Research Areas

Numerical simulation is essential for the development of the research operations and the numerical tools of the laboratory. Performance, robustness and quality of the results are important issues for engineers dealing with large non linear and heterogeneous structures (beams and 3D massive elements for example). They lead to specific developments in order to satisfy them.
On that matter, we can point at works concerning error estimates, new convergence criteria, numerical techniques for (...)

Control of the mechanical integrity of large industrial structures during their lifetime needs to investigate in different fields than the one used for conception or dimensioning. An important part of this research operation relies on the feedback from real operated structures and questions linked to their exploitation, and the development of in service monitoring methodologies as well as predictive tools for their behaviour in the future.
We will investigate more specifically: Inverse (...)

In order to model and simulate correctly damage for a wide range of applications (brittle or ductile rupture, fatigue) a wide range of materials (metals, concretes, geo-materials) and a wide range of loadings (static, cyclic, dynamic, impact dynamic) different aspects must be investigated amongst which we denote: Theoretical aspects linked to non local formulations (which need an adaptation of usual thermo-dynamical standard formalism); Theoretical or phenomenological model aspects (rupture (...)

The three main research operations of the laboratory are described below:
Damage and rupture of structures (metallic and civil engineering): Damage and ageing models: algorithms and formulations of global laws for structures, regularisation and internal variable gradient models. Application to metals, concretes and geo-materials; Rupture mechanics: link between global and local approaches of rupture, energy based methods, 3D simulation of multiple cracks, propagation-structure (...)