Lance McGarva, BEng (Mech), PhD

Senior Research Engineer

Dr Lance McGarva 14 year career in advanced composites began with his PhD in Lightweight Structures at the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden, investigating rapid manufacture of thermoplastic composite sandwich structures.

 Lance worked at LUSAS, first as a Composite Application Engineer and later as an Engineering Analyst. Part of the work involved development of a finite element analysis tool for predicting manufacturing induced distortion of composite components for the aerospace industry. Consultancy work involved linear and non-linear finite element analysis of a variety of composite structures and components. Dr McGarva then moved to Airbus UK as a Composite Stress Engineer in the Composite Structures Development Centre. In this role he provided stress support for the ALCAS project, aimed at developing composite wing structures and technologies for future aircraft.

Lance joined CRC-ACS in 2008, and was a project leader within the helicopter program, primarily working on the development of alternative manufacturing methods for, and repair of, composite helicopter components. In his current role at ACS Australia, Lance leads operations in the Brisbane office.