Mechanics

Mechanics and fluid dynamics dept

The Mechanics and Fluid Dynamics Department specialises in applied mechanical research, with particular reference to structural, fluid and vibro-acoustic mechanics. Special attention is devoted to new generation materials, particularly composites comprising high performance polymers and production technologies and processes.

The researchers have access to advanced calculating tools able to make virtual simulations of the functional characteristics of the prototypes being developed, mainly permanent magnet synchronous motors and turbomachinery.


The department also has laboratories equipped with tooling and instrumentation able to make mechanical, thermal, fluid dynamics and acoustic measurements to back up and validate the numerical analysis.

Equipment

The ‘Virtual Prototyping’ section of the Mechanics and Fluid Dynamics Department includes the ProEngineer parametric solid modeller whose database is accessed by the MSC/Nastran and MSC/Dytran structural calculating software, by way of the MSC/Patran pre/post processor. Numeca CFD Fine/Turbo software, also with direct interface, is used for thermo-fluid dynamics simulation.

The testing laboratory is able to perform thermal, strain, vibro-acoustic and fluid dynamics measurements that can determine the rheology of the materials used and the functional performance of the prototypes built, making a decisive contribution to validation of the numerical model.