Cooperation approach



Our library keeps growing and is under permanent revision, improvement and validation.

Part of our developments are promoted by collaborations from different types of research projects, while another substantial part comes from our own initiative motivated by scientific curiosity as well as in view of future applications aiming at possible new cooperations.

We carry out frequent changes to improve the previous implementation, incorporating new features and modifications at diferent levels. Because of this, the revisited models look little or nothing like the initial implementation. This is part of the scientific development.

Joint work along different projects is helping our library to gradually become richer in different directions little by little.

Below we mention some projects where some of our modules were initiated, modified, improved or extended.
Cooperation approach

SECEMIN



SECEMIN (SElf-healing CEmentitious and MINeral building materials) project aimed at studying several self-healing strategies and mechanisms for cementitious and mineral building materials. This project was leaded by Magnel Laboratory and funded by SIM Flanders (Strategic Initiative Materials) and IWT (former belgian agency for Innovation by Science and Technology). SIM is a virtual research centre founded in 2009 by the Flemish Materials Industry and the Flemish Universities. More details about SECEMIN can be found here.

Looking at the mechanical response of cementitious materials, we learned how, for example, concrete can break and debond from glass under different type of loads. This information has enriched some of our modules, like for example, damage.

Some more general information about modelling in this project can be seen here: Link 1, Link 2
Project example: SECEMIN

M3Strength



M3Strength project belongs to the research program called MacroModelMat (M3, Macro-level predictive modeling, design and optimization of advanced lightweight material systems) leaded by Siemens (Siemens Industry Software, Belgium). The whole program is currently active and funded by SIM (Strategic Initiative Materials in Flanders) and VLAIO (Flanders Innovation and Entrepreneurship, which was the result of merging Enterprise Flanders and IWT in 2016). More details about M3Strength can be found here.

The first versions of some of our visco-plastic modules were developed in this project to capture the strain-rate dependency of the thermoset matrix in micro-scale simulations of UD fiber-reinforced composites. An example can be seen here.

More information and other related outcomes from this project can be consulted here.
Project example: M3Strength

RACE-TP



RACE-TP was an up-scaling project on the use of thermoplastic, recyclable composite materials in car manufacturing. The project was coordinated by Arkema France and funded by EIT Raw Materials (European Institute of Innovation and Technology). The target was to speed-up the development of thermoplastic-based composites for structural components that can substitute current metal-based solutions in automotive industry.

EIT Raw Materials put forward this project as a "Success Story" in their Newsletter (out of more than 150 ongoing projects) where our modelling part played a crucial role. Thanks to this project, anisotropic visco-plasticity and damage in thermoplastic composites were better understood and enriched our modules.

More details about RACE-TP can be found here: Link 1, Link 2.
Project example: RACE-TP

ProPeL



ProPeL (PROcess and PErformance simulation of Lightweight structures) project also belongs to M3 program coordinated by Siemens (see above). This ongoing project aims at developing a simulation methodology to predict performance of light-weight materials based on thermoplastic polymers (reinforced and unreinforced). The keypoint is to understand and control the manufacturing-induced effects in the material performance.

The thermomechanical coupling in some of our modules is being currently studied within the context of this project. Additional constitutive models for thermoplastic polymers and composites accounting for more advanced effects (e.g., crystallinity) are currently under development.

More information from this project can be consulted here.
Project example: ProPeL

P-SCOPE (consultancy)



P-SCOPE (Polymer Shear and COmpressive Property determination at Elevated strain rates) is an Industrial research project leaded by Solvay and funded by Innoviris. This project is focused on the development of test methods for the investigation of the dependency of shear and compressive properties with strain rate for thermoset and thermoplastic polymer matrix materials.

During one year, we have been subcontractor of Solvay to support the required numerical modelling of polymers under high strain rates. Part of our library has been used, validated and improved both under quasistatic and dynamic conditions along this research.
Project example: P-SCOPE

Contact

Address:
Mechanics of Materials and Structures research group
Department of Materials, Textiles and Chemical Engineering
Ghent University
Tech Lane Ghent Science Park – Campus A Technologiepark Building 46
B-9052 Zwijnaarde (Ghent)
BELGIUM

Scan to obtain the indoor route

Click here to send an E-mail