Interfaces and adhesion

Our work in this group focuses on the experimental characterization, modeling and simulation of interactions between solid bodies. This concerns different types of interactions (contact, friction, adhesion, surface transformations, contact thermal resistance, etc.), different types of materials (metallic, concrete, silica, resins, etc.) and different fields of application (transport, space, aeronautics, energy, etc.). We are particularly interested in understanding the phenomena involved, developing behavior models and their mathematical analysis, and developing original numerical methods adapted to this generally non-regular context.

Permanents Members : Caroline Bauzet (MCF AMU), Amal Bechikh (MCF ECM), Frédéric Lebon (Prof AMU), Aurélien Maurel (MCF AMU)

Characterizing and modeling the behavior of adhesive interfaces

We are interested in problems where solid bodies are joined together by means of an adhesive or by spontaneous bonding (direct bonding). The focus will be on experimental characterization of these assemblies (static, fatigue, shock, aging, etc.), phenomenological or deductive modeling (in connection with work in the “mechanics of heterogeneous media and homogenization” theme) and analysis of the mathematical consistency of models (taking uncertainties into account, for example). Mechanical problems may be coupled to several physics (in connection with the “multiphysics couplings” theme).

The scientific questions addressed are mainly related to the strength and service life of assembled structures, taking into account their environment (fatigue, aging, creep, damage/healing, etc.), but also to the mathematical problems raised by the modeling of the phenomena involved.

Characterization and modeling of friction contact behavior

These are problems where solid bodies, generally metals, are joined by contact. On the experimental side, the focus is on characterizing the materials involved, their microstructural evolution under loading (white or brown phase, in collaboration with external academic partners) and the measurement of friction coefficients. Mechanical problems may be coupled to several different types of physics (in line with the “multiphysics coupling” theme).

The scientific questions addressed are mainly related to the strength and service life of structures in contact, but also to the mathematical problems raised by the modeling of the phenomena involved.

Computational and sotware aspects

Because of their often non-regular nature, these problems require us to develop specific numerical formulations (e.g. adaptive mesh refinement, multigrids, a posteriori error calculation, etc.) which can help us deal with certain numerical problems (e.g. related to the diversity of spatial scales). In terms of software, these developments can be applied to in-house tools, i.e. internal finite element codes, or tools developed by an industrial partner (such as Cast3M or PLEIADES), or even commercial codes (such as Abaqus or COMSOL).