Research facilities

Our academics and postgraduate researchers have access to a wide range of specialist facilities and laboratories. Undergraduate and Masters students may benefit from these facilities during their project work.

• Dowson tribology laboratory containing tribometers and specialised simulation rigs for the study of lubrication, friction and wear in real systems.
• Bradley combustion laboratory: underpins fundamental and applied research in various aspects of combustion to improve fuels and enhance control of combustion in engines and turbines, with safety features to prevent explosions and detonations.
• An erosion and corrosion laboratory with rigs for oil and gas applications, mineral scaling research and bioengineering systems.
• First-class measurement facilities and facilities for the dynamic testing of automotive and aerospace components, including the latest industry-standard software for computational fluid dynamics and finite element modelling of systems and materials.
• Equipment supporting our research in medical and biological engineering including facilities in materials screening analysis, joint simulation, surface analysis, heart valve simulation and tensile and fatigue testing.
• State-of-the-art optics laboratories developing novel imaging and metrology techniques.
• Surface analysis suite including atomic force microscopy, nanoindentation, mass spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectrono spectroscopy, infrared spectrosocopy and quartz crystal microbalances.
• Microfluids and interfacial fluid mechanics laboratory: supports fundamental and applied research to understand and control the fluid flow environment, essential for addressing efficiency of industrial processes and in creating milli- and micro-scale flow devices to assess the role of flow in chemical and biological systems.
• Thermofluids research laboratory: a practical laboratory focusing of fundamental fluid mechanics and combustion research.
• Wolfson Foundation laboratory which is the largest academic facility in the world for the experimental functional simulation of artificial joint replacements including pin-on-plate wear and friction testing, six station reciprocator, single station reciprocator, wear and friction simulators for hip and knee joints, spine simulation.
• Experimental facilities for characterising material behaviour including static and dynamic universal test machines, a high speed thermal imaging system alongside full and reduced scale brake dynamometer.
• Purpose-built design systems laboratory motion tracking system, soft metrology facilities, and design observation suite for audiovisual recordings to study ways in which people interact with technology and new products.
• Plasma Vapour Deposition (PVD) facility for advanced surface engineering research.
• A control and dynamics laboratory including rapid prototyping and computer aided manufacturing.
• A Newly Commissioned Corrosion Research Laboratory dedicated to Sour corrosion and High Pressure/High Temperature (HP/HT) corrosion research.

We also make use of University facilities, including:

• EPSRC National Facility for Innovative Robotic Systems is a national resource for the fabrication of complex systems which can be used for academic and industrial collaborations.
• The University's Charterhouse Rehabilitation Technologies laboratory, supported through the School of Mechanical Engineering and Medicine, including motion tracking system to support development of novel restorative rehabilitation technologies.
• Bragg facilities: The Bragg Centre for Materials Research provides Leeds-Diamond small angle X-ray spectroscopy (SAXS) facilities, such as an open access high-resolution X-ray scattering facility for nanostructural fine-analysis of complex soft matter, polymers, bio-materials and advanced solid materials.

Working with business

We are committed to sharing our facilities and associated expertise with external academic and industrial collaborators. Contact our Research and Innovation team for more information.