Rhys Jones (Australian engineer)


Rhys Jones is an Australian mechanical and aerospace engineer and university professor of engineering.
His main areas of research are aircraft structural mechanics, corrosion repair, and airworthiness. He has written extensively in the field, both books and academic publications.
In 2018, he was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia for his service to engineering and education.
WWW monash.edu/research/explo...

Early life and education

Jones initially studied Applied Mathematics at the University of Adelaide.
He obtained his PhD in 1974, also from the University of Adelaide.

Professional career

Academic career

After graduating with a PhD, Jones started as a lecturer in civil engineering at Swinburne University.
In 1976, he joined the Aeronautical Research Laboratory at the Australian Defence Science and Technology Organisation; he held the position of research leader in Aircraft Structures and Materials Division there until 1993.
In 1993, Jones moved to Monash University, where he took up the role of chair professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, a position he held until 2017.
While there, he led the Centre of Expertise in Aircraft Structural Mechanics, focusing on enhancing the safety and longevity of aircraft structures.
On his retirement, he was appointed professor emeritus in January 2018.
Between 2016 and 2019, Jones was also a professor in the School of Applied Sciences, Computing, and Engineering at Wrexham University.
Commencing 2021, Jones joined the Australian Research Council Industrial Transformation Training Centre in Surface Engineering for Advanced Materials as a senior associate investigator. He was also an adjunct professor at Swinburne University in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Product Design Engineering.

Contributions to engineering

Jones' contributions have mainly concerned improving aircraft safety, an interest which began in 1988 when Aloha Airlines Flight 243 suffered explosive decompression in flight.
He has conducted extensive research on the most effective ways to repair cracks and corrosion, which are leading causes of aircraft structural failures.
In collaboration with RUAG and the U.S. Navy, Jones developed a technique to remediate aluminium corrosion by spraying fine metal particles at supersonic speed onto the aircraft bodies, effectively restoring them nearly to their original condition.
In March 2018, Jones joined the Australian manufacturing company Titomic Limited as Structural Mechanics and Integrity Advisor.

Professional service

Jones serves as an associate editor for the Polymeric and Composite Materials section of Frontiers in Materials.

Awards and recognition

In the 2018 Australia Day Honours, Jones was awarded Australia's highest civilian honour, Companion of the Order of Australia, "for eminent service to mechanical and aerospace engineering, and to education as an academic, researcher and author, particularly in the area of aircraft structural mechanics, corrosion repair and airworthiness." This is the first time that this honour was awarded to a structures/materials scientist.
Other awards and achievements include:

Publications

Academic papers

, ResearchGate lists 558 of his scientific publications with 10,034 citations.
Meanwhile, Google Scholar lists 13,714 citations to his works, giving an h-index of 56.

Books

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