finite elements

I hope some of you - particularly those working on strain gradient plasticity or damage and fracture modeling - find this work interesting. 

On fracture in finite strain gradient plasticity

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S074964191500162X

(A pre-print version is available at www.empaneda.com)

Could cellular automata be used to model mechanisms (for quasi-brittle fracture) that occur at the meso-scale and then feed these mechanisms to a macro-scale finite element model? Is it possible to replace constitutive models with mechanistic models, simulating mechanisms that lead to fracture instead of formulating equations that predict failure? These are typical questions that have motivated my recent collaboration with Dr Anton Shterenlikht at the University of Bristol.

"3D printing" is a popular term for the layerwise manufacturing of metals or polymers with a printing head, that builds up the component with droplets of molten polymer or metal into a 3D shape. The geometries that can be realized with this technique, can be very complex, and this with a minimum of material usage, because no material has to be milled away. Further, very lightweight materials can be achieved. Flanders region plays a leading role in Europe in this 3D printing sector, with important industrial players such as Materialise, Layerwise and Melotte.

Simple finite elements based on Timoshenko beam and Mindlin plate theories have been developed for the analysis of thick and thin structures (beams and plates) using standard finite element procedure. These elements have 3 dof and a new concept, Convergence Factor, is introduced in the formuation to accelerate convergence keeping the number of elements constant. No shear correction factor is used and no shear lock problem is encountered.

Subramanian

Computational Mechanics Engineer

Third Wave Systems, a leading
provider of CAE analysis software and services for machining manufacturing, is
seeking enthusiastic additions to our computational mechanics software
development team.  This position holds
the primary responsibility of developing and implementing numerical methods,
finite element formulations, smooth particle hydrodynamics (SPH), meshless
methods, adaptive and initial mesh generation, three-dimensional geometry
engines, mechanistic machining models, constitutive models for the simulation
and optimization of metal, composite, and ceramic cutting processes.  The Computational Mechanics Engineer (CME) will