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.
The
Standard Atmosphere
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
