FOR 509:  Multiscale Methods in Computational Mechanics

• Subject Area: Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
• Term: from 2003 to 2009
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 5470270

The response of physical systems at the level of practical interest, mostly on the macroscale, is to a large extent determined by processes on scales which are one to several orders of magnitude smaller: meso, micro or even nanoscales. Current numerical tools primarily focus on the simulation of the global or macroscopic response and are therefore unable to reproduce critical small scale features and processes that influence the overall structural behaviour. On the other hand direct numerical simulations on a small scale are most often beyond current capacities and prohibitive in real applications. The current project concentrates on the development of efficient and theoretically sound scale transfer methods in different areas of applications. Four twin-projects have been defined in this common Dutch-German Research Unit, each consisting of two strongly related subprojects in the two involved countries. The first group deals with the microstructure evolution and scale transition of inelastic solid materials like fiber-metal laminates and its theoretical and computational foundation. The second project addresses turbulent flows in the context of large-eddy simulations in fluid-structure interaction and utilizes the variational multiscale method (VMM) as the underlying framework for the scale transfer operation. The third group concentrates on the multiscale optimization of composite structures; here both the nonlinear mechanical behaviour as well as the optimization utilize micro-macro transition schemes for example applying also the VMM. Finally electro-chemo-hydro-mechanical phenomena in the sense of multi-porosity models are investigated. These include the damage evolution and swelling processes of ionised and hydrated porous media.

• DFG Programme: Research Units

Projects

• Optimization of composites based on micro-macro transition in the nonlinear regime (Applicant Ramm, Ekkehard )
• Theoretical and Computational Foundations of Multi-Scale Analysis of Inelastic Solid Materials (Applicant Miehe, Christian )
• Theoretical and Numerical Investigations of Swelling Phenomena of Hydrated Porous Media (Applicant Ehlers, Wolfgang )
• Variational multiscale method in large eddy simulations of turbulent flows for fluid-structure interaction (Applicant Wall, Wolfgang A. )

• Spokesperson: Professor Dr.-Ing. Ekkehard Ramm