THREAD — Joint Training on Numerical Modelling of Highly Flexible Structures for Industrial Applications

Results in brief

Joint Training on Numerical Modelling of Highly Flexible Structures for Industrial Applications

Virtual prototyping is a cornerstone in modern industrial product development cycles, as it is used to accelerate the design process, reduce the cost associated with real prototypes and improve the final product’s performances. The European Training Network THREAD addressed the numerical modelling of slender and highly flexible structures like yarns, cables, hoses or ropes that are essential parts of high-performance engineering systems. The complex response of such structures in real operational conditions is far beyond the capabilities of current modelling tools that are at the core of modern product development. The mechanical response of highly flexible structures in application areas such as mechanical and aerospace engineering, biomedical engineering, offshore engineering, civil engineering and textile engineering is dominated by very complex phenomena that occur at different spatial and temporal scales. Full-scale 3D models of multimaterial rods based on a detailed representation of their internal structure would be incompatible with the requirements of a system-level analysis because of their high complexity and computational cost. Classical 1D rod models led to lower-dimensional problems but were hardly able to reproduce experimental results because of their inability to account for local nonlinear phenomena in the cross-section and of their extreme sensitivity to numerical disturbances. THREAD was a unique network of universities, research organisations and industry from Austria, Belgium, Croatia, France, Germany, Norway, Slovenia and Spain that brought together mechanical engineers and mathematicians around major challenges in industrial applications and simulation software development. It established an innovative modelling chain starting from detailed 3D models and experimental measurements to build validated 1D rod models which were then brought to a system-level simulation thanks to the development of next-generation algorithms with outstanding numerical properties. THREAD addressed the pressing need for a new generation of young scientists capable of solving fundamental problems related to highly flexible structures and transferring results to applications. The 14 Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) benefitted from cooperation with 12 industrial partner organisations who implemented a comprehensive programme of research secondments and contributed their experience.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union

Project objective

Virtual prototyping is a cornerstone in modern product development cycles: It accelerates the design process, reduces costs and improves product performance and quality. Highly flexible slender structures like yarns, cables, hoses or ropes are essential parts of high-performance engineering systems. The complex response of such structures in real operational conditions is far beyond the capabilities of current virtual prototyping tools.There is a pressing need for a new generation of young scientists capable of solving fundamental problems related to slender structures and transferring results to applications. THREAD addresses the mechanical modelling, mathematical formulations and numerical methods for highly flexible slender structures. It brings mechanical engineers and mathematicians together around major challenges in industrial applications and open-source simulation software development. It establishes an innovative modelling chain starting from detailed 3D modelling and experimental work to build validated 1D nonlinear rod models, which are then brought to a system-level simulation thanks to the outstanding numerical properties of the developed algorithms. This holistic approach combines advanced concepts in experimental and theoretical structural mechanics, non-smooth dynamics, computational geometry, discretisation methods and geometric numerical integration and will enable the next generation of virtual prototyping.The ESRs will receive comprehensive local and network-wide training covering state-of-the-art research topics as well as valuable transferable skills. They will benefit from close cooperation with twelve industrial partner organisations implementing a comprehensive programme of research secondments and contributing their experience. As a main objective of THREAD, interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral training boosts the career development of young researchers and supports them to solve future challenges.

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

MARTIN-LUTHER-UNIVERSITAT HALLE-WITTENBERG · HalleCoordinatorGermany
C3M DOO, CENTER ZA RACUNALNISTVO VMEHANIKI KONTINUUMA - MODELIRANJE IN TRZENJE · LjubljanaSlovenia
CENTRALESUPELEC · GIF SUR YVETTEFrance
ECOLE NATIONALE SUPERIEURE D'ARTS ET METIERS · ParisFrance
FRAUNHOFER GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FORDERUNG DER ANGEWANDTEN FORSCHUNG EV · MunchenGermany
FRIEDRICH-ALEXANDER-UNIVERSITAET ERLANGEN-NUERNBERG · ErlangenGermany
NORGES TEKNISK-NATURVITENSKAPELIGE UNIVERSITET NTNU · TrondheimNorway
SVEUCILISTE U RIJECI, GRADEVINSKI FAKULTET · RIJEKACroatia
UNIVERSIDAD DE SEVILLA · SevillaSpain
UNIVERSITAET INNSBRUCK · InnsbruckAustria
UNIVERSITE DE LIEGE · LIEGEBelgium
UNIVERZA V LJUBLJANI · LjubljanaSlovenia

THREAD · Joint Training on Numerical Modelling of Highly Flexible Structures for Industrial Applications

Results in brief

Joint Training on Numerical Modelling of Highly Flexible Structures for Industrial Applications

Project objective

Participants

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