Doug Cairns is a Professor of
Mechanical Engineering of the Mechanical & Industrial
Engineering Department at MSU. Prior to coming to MSU, he was Manager
of Composites Technology at Hercules Materials Company (Now Hexcel)
where he conducted research on composite materials applied to primary
structure. He has a B.S. and M.S. from the University of Wyoming,
and a Ph.D. in Aeronautics and Astronautics the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He
is a Member of ASME (Composite Materials Subcommittee), AIAA (past
Materials Technical Committee Chairman). He is Chairman of the
Mechanical Engineering Graduate Studies Committee.
His current professional
interests include the understanding of advanced materials as applied to
primary structure and understanding the materials, manufacturing, and
structural performance link for new engineering systems. Dr. Cairns has
funding from the Office of Naval Research, the National Renewable
Energy Laboratory - Wind Technology Center, and the U.S. Air Force.
Prof. Cairns is the Chief Engineer for Radius Engineering in Salt Lake
City, Utah and consults for several industrial and private sector
partners.
Notes
for Final Exam
ME 533 Transport Phenomena
ME 550 ME Graduate Seminar
ME 550 Failure of Materials
ME 551 Advanced Composite Materials
Research:
Dr. Cairn’s research has focused on the applications
of advanced materials to primary structures. This research
includes materials development, manufacturing processes, design,
analysis, and testing. In addition, he has developed damage and
failure criteria for advanced composites. He is currently working
on manufacturing and testing new materials for wind turbine blade
structures, and is characterizing new materials for other aerospace,
civil, and marine structural applications. Other areas of
interest include manufacturing process modeling, computational
structural mechanics, and design methodology research. Dr. Cairns
works closely with industry, with an emphasis on transferring research
to the production environment. Research is at the Ph.D. and M.S.
levels.
Current and recent research projects include:
·
Wind Turbine Blades (DOE)
·
Manufacturing
·
Materials characterization
·
Damage tolerant design
· Composite
Materials (DOD)
·
Low cost manufacturing
· New
materials for Navy surface ships and aircraft
