia, 24-28 May 2010.

York, C. B. and Weaver, P. M. (2010) Balanced and symmetric laminates: new perspectives on an old design rule. In: 51st AIAA/ASME/ASCE/AHS/ASC Structures, Structural Dynamics, and Materials Conference, Orlando, FL, USA, 12-15 April 2010. (doi:10.2514/6.2010-2775)
York, C. B. (2009) Approximations for fully isotropic laminate configurations (coupled laminate derivatives). In: 17th International Conference on Composite Materials, Edinburgh, Scotland, 27 - 31st July 2009.
York, C. B. (2008) Approximations for fully isotropic laminate configurations. In: 26th Congress of International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences, Anchorage, Alaska, 14-19 Sept 2008.

York, C. B. (2008) On composite laminates with extensional anisotropy. In: 49th AIAA/ASME/ASCE/AHS/ASC Structures, Structural Dynamics and Materials Conference, Schaumburg, IL, USA, 7-10 Apr 2008. (doi:10.2514/6.2008-1752)

York, C. B. (2008) Stacking sequences for extensionally isotropic, fully isotropic and quasi-homogeneous orthotropic laminates. In: 49th AIAA/ASME/ASCE/AHS/ASC Structures, Structural Dynamics and Materials Conference, Schaumburg, IL, USA, 7-10 Apr 2008. (doi:10.2514/6.2008-1940)
York, C. B. (2007) Characterization of ply mixing rules for non-symmetric forms of fully orthotropic laminates. In: 48th AIAA/ASME/ASCE/AHS/ASC Structures, Structural Dynamics and Materials Conference, Honolulu, Hawaii, 23-26 Apr 2007, ISBN 9781563478925 (doi:10.2514/6.2007-2083)
York, C. B. (2004) Natural frequency response of rigid cellular supported composite plates. In: 24th International Congress of the Aeronautical Sciences, Yokohama, Japan, 29th August - 3rd September, pp. 1-12.

York, C. B. and Kennedy, D. (2004) Minimum mass design of composite wing box structures incorporating syntactic core fibre replacement. In: 6th World Congress on Computational Mechanics with 2nd Asian-Pacific Congress on Computational Mechanics, Beijing, China, 5th - 10th September.
Huyton, P. B. and York, C. B. (2002) Buckling of skew plates with planform taper. In: 43rd AIAA/ASME/ASCE/AHS/ASC Structures, Structural Dynamics, and Materials Conference, Denver, CL, USA, 22-25 Apr 2002. ISBN 9781563475429 (doi:10.2514/6.2002-1572)
Huyton, P. B. and York, C. B. (2001) Wing panel geometry and implications for design. In: 2nd International Conference on Advanced Engineering Design, Glasgow, 24-26 June 2001, pp. 69-74.

York, C. B. (2001) Elastic buckling interaction in regular arrays of distorted composite hexagonal plates. In: American Helicopter Society Hampton Roads Chapter, Structure Specialists' Meeting, Williamsburg, VA,USA, 30th October - 1st November.

York, C. B. (2001) Elastic buckling interaction in regular arrays of thin polygonal plates. In: 42nd AIAA/ASME/ASCE/AHS/ASC Structures, Structural Dynamics and Materials Conference, Seattle,WA,USA, 16-19 April 2001.
Huyton, P. B. and York, C. B. (2000) Buckling of skew plates with continuity or rotational edge restraint. In: 22nd International Council of Aeronautical Sciences Congress, Harrogate, UK, 27 Aug - 1 Sep 2000.
York, C. B. (1996) Application of skew-transversely-repetitive analysis for buckling of plate arrays with curved or straight internal supports. In: 20th Congress of the International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences Congress, Sorrento, Italy, 8-13 Sep 1996.
York, C. B., Williams, F. W. and Kennedy, D. (1992) Aspects of buckling and vibration modes of skew plate structures. In: 29th Polish Solid Mechanics Conference, Rytro, Poland.

Books

Mania, R. and York, C. B. (2016) Buckling strength of FML profiles of ‘classic’ versus thin-ply design. In: Mania, R.J. (ed.) Research Issues of Applied Mechanics. Series: Research Issues of Applied Mechanics, 6. Technical University of Lodz Press: Lodz. pp. 88-110. ISBN 9788372837684

Teaching

Teaching Modules

Aerospace Engineering, BEng (Hons)

AEE3303 - Composite Materials and Finite Element Analysis
AEE2007 - Aerospace Structures and Materials

Master of Science in Civil Engineering

CVE6001 - Structural Stability and Dynamics
CVE6004 - Advanced Material Technology

Past

CVE1211 - Engineering Mathematics II (736)
SIT4012 - Aircraft Structures and Materials 4S (331)
SIT3027 - Aircraft Structural Analysis and Design 3S (316)
SIT3017 - Aircraft Structures and Materials 3S (281)
AEE2151 - Engineering Systems Modelling and Simulation (14936)
AEE2331 - Aerospace Manufacturing Processes, Materials and Structures (14966)

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