Nicolas Ranc, senior lecturer at PIMM on the Paris campus, has just secured €1.87 million in funding from the European Research Council (ERC) for a project on the fatigue of metallic materials.
The ERC's mission is to encourage the highest quality research in Europe. A testament to its excellence: some of its winners have also received a Nobel Prize! Nicolas Ranc was selected for an ambitious research project that aims to predict the behavior of metallic materials beyond one billion cycles, whereas current standards characterize the fatigue behavior of materials up to 10 million cycles.
Increase safety, reduce maintenance costs
The stakes are high because many structures are now subjected to more than 10 million cycles, particularly in the aerospace industry (around 10 billion), rail transport (around 1 billion), and the automotive industry (around 100 million). Better predicting their behavior will increase safety while reducing maintenance costs. But this requires overcoming scientific, technological, and technical challenges. In particular, high-frequency tests will need to be developed and measurements taken on a microsecond timescale.
A five-year project
The funding received will enable Nicolas Ranc to set up a research team on this topic and, in particular, to hire an engineer, a postdoctoral researcher, and two doctoral students for the five years of the project. In addition, the laboratory will invest in experimental resources to develop fatigue testing.
