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Contenuto archiviato il 2024-06-18

Advanced Techniques in Computational Mechanics

Periodic Report Summary 2 - ATCOME (Advanced Techniques in Computational Mechanics)

ATCoMe is an Initial Training Network (ITN) in Advanced Techniques in Computational Mechanics. It is a 4 years joint research and training program involving 6 research institutions and 1 company with wide experience in Computational Mechanics:
UPC - LaCàN, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, http://www-lacan.upc.edu
SU - C2EC, Swansea University,
http://www.swansea.ac.uk/research/centresandinstitutes/CivilandComputationalEngineering/
ECN - GeM institute, Ecole Centrale de Nantes, http://gem.ec-nantes.fr/
ULB - BATir-SMC, Université Libre de Bruxelles, http://www.ulb.ac.be/smc/
FFT - Free Field Technologies, http://www.fft.be/
TUM - LNM, Technische Universität München, http://www.lnm.mw.tum.de/
IST - Instituto Superior Técnico, http://www.ist.utl.pt/

LaCàN (UPC) leaded the coordination of the joint project. All the objectives and technical goals planned for the period of the project were successfully achieved. Moreover, coordination lead to fruitful collaborations both for academic and industrial partners.

The ITN research and training program focused in advanced numerical methods in the field of Computational Mechanics, with special attention to meshless methods, discontinuous Galerkin methods and efficient methods for moving boundaries and interfaces. Novel numerical techniques, overcoming the limitations of the finite element method in specially challenging problems, have been further developed and applied in several areas, including numerical modelling of problems in fluid mechanics, solid mechanics, damage and fracture models, fluid-structure interaction, fast transient dynamics, and wave problems and vibroacoustics. This project has contributed to improve the know-how, the expertise and the collaborations in advanced techniques, in both academia and industry.

The main goals of the ITN ATCoMe project (http://www.lacan.upc.edu/atcome) have been training of early stage researchers in advanced techniques, to further develop and analyse these techniques and, finally, its dissemination.

The ITN has trained open mind technicians able to choose optimal numerical methods for each problem, that, in the future, may be incorporated in industry or research centers. The training program was based on training-through-research with individual research projects, active participation in network activities and specific courses. 9 Early Stage Researchers (ESR) were recruited, all around fall 2010, among more than 100 applicants, see http://www.lacan.upc.edu/atcome-esr for their personal web pages. All recruited ESR have been trained in computational mechanics, with special emphasis in emerging advanced techniques. That is, they have been trained in the use, development and implementation of advanced techniques, focusing in a selection of applications of academic and industrial interest. At least one mentor in each host institution was assigned to each ESR, and a Personal Career Development Plan for each ESR was elaborated and revised in each ITN annual meeting. All ESR attended several courses from the wide offer in the consortium and, in fact, all of them have decided to register in a PhD program. The training in complementary skills was complemented through their active involvement in the consortium activities, such as meeting preparation, oral presentations, report writing, co-authoring of papers, event organization of the annual workshop, among others. All ESR were actively involved in the ITN research project, and individual research subprojects were designed for each of them, taking into account the consortium interests, the ITN scientific objectives, and the background and personal interests of the ESR. The plan for secondments of the ESR, and other interactions, was revised in all meetings.

Four training and dissemination events took place during the project: two editions of the ADMOS conference (http://congress.cimne.com/admos2011 and http://www.lacan.upc.edu/admos2013/) and two summer schools on advanced techniques. The first summer school took take place in June 2012, in Barcelona, focusing on DG methods, http://congress.cimne.com/dgschool2012. The second summer school took place in October 2013, in Barcelona, focusing on advanced techniques for the treatment of moving boundaries and interfaces, http://congress.cimne.com/school-cmmbi. These two schools had a great impact in the computational mechanics community, with an audience of about 60 students each, from several countries worldwide. Thus, these events have contributed to the introduction of these advanced techniques in the background of computational mechanics, both in academia and industry.

The ATCoME research project was structured in 6 research subprojects (RSP) based on the applications of interest of the mentioned advanced techniques (mesh-free methods, extended/generalized FE or Dicontinuous Galerkin methods):
RSP1. Waves and vibro-acoustics
RSP2. Fluid mechanics
RSP3. Solid mechanics
RSP4. Fluid-structure interaction
RSP5. Fast transient dynamics
RSP6. Damage and fracture mechanics
All subprojects have achieved all its scientific objectives and technical goals. In particular, all deliverables have been completed in time, with relevant scientific contributions, reflected in 34 papers in indexed journals and 94 congress contributions, see http://www.lacan.upc.edu/atcome-results. In addition, further developments related to the project are foreseen, and are expected to be published in the next future.
A summary of the scientific results for each one of the research subprojects can be found at http://www.lacan.upc.edu/atcome-rsp.
The scientific results and numerical tools developed in the project are expected to impact in the computational mechanics community, and promote the implantation of advanced techniques in industry.
In particular, the active involvement of the industrial partner in the ITN facilitates the implantation of advanced techniques in industry, and has represented a fruit-full collaboration for all partners. For the industrial partner, this project represented a real opportunity to integrate PhD students in the enterprise, with research at academic level, and fully integrated in their activities. This project also facilitated the collaboration between industry and academy. In particular, for academy, the collaboration with industrial partners facilitated the validation of prospective methods and demonstrators, and gave access to real industrial problems.

Further information on the ATCoMe project can be found at its web site http://www.lacan.upc.edu/atcome.