SIMUMECAMAT Research Group

 

More than 20 years of engineering research

 

SIMUMECAMAT Group brings together researchers and students from both the Materials Science and the Construction and Manufacturing Engineering departments of the University of Oviedo (Spain). Adopting a multidisciplinary approach, SIMUMECAMAT members have been successfully doing applied and (applied motivated) fundamental research for over 20 years, establishing close partnerships with industry and academic institutions worldwide. SIMUMECAMAT research facilities are located in the Gijón Polytechnic School of Engineering and include extensive laboratory equipment and a variety of computational hardware.

 

Ongoing research at SIMUMECAMAT spans a wide range of topics in the area of mechanics of materials. Topics of interest in this field include, but are not limited, to the following:

 

• Experimental development and numerical modelization of the Small Punch Test (SPT) in order to determine the mechanical properties of materials, including fracture toughness and the ductile–brittle transition temperature, and its application to the examination of the heat affected zone (HAZ) in welding processes and the service performance of pipelines subjected to internal pressure. 

 

• Finite element simulation of failure and fracture. Analytical development and numerical implementation of advanced damage models. Crack propagation analysis by means of cohesive zone models and/or the extended finite element method (X-FEM). Fracture assessment of functionally graded materials (FGMs). Finite element implementation of strain gradient plasticity theories and other advanced material models.

 

• Optimization of the Shot Peening parameters with the aim of producing a compressive residual stress layer and modifying the mechanical properties of metals in order to improve its resistance to fatigue damage, wear and corrosion. 

 

• Theoretical and experimental analysis of the residual stresses generated during welding processes used in the manufacture of pressure vessels for the petrochemical industry.

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SIMUMECAMAT research achievements include more than 140 publications in refeered journals, 254 conference papers, 27 PhD thesis and more than 110 research projects in collaboration with industry and public administration partners.