Forschung

 

Modelling of heated composite floor slabs

The aim of this research is to simulate the behaviour of composite steel-concrete building floors exposed to fire. The project is carried out in cooperation with the section of ''steel, timber and composite structures'' of the same institute.

Simulation software of artificial ground freezing

The planned special purpose software application simulates the growth of the ice-body considering the flowing ground water. It expands the range of using the artificial ground freezing with more reliable prediction allowing a more precise planning. It will simplify project planning and help to avoid mistakes and their associated costs.

Two and three dimensional simulations of the alpine snowpack

The aim of this project is to simulate the behaviour of snow cover on a slope in three dimensions. This will lead to a better understanding of the physical behaviour of snow and hopefully into a better prediction of avalanche hazards.

Virtual Campus - Interstructures

"Interstructures" means interactive structural analysis by graphical methods involving the fields of civil engineering and architecure. The project's objective is to create a set of interactive teaching modules for the basic courses in static and structures. "Interstructures" is part of a 'Virtual Campus' project directed by Prof. Dr. A. Muttoni, Lausanne.

Numerical Modeling of Rockfall Protection Systems

Rockfalls threaten roadways and railway lines in mountain regions. The goal of this KTI project is to develop special purpose application software based on advanced numerical procedures that is capable of simulating the highly dynamic mechanical response of rockfall protective structures. The software will enable engineers to develop new systems with less need for expensive and time-consuming prototyping.

A Special-Purpose Computer Program for the Design and Analysis of Cable Supported Bridges

Structural analysis of bridges supported by cables, i.e. of cable-stayed and suspension bridges, is, in principle, straightforward. However, mainly due to the need both of taking into account several construction stages with a variety of loading cases and of closely controlling the bridge geometry during erection, the use of general-purpose finite element or frame analysis programs has, in many cases, proved to be cumbersome. Such programs also do not provide any automatic design capabilites. The goal of the project, which was started in 1999, is to develop a computer program specifically tailored to the structural analysis and design of any kind of cable-supported bridges.

N-Directional Approach to Damage Material Laws

If N, evenly distributed, unit direction vectors are chosen properly in two- or three dimensional space, their components have some rather surprising ''uncoupling'' properties. By describing the strain state using the normal strain components, in these N directions, linear isotropic elasticity can be modelled exactly in an almost uncoupled and very elegant way. In fact, the continuum appears as being modelled by N loosely coupled uniaxial sub-continua each capable of transmitting in its direction a stress component, which is a function only of the corresponding normal strain and of the volumetric strain valid for all directions.

Three-Dimensional Numerical Simulation of Dynamic Penetration

This research project, carried out in cooperation with the Hilti Corp. and supported by the Commission for Technology and Innovation (KTI), has the goal of numerically simulating the penetration of powder-actuated steel nails into a nonhomogeneous substrate. The corresponding fastening technique was developed by the Hilti Co. and is employed world-wide.

Computer simulation of the Behaviour of Structural Systems in the Case of Fire

The aim of the project resulting from a cooperation with Prof. M. Fontana is the computer simulation of the temperature distribution in structural systems in the case of fire and their mechanical behaviour under increased temperatures.

Nonlinear Analysis of Reinforced Concrete Structures

In conjunction with the project of dimensioning reinforced concrete structures it is useful to carry out a nonlinear analysis to investigate the nonlinear behaviour of reinforced concrete slabs and shells. The goal is to determine the ultimate load level and the necessary ductility rate.

Parallel Direct Solution of Large Linear Equation Systems

A shared-memory parallel library of C-functions used for assembling and directly solving large, symmetric and sparse systems of linear equations as needed for linear and nonlinear applications of the FE-method including eigenmode analysis has been recently developed.

SMIS2: A Didactic Tool for the Matrix Method of Structural Analysis

Within the framework of a lecture course on computer-aided structural analysis the basics of the finite element method are taught. Since this requires a good foundation in structural mechanics, there is a need for a didactic computer program. As a result the program SMIS2 (Symbolic Matrix Interpretative System, Version 2.0), written in JAVA, has been developed.

Consulting System for Bridge Construction

The program BRIDGES has been developed to determine the optimum shuttering geometry and predict the long-term deformation of concrete bridges.

The Gigabooster Parallel Supercomputer: System Evaluation and Programming

The GigaBooster supercomputer was originally developed at the Institute of Electronics of the ETH Zurich within the project MUSIC (MUlti-processor System with Intelligent Communication). Today it is supported by the Supercomputing System Co. Based on modern hardware technology and on innovative ideas a computer with a high computational efficiency (1.6 GFLOPS theoretical peak performance) and a very favourable price/performance ratio was developed.

Numerical Methods in Snow Mechanics and Snow Avalanche Dynamics

Numerical modelling has become an integral part of snow and avalanche research. At the Swiss Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research (SLF), one and two dimensional snowcover models are used to simulate the highly non-linear thermo-mechanical processes that occur in the alpine snowpack. These models, based on the finite element method, are presently being used operationally by the avalanche warning team to predict new snowfall amounts, the energy balance at the snowpack surface and the changing morphology of the snowpack.

Numerical Simulation of Sensor and Actuator Structures with SESES

Parallel to the development in the micro electronics, the field of micro mechanics is emerging with applications, e.g., in the sensor industry. The design of these structures relies more and more on numerical simulation methods. This project addresses the further development of SESES (Semi-conductor SEnsor Simulation).

Rational Reinforcement Dimensioning of Spatial Concrete Panel Structures

The aim of this project is to determine the ultimate load dimensioning of three dimensional concrete panel structures. The program ORCHID (Optimum Reinforced Concrete Highly Interactive Dimensioning) has been developed for computer aided rational reinforcement dimensioning, integrating the finite element method, plasticity theory and linear programming.

Elasto-Plastic Dimensioning of Reinforced Concrete Slabs

A new procedure for dimensioning reinforced concrete structures based on plasticity theory and on the finite element method is proposed. The goal of this project is the minimisation of the total volume of the reinforcement using linear programming techniques.

Computer-Aided Dimensioning of Reinforced Concrete Walls

A new method is proposed for the ultimate load reinforcement dimensioning of concrete wall structures. It integrates the finite element method and plasticity theory with the aim of providing practicing engineers with an effective tool for rational reinforcement design. This lead to the development pf the computer program DiBS for dimensioning of walls.

Nonlinear Analysis of Plane-Frame Structures

The new Finite-Element Program STATIK-N was developed to investigate the nonlinear behavior and the limit load of plane frame structures. Nonlinearities due to material behaviour in the form of plastic hinges or nonlinear elastic force-displacement laws, large deformations, contact problems at supports etc. can be taken into account.

Dynamic Analysis of Nail Penetration

The work, a joint project with Hilti AG, Schaan/FL, was supported financially by the Swiss goverments's "Commission for Advancement of Scientific Research (KWF)". Its aim was the development of a special-purpose computer program for the numerical simulation of nail penetration processes. With this successful fastening technology of the Hilti AG hardened steel nails are driven through the sheet(s) to be fastened into a supporting plate using explosive powder.

Numerical Simulation of Sheet Metal Forming Processes
The program AutoForm for the numerical simulation of sheet metal forming processes was developed within the framework of a close cooperation with the Institute of Metal Forming of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zürich. The program can be applied to different practical industrial problems, e.g. in the car industry, where the bodywork and other parts of a car1s frame are made of sheet metal formed by means of cold pressing processes.