FAM
SOLID MECHANICS
The Section for Solid Mechanics conducts research and teaching in the fields of structural and materials
mechanics, vibration and their active control, as well as machine elements and design optimization. The research
rests on theoretical, numerical and experimental investigations of phenomena that are most often highly cross
disciplinary and spans many length scales, from the sub-micron range of material micro structures to the structural
scale. Our detailed investigations of complicated non-linear mechanical phenomena often employ a combination of
novel multi-scale modelling techniques, high performance computing as well as advanced experimental methods.
New tendencies at the section
Currently, multi-scale modelling transforms the ability to adequately model essential problem features on vastly
different length or time scales. At the Section for Solid Mechanics such methods are developed and employed for
a large spectrum of problems ranging from dynamical phenomena to manufacturing processes and their effect
on the resulting material and structural properties. Giga-voxel resolution in design optimization has recently
been proven possible by employing state of the art optimization methods within a high performance computing
framework. In order to massively improve cost-efficiency of the optimization procedure, challenges are taken on
employing novel multi-scale modelling techniques.
Expectations for the year ahead
New research efforts will be started within the fields of multi-scale modelling and optimization of additive
manufacturing. The current research in fracture will be strengthened with increased focus on both ductile
damage and high cycle fatigue in metals as well as debond damage in composites. Furthermore, a significant
strengthening of the current research efforts in large scale optimization methods is undertaken with attention on
high design resolution for non-linear problems. All our research initiatives are based on strong collaborations both
internally at the department as well with leading research institutions around the world.
38 Solid Mechanics