PPRIME Institute Poitiers

PPRIME Institute Poitiers

The P’ Institute is a research laboratory in the fields of Physics and Engineering Sciences for Materials, Mechanics, Energetics and Environment. Pprime is a research unit “Unité Propre de Recherche”, belonging to the CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, INSIS), to the University of Poitiers and to the National Higher School of Mechanics and Aeroengineering, Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Mécanique et d’Aérothechnique – Institut Supérieur de l’Aéronautique et de l’Espace (ISAE-ENSMA).

The P’ research activities cover a broad spectrum of topics including physics and mechanics of materials, fluid mechanics, energetics and mechanical engineering. This research relies on existing skills, recognized at both the national and international levels, that fosters collaborations and synergies between different disciplines, and thus provides an appropriate response to the rapidly evolving needs of the socioeconomic sector. This includes environmental research relevant to both transport and energy.

The Institute is split in three Departments: Department of Physics and Mechanics of Materials, Department of Fluids, Heat and Combustion and Department of Mechanical Engineering and Systems Complex.

Annual scientific production of the PPRIME Institute:

– 230 articles in international journals, 15 books are edited per year on average.

The PPRIME Institute has a portfolio of 22 patent families of which 8 are shared with industry.

Within the national Programme of «Investments for the future» in 2011 and 2012, Pprime has been the recipient of several long term grants (8 years) including: 3 EQUIPEX (Equipment of excellence) projects: EQUIPEX “GAP” for aero-propulsion studies, EQUIPEX “ROBOTEX”, national network for research in robotics; EQUIPEX “NanoimagesX”, national network for nanotomography studies on SOLEIL Synchrotron; 1 LABEX (Lab of excellence) programme “INTERACTIFS” supporting fundamental multidisciplinary approaches for solid/gas interfaces phenomena in complex systems,

Relations with the socio-economic domain: the PPRIME Institute have more than 40 referenced partners, about 70 contracts per year from the sectors of Transport and the Energy sector.

In particular, the Damage and Durability Group focuses on the mechanical behaviour of materials and structures for the aeronautical industry as well as ground transportation and energy. Experimental approaches and models are developed in order to study durability and safety of structural materials in realistic conditions: thermo mechanical loadings, moisture, high strain rates, shocks, variable temperatures and aggressive environments, fatigue and oxidation. The purpose is to optimize materials (MAX phases, green materials new generation, intermetallics…) in order to get better properties. Another objective is to study materials close or above their actual limits in order to propose technological solutions for innovation. Studied materials are metallic alloys: Titanium or Nickel based alloys, Aluminums, high strength steels, and polymers and composites: thermoplastics and thermosetting, carbon or vegetal fibre composites. The general methodology is the following: developments of original experimental devices in partnership with industry to test materials in conditions close to reality and at different scales, microstructural analysis, and formulation of constitutive laws, identification, numerical simulations and dialog with experiments, validation in industrial context.

Role in the project: In this project PPRIME will be responsible for test with explosive decompression, in-situ characterisation of tearing strength, mechanical behaviour of the interface at the microscale (nanoindentation) – modelling for test understanding, interpretation and parameters identification.

Personnel:

Prof. Jean-Claude Grandidier: Multi-physics/multi-scale couplings, mechanics of composite materials

Prof. Marco Gigliotti: durability and ageing of organic composite materials

Dr. Eric Lainé: mechanics and damage of homogeneous and heterogeneous composite materials

Dr. Manel Dallali: mechanics and damage of homogeneous and heterogeneous composite materials