Research mission statement
At the Computational Mechanics Research Group, we believe that unlocking the mysteries of a material’s microstructure is key for advancing their implementation in industry. We accomplish this by developing novel phenomenological and crystal plasticity simulation tools that account for microstructural phenomenon during large deformation.
Our group’s area of focus is on the research and development of:
- Micromechanics
- Synthetic microstructure construction
- Multi-scale modeling
- Failure and fracture
- Crashworthiness and formability
About the Industrial Research Chair (IRC)
The IRC will focus on professor Kaan Inal's unique international research expertise in multiscale modeling for developing and testing novel lightweight materials applied to automotive structures and parts.
Canada's automotive industry is the strongest manufacturing subsector in the country, responsible for 12 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the goods producing sector. To secure its competitive position internationally, the auto industry must continue to innovate to reduce the transportation sector's greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs), while ensuring passenger safety and maximizing performance and affordability in mass-market vehicles of all types. Incorporating new lightweight materials, such as aluminum alloys and advanced high-strength steels, into car structures is a key strategy to achieve these goals.
International government-mandated fuel economy/emission-reduction standards are the impetus for research advances in automotive light weighting. Industry is increasingly dependent on good data and measurements from the emerging field of numerical modeling, in order to make light weighting decisions effectively and to an accelerated timetable to meet international standards by 2025.
The light weighting market is estimated in the hundreds of billions of dollars across the supply chain of car manufacturers and materials/parts suppliers in different countries, and light weighting is projected to create hundreds of thousands of new jobs in North American jurisdictions.
The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council/GM IRC will also enable the recruitment of new faculty and young highly qualified personnel to Waterloo, who will help build the advanced manufacturing talent pool in Canada's automotive heartland, Ontario.