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Professor Geoff Tansley

Profile

I joined Aston University as Professor of Mechanical Engineering in January 2008 from the University of Nottingham (where I’d been for 3 years – mostly teaching Engineering Design).

Prior to that I worked in a medical device company (Ventracor Limited) in Sydney, Australia where I led a team in the development of the implantable systems of a medical device (ventricular assist device), having previously consulted to the company from Flinders University.

My early academic career was spent in Australia where I lectured in bioengineering and mechanical engineering at Adelaide, then Flinders Universities in South Australia and at University of Technology, Sydney.  My research has always focussed on medical devices – especially blood contacting devices and I have a great interest in the fluid dynamics of blood and in the design process.

Qualifications & Education

I gained my BSc (Hons) from Nottingham Trent - and also my PhD for a project which looked at blood flow in heart valves.  In the early days, education and I didn’t get on easily so I did an apprenticeship and ONC instead of ‘A’ levels.

  • PhD, Nottingham Trent (CNAA), 1988
  • BSc (Hons) Mechanical Engineering, Nottingham Trent (CNAA), 1984
  • Grad Cert. Tertiary Education, Flinders University of South Australia

Employment

  • 2008 – 2012: Professor of Mechanical Engineering, School of Engineering and Applied science, Aston University
  • 2004 – 2008: Associate Professor, School of Mechanical, Materials and Manufacturing Engineering, University of Nottingham
  • 1998 – 2004: Chief Mechanical Engineer, Ventracor Limited, Sydney, Australia.
  • 1994 – 1998: Senior Lecturer in Bioengineering, School of Engineering, Flinders University of South Australia
  • 1989 – 1994: Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering.  Faculty of Engineering, Adelaide University
  • 1988 – 1989: Research Associate, Applied Mathematics, Adelaide University
  • 1977 – 1984: Apprentice Toolmaker, then Studentship, Ministry of Defence (UK)

Teaching activity

My teaching interests directly reflect my research interests in the Design and Fluid Dynamics areas.  I Lead the ME4501 Computational Fluid Dynamics & Applications Module and teach parts of a number modules including ME1501 Design and Experimentation (a CDIO-based module), and ME1601 Engineering Science.

I’m keen for us to adopt the teaching principles in CDIO especially within our design teaching.  I have published a few papers on teaching and learning, for example:

Tansley, G.D. and Johnson, M., 2006.  The value of indeterminate design tasks in teaching undergraduate engineers, World Transactions on Engineering and Technology Education, 5(2):307-310

Research interests

My major research interests are in biomedical engineering and fluid dynamics – these are mostly pursued together through the development and study of blood-flow machines.  Some specific research projects include:

  • Development of an interpositional balloon pump with Dr David Richens, a Cardiac Surgeon at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS trust
  • Development of a rotary blood pump with partners at Nottingham University and Walchand College of Engineering and Wanless Hospital in Miraj, India
  • Development of orthopaedic devices with Mr Subodh Deshmukh of the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital, Birmingham
  • Mechanics of plant cells – part of a Systems Biology project with CPIB, Nottingham

Recent research funding

  • UKIERI (2011): Thematic Partnership.  Artificial Heart £40,000
  • UKIERI (2008): A low cost Ventricular Assist Device, in collaboration with Wanless Hospital, Miraj, India, £80,681
  • BBSRC/EPSRC: Centre for Plant Integrative Biology, University of Nottingham (2007) – 11 co-applicants, £9,177,262 
  • Australian Research Council (ARC)/University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) 2003:  Australian Postgraduate Award (Industry).  Hydrodynamic Stability of the VentrAssist Blood Pump, an Experimental and Numerical Investigation (Zhang, N., Tansley, G.D.).  AU$69,000

PhD Supervision

  • Zahran Khudzari: Design of an interpositional aortic balloon pump
  • Ashwarth Rajamani: control of an implantable rotary blood pump
  • Omkar Joshi: Electronics design for a low cost left ventricular device
  • Yusuf Bulale: Steerable tactile digit feedback for clinical applications

Membership of Professional Bodies

  • Fellow of Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Chartered Engineer
  • Member of the International Society for Rotary Blood Pumps
  • Member of the European Society for Artificial Organs
  • Member of the American Society for Internal Artificial Organs

External responsibilities

  • Overseas Expert Reviewer for the Australian Research Council

External engagement

  • I am a consultant on a commercial rotary blood pump project with a company in Boston Massachusetts (confidentiality precludes them being identified)
  • I am a consultant on a commercial rotary blood pump project with a company in the UK (confidentiality precludes them being identified)
  • I am a consultant to BiVacor, Brisbane, Australia which is developing a rotary total artificial heart.

Selected publications

  • Fan, Y., Shipway, P.H., Tansley, G.D. and Xu, J. 2011.  The effect of heat treatment on mechanical properties of pulsed Nd:YAG welded thin Ti6Al4V.  Advanced Materials Research 189-193(5):3672-3677. 
  • Y Fan, PH. Shipway, GD. Tansley and Z. Cheng, 2011.  Study of effect on tensile stress test from distortion of fibrelaser welded Ti6Al4V using FEA, Advanced Materials Research 314-316:1889-1894. doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.314-316.1889
  • A. Clay and G D Tansley, 2011, Exploration of a simple, low cost, micro gas turbine recuperator solution for a domestic combined heat and power unit, Applied Thermal Engineering, 31(14-15):2676-2684, October June 2011. doi:10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2011.04.037
  • A. Clay and G D Tansley, 2010, An Analysis of Micro Gas Turbines for UK Domestic Combined Heat and Power, The Institution of Diesel and Gas Turbine Engineers, Power Engineer, 14(3): 18-34. 
  • A Clay and GD Tansley, 2010.  A Micro Gas Turbine for UK Domestic Combined Heat and Power 2010, Proceedings of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers Journal of Power and Energy - Part A, 224(6):839-849.
  • Hilton,A and Tansley, G., 2008.  Magnetic drive system for a new centrifugal rotary blood pump.  Artificial Organs 32(10):772-777
  • Hodgman, T.C., Ugartechea-Chirino, Y., Tansley, G.  and Dryden, I., 2006.  The implications for Bioinformatics of integration across physical scales, Journal of Integrative Bioinformatics, 3(2)
  • Chung, M.K.H, Zhang, N, Tansley, G.D. and Yi Qian, 2004, Experimental determination of dynamic characteristics of the VentrAssist™ implantable rotary blood pump.  Artificial Organs, 28 (12):1089-1094.
  • Vidakovic, S., Ayre, P., Woodard, J. and Lingard, N., Tansley, G.D., Reizes, J.   2000,  Paradoxical Effects of Viscosity on the VentrAssist Rotary Blood Pump.   Artificial Organs, 24(6):478-482.
  • Ayer, P., Vidakovic, S.S., Tansley, G.D., Watterson, PA. and Lovell, N., 2000.  Sensorless flow and head estimation pressure in the Ventrassist Rotary Blood Pump.  Artificial Organs, 24(8):585-588.

Patents – a selection

  • Woodard, J.C., Tansley, G.D., Watterson, P.A., 2001.  A Rotary blood pump with exclusively hydrodynamically suspended impeller, US Patent 6,250,880
  • Woodard, J.C., Tansley, G.D., Watterson, P.A., 2005.  A rotary pump with hydrodynamically suspended impeller. European Patent No. 1,019,116
  • Ayre, P., Tansley, G.D., Watterson, P.A., Woodard, J.C., 2005.  A rotary blood pump and control system therefor.  US Patent No. 6,866,625