INRIA post doctoral fellow. Modeling and simulation of cable transport systems

We propose a post-doctoral fellow grant on  modeling and simulation of cable transport systems of 18 months in Grenoble, France at INRIA and STRMTG.

Context :

The recent development of cable transport systems, especially in view of urban applications requires new research to better qualify their mechanical behaviors to improve their safety and performance. The study of the dynamics of cable in interaction with their supports (towers or pylons) by means of sheaves (pulley assemblies) is of utmost importance for the understanding of the global mechanical response of ropeways. Most of the practical study of such systems are generally based on strong assumptions: a) in a first approach, the dimensioning is made under static assumptions, neglecting the dynamics of the cable and b) the support are also considered to be perfect boundary conditions (clamped or bilateral frictionless prismatic joint). The goal of this long-term collaboration between STRMTG and INRIA is to improve the numerical simulation of cable transport systems into two di- rections. Firstly, the dynamics of the cable together with suspended moving pendulums that model the vehicles will taken into account. Secondly, a more accurate modeling of support including unilateral contact conditions, impacts and Coulomb’s friction will be developed. The main objective is to model the dynamics of the cable (oscillations of the line and the vehicles) and to understand the influence of the passage of a vehicle over a tower, by modeling contact and friction in sheaves. The final goal is to develop a numerical model and software code by extending the ability of Siconos1, in order to simulate cable transport systems with various levels of accuracy in the modeling.