Overview
Michael Lowe's research is in the field of Non Destructive Evaluation (NDE), with particular emphasis on ultrasonic techniques. He has strong motivation towards the solution of real industrial problems, achieved through rigorous research of the fundamental physics of the phenomena. Thus his work covers a wide spectrum of activities, from applied mathematics through to technology transfer via licensing, consultancy and spin-out companies. He is best known for his work in NDE using guided waves, wave propagation and scattering, and development of modelling tools. He is the creator of the leading modelling tool for guided waves, DISPERSE (www.imperial.ac.uk/nde).
His research is conducted within the NDE group in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Imperial College (www.imperial.ac.uk/nde). He leads the theory and modelling activities of the group. The NDE group comprises 3 academic members of staff, a Research Fellow, and more than 20 PhD students, Engineering Doctorate students, and post-doc researchers. It is also a lead partner of the UK Research Centre in NDE (RCNDE) (www.rcnde.ac.uk); The RCNDE is a consortium of 8 universities and multiple industrial companies, funded by EPSRC and industry, which coordinates university research and technology transfer activities to provide for the NDE research and development needs of industry.