A heterogeneous material is composed of different types of constituents. The mechanics of heterogeneous materials is used to characterise the properties of each constituent in the actual behaviour of the final material. The fields of application are numerous, such as the automotive, aerospace and medical industries.

Projects 

Study of composite materials to ensure the absorption of deformation energy during an impact

The objective of this research topic is to determine the properties of a material so that it can deform correctly to absorb the deformation energy during an impact and not transmit it to the users of a vehicle. For this purpose, the microstructure of the material is analysed as well as its constituents, phases, orientation and properties.

Tibial Valgisation Osteotomy

Some people are born with bow legs, called “cowboy legs” by doctors. This is a malformation, a misalignment of the knee bone. The weight of the body no longer rests correctly on the axis of the knee, which can lead to severe pain and arthritis. Surgery may be necessary. The surgeon cuts the tibia, makes the angular correction and inserts a bone substitute, which is tightened and consolidated with titanium screws. It turns out that in 20% of cases, this operation fails due to cracking of the hinge. The hinge is fundamental in the regeneration and consolidation process of the bone. This research project consists of using fracture mechanics tools to analyse and numerically predict the evolution of crack propagation in the hinge.

Wiyao Azoti

Teacher-Researcher

ICube team: Multiscale Materials and Biomechanics (MMB)

Engineer in Mechanical Engineering. Doctor in Materials Science.

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This research area consists of modelling solar collectors in order to optimise them. The models take into account all heat transfers and influencing parameters. Then, optimisation algorithms are used to obtain the ideal characteristics of the solar panels according to the objectives: maximising the production of the panel over a season or over a year, coupling the production to another energy system, adapting to the geographical situation, etc.

Project 

CapSol-PV/T

The objective is to set up a platform to characterise hybrid solar collectors (photovoltaic – thermal / hybrid). It thus allows the experimental validation of results from numerical optimisations.

Applied to buildings, this residential solution simultaneously produces electrical and thermal energy. In the near future, this project will also allow the design and experimental validation of new hybrid solar technologies.

Sébastien Mey-Cloutier

Teacher-Researcher

Team : Civil and Energy Engineering (CEE)

Engineer in Energy Engineering. Doctor in Heat Transfer Physics.

There are many fields of application for light-matter interaction, such as the study of optical properties, the development of photonic instrumentation and the development of laser machining processes. For the latter, research is being carried out to adapt and optimise ultra-short pulse laser welding techniques and continuous laser sintering.

Project

Development of an additive manufacturing process by Selected Laser Melting of lunar dust simulant

Destination Moon! But before we can live on the Moon, we need to design habitats by optimising the use of resources already present there, such as lunar dust called regolith. This research project focuses on the development of a laser sintering process for a lunar dust simulant to make building bricks. These bricks will be deployed to protect the lunar habitat from radiation, micrometeorites and temperature variations.

Grégoire Chabrol

Lecturer and Research Director

ICube team: Instrumentation and Photonic Processes (IPP)

Doctor in photonics

Neural networks are used in several application areas such as image processing and analysis and geometric modelling.

Projects

Geometric modelling by sketching

The objective of this research project is to create an automatic system that allows the generation of 3D models from a 2D drawing. For this purpose, several methods have been implemented. The one producing the best results consists of re-expressing the 3D modelling problem in the form of a quadratic optimisation problem subject to constraints, the resolution of which will correspond to the 3D object desired by the user.

Behavioural modelling of a 3D printer

The objective of this research work is to set up a preventive analysis process aimed at automatically detecting anomalies that may occur during 3D printing. To do this, cameras are used to monitor the live printing process as well as environmental sensors. The latter will provide a set of data that will be processed using Artificial Intelligence.

Cédric Bonbenrieth

Teacher-Researcher

ICube team: Machine Learning, Modelling & Simulation (MLMS)

“Biomechanics is the exploration of the mechanical properties of living organisms as well as the analysis of the engineering principles that make biological systems work”

Project

Development and characterisation of an instrumented wrist prosthesis

This project aims to validate the concept of iso-elasticity for wrist prostheses. These prostheses have the particularity of being more flexible than traditional prostheses. Subsequently, a more precise digital model will be developed from forearm scans. The image reconstruction will make it possible to obtain an almost real geometry of a radius and a wrist prosthesis. In parallel, an experimental device will be developed in which the prosthesis and a bone, whether artificial or not, will be positioned in order to carry out tests and validate the digital simulation. In the long term, this will make it possible to develop a prosthesis with sensors and to obtain local monitoring of certain information, in particular the bone-prosthesis interface.

Samuel Berthe

PhD student

ICube team: Multiscale Materials and Biomechanics (MMB)

Engineer in Mechanical Engineering

There are several fields of application for structural mechanics, such as :

1/ Finite element simulation of mechanical structures (metallic structures and biological tissues)

The aim is to determine the mechanical behaviour of structures using simulation software, which is less expensive than experimental tests. However, for some mechanical problems, the behaviour cannot be studied with existing software, it is then necessary to develop own codes of resolution using programming languages.

2/  Damping and vibration control of structures

The vibrations that occur in on-board structures such as rotating machines are a source of noise, wear and tear on parts and breakage. The objective of this research work is to develop damping devices to reduce the amplitude of vibrations by integrating multifunctional intelligent materials (viscoelastic, piezoelectric, electro-rheological or magneto-rheological).

Projects 

Development of a generic code for calculating the vibration properties of 3-layer composites: application to automotive windscreens

In general, a car windscreen consists of 3 layers; 2 elastic glass layers and a central viscoelastic polymer layer. The viscoelastic layer has the function of providing damping to the structure. For manufacturers, it is important to select the right damping materials. The objective of this project is to provide manufacturers with a numerical tool that allows them to simulate the behaviour of the windscreen under vibration in order to determine which of the materials that can be used offers optimum damping. This numerical tool takes as input data the dimensions of the windscreen and the mechanical characteristics of the constituent layers. The calculation will determine the resonance frequency and the damping factors.

2D finite element modelling of shear wave propagation in biological tissues

This project is part of magnetic resonance elastography, a virtual palpation technique used in the medical field. In general, when a biological tissue contains a pathology (e.g. a tumour), we try to localise its location. To do this, shear waves are propagated through the organ using an electrodynamic exciter. The propagated waves are measured by magnetic resonance imaging. Since the mechanical properties of healthy tissue are different from those of damaged tissue, it is possible to locate the tumour by measuring the waves. The propagation of a wave in a medium represents a displacement field that depends on the mechanical properties of the medium and can be reconstructed by a numerical model.

Design and simulation of a dynamic absorber toolholder incorporating a magnetorheological fluid

The vibrations that occur during machining operations result from the repetitive passage of the tool’s cutting edges over the workpiece. These vibrations can cause insert wear, part non-conformity and poor surface finish. To overcome this problem, there are toolholders with integrated dynamic absorbers. These toolholders include a flyweight within them and are housed in seals. The vibration energy of the toolholder is then transferred to the flyweight, which dissipates it by heat in the seals. The seals in the cutter head wear out regularly and this causes the device to malfunction. To adjust the damping level, a magnetorheological fluid is used to replace the seals. The viscosity of this fluid can be controlled by means of a magnetic field. The objective of this research project is to design and analyse the dynamic behaviour of a “semi-active” turning bar incorporating the magnetorheological fluid in order to establish its anti-vibration performance and range of effectiveness.

Marcelin Bilasse

Teacher-Researcher

ICube team: Multiscale Materials and Biomechanics (MMB)

Doctorate in Mechanics and Energetics

Image processing allows the classification of images by analysing the information present on them. For example, this allows images with objects to be classified with other images without objects. A segmentation is then performed by Artificial Intelligence (AI) to extract photometric and geometric characteristics and to detect objects.

Project

Detection of fine objects in images

The objective of this project is to be able to automatically and accurately detect cracks on roads using image processing. The perspective of this work is to apply Artificial Intelligence for the detection of cracks on all types of surfaces through algorithms. It will be possible for intelligent cars to detect cracks on roads and avoid accidents.

Rabih Ahmaz

Teacher-Researcher

ICube team: Complex systems and translational bioinformatics (CSTB)

Telecommunications, Signals and Circuits Engineer. Doctor in Image Processing

Blockchain is a technology for storing and transmitting information, which is transparent, secured, and operates without a central controlling body. Today, Blockchain technology faces a limit in speed and mass data storage on blockchain networks.

Project 

Backup of files on a blockchain network

On a blockchain network, the problem is to save data in mass. Today, blockchain technology can back up 22MB in 14 seconds. To save an image of 350mo it takes 4 minutes. The objective of this project is to improve this technology as we go along and to apply this improvement to a blockchain that brings together medical centres. The mission of this project is to increase interoperability between doctors, medical centres and laboratories with a decentralised and secure data storage system. Connected objects such as watches can gradually be added to the system.

Rabih Ahmaz

Teacher-Researcher

ICube team: Complex systems and translational bioinformatics (CSTB)

Telecommunications, Signals and Circuits Engineer. Doctor in Image Processing