On 2-6 May, Department of Materials and Production hosted the PhD course “Analysis and gradient based optimization of laminated composite structures” with lectures from Professor Erik Lund, Associate Professor Johnny Jakobsen and Associate Professor Esben Lindgaard.
Polymeric resin fibre reinforced materials (FRP´s or composite materials) are being used increasingly for structural applications where properties such as high strength, high stiffness and low weight are determining design parameters.
The driving force behind the development and application of these materials has been the demands posed by the aerospace industry, but the use of advanced composite materials is expanding rapidly to other industrial sectors as well.
Pertinent examples of this include applications for ship structures, automotive and train applications, wind turbine blades and civil engineering applications including bridge structures.
The purpose of the course was to present the participants with a general overview and an introduction to recent advances and modern techniques for analysis and gradient based design optimization of advanced laminated composite structures.
The course consisted of 5 full days of lectures, work on assignments, and discussions at AAU, and it had 20 engaged participants with 4 researchers from British universities, 4 from German universities, 1 from Latvia, 4 PhD students from Denmark and 7 participants from companies in Denmark and Germany.
