KULeuven: Departments of Mechanical Engineering & Materials Engineering

General expertise of the research group

• experimental identification of material characteristics of fibre-reinforced composites
• development of numerical modelling strategies for material properties in a multi-scale context, including micro-, meso- and macro-scale
• development of experimental methodologies for the identification and objective quantification of uncertainty and variability in material properties
• development of modelling strategies for manufacturing and processing methods of fibre-reinforced
  composites
• numerical modelling strategies for structural components at the micro- and macro-scale, both for metals and fibre-reinforced composites
• development of generic numerical formalisms and methodologies for the propagation of uncertainty and variability in structural components
• methodologies for the identification and objective quantification of uncertainty and variability in material properties
• comprehensive methodologies for the propagation of uncertainty and variability in built-up structures, covering processes, materials and structures

Specific hydrogen- related expertise & research topics

• Application of generic experimental and simulation procedures to characterize pressure vessels, with a focus on reliability:
• filament wound pressure vessels based on axisymmetric geometry, including cylindrical components and dome-like end caps: from micro- to macro-scale [1-8 above]
• μCT-scanning procedures and image analysis for the geometrical identification of material structure at the micro-scale (voids and porosities)
• high-pressure vessels (10²-10³ bar of differential pressure) for applications in storage of hydrogen in gaseous state
• low-pressure vessels (10-1-100 bar of differential pressure) for applications in storage of hydrogen in liquid state, development of efficient design procedures for thin-walled geometries (cylindrical, spherical, toroidal, conical primitives) with membrane stress only and high volumetric efficiency
• topology design and thermo-mechanical analysis of multi-lobe liquid hydrogen fuel storage tanks for application in reusable launchers and blended-wing aircraft
• topology design and thermo-mechanical analysis of storage tanks for transport of hydrogen as cargo payload in aircraft

Available equipment/tools:

• composite processing equipment (hot press, autoclave, RTM, infusion)
• drum winder and filament winding machines
• mechanical testing of composites, including split-ring test setup
• damage monitoring tools for mechanical testing (digital image correlation , acoustic emission), C-scan
• SEM and optical microscopy
• μCT-scanning equipment (XCT Core Facilities) and image analysis tools
• DIC equipment and image analysis software
• VoxTex model generation for fibre reinforced composites

Participating in FL/B/EU funded projects with H2 related research:

• SIM ICON project OptiVaS HBC.2019.0070 Optimized pressure vessels through composite Variability Simulation; start 01 Aug 2020 – extended till 31 Jul 2024, coordinator: Toyota Motor Europe; partners: Siemens Industry Software, Plastic Omnium, KU Leuven
• Horizon EU, call CleanH2-2023, ECOHYDRO, Economic manufacturing process of recyclable composite materials for durable hydrogen storage; start 2024 – end 2028, coordinator Institut Mines Telecom, FR; 15 partners from 7 EU countries, including Airbus and Electra Commerical Vehicles Ltd
  UK
• SIM SBO project RELFICOM HBC.2017.0321 Reliability of fibre-reinforced composites: materials design & variability; start 01 Jan 2018 – completion 31 Dec 2021, coordinator: KU Leuven ; partners: Toyota Motor Europe, Siemens Industry Software, Plastic Omnium
• FWO doctoral grant strategic basic research, 1SG1523N, Conformable Pressurized Tanks for Hydrogen Storage and Transportation; start 01 Nov 2022 – scheduled till 31 Oct 2026
• VLAIO Baekeland doctoral grant, HBC.2022.0713 Study of the residual stresses in a thermoplastic filament winding process for high-pressure H2-storage vessels; 2023-2027, in cooperation with Covess

International collaborations:

• Toyota Motor Europe (BE)
• Mines ParisTech (FR)
• Mines Douai (FR)
• European Space Agency (ESA)
• Hyviate (DE)

Main relevant publications

1. Straumit, I., S. V. Lomov and M. Wevers (2015). “Quantification of the internal structure and automatic generation of voxel models of textile composites from X-ray computed tomography data.” Composites Part A 69: 150-158. doi:10.1016/j.compositesa.2014.11.016.
2. Upadhyay, S., A. G. Smith, D. Vandepitte, S. V. Lomov, Y. Swolfs and M. Mehdikhani (2022). Analysis of voids in filament wound composites using a machine‐learning‐based segmentation tool. 20th European Conference on Composite Materials (ECCM-20): paper 61918.
3. Zhao, Y., P. Druzhinin, J. Ivens, D. Vandepitte and S. V. Lomov (2021). “Split-disk test with 3D digital image correlation strain measurement for filament wound composites.” Composite Structures 263: 113686. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compstruct.2021.113686.
4. Zhao, Y., D. Vandepitte and S. V. Lomov (2021). “The effect of delamination on ring specimen failure in the split-disk test with cohesive zone modelling – Comments on the paper: Zhao Y, Druzhinin P, Ivens J, Vandepitte D, Lomov SV. Split-disk test with 3D Digital Image Correlation strain
   measurement for filament wound composites, Composite Structures, 2021, 263:113686 (doi 10.1016/j.compstruct.2021.113686).” Composite Structures 277: 114517. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. compstruct.2021.114617.
5. Niguse Asfew, K., Ivens, J., Moens, D., (2022). “Temperature dependence of thermophysical properties of carbon/polyamide410 composite”. Functional Composite Materials, 3, Art.No. 8. doi: 10.1186/s42252-022-00036-6 Open Access
6. Ypsilantis, K.I., Faes, M., Ivens, J., Lagaros, N., Moens, D. (2022). “An approach for the concurrent homogenization-based microstructure type and topology optimization problem”. Computers & Structures, 272, Art.No. 106859. doi: 10.1016/j.compstruc.2022.106859
7. Malfroy, J., Van Bavel, B., Steelant, J., Vandepitte, D. (2023), “Thin-walled tapered conformable pressurized tanks: Concept and principles”, submitted to Thin-Walled Structures
8. Malfroy, J. (2022) Design and optimization of a tapered multi-bubble tank for hypersonic aircraft, master’s thesis dissertation (supervisors D. Vandepitte and J. Steelant)