Every two years sees the hosting of the Journées Nationales sur les Composites (National Days on Composites), which is the perfect venue for meeting researchers, engineers and manufacturers, who come along to exchange ideas about the latest scientific and technological advances. GSea Design was inevitably in attendance this year…
It was Adrien Launay, in the 2nd year of his doctorate, who is doing his thesis at the Lorient-based company, in partnership with the UBS and the IRDL in Lorient, who made the journey to Bordeaux from 1 to 3 July. His work is focusing on the influence of defects on compression resistance within the scope of the dimensional analysis of the lifespan of high-performance composite structures such as racing yachts.
The problem with the resistance of composite materials and their ability to withstand the test of time, lies at the heart of GSea Design’s business, which involves the dimensional analysis of race boats. Material fatigue can potentially lead to a loss of resistance, which means that parts can break at a lower load threshold compared with their initial capacity. However, to what extent can the presence of flaws in the materials have an impact on the strength of the composite over time?
“These are specialised subjects to which we don’t yet have all the answers. Here we’re referring to high-quality materials. At the JNC, I met researchers and engineers who are working on this subject with whom I was able to exchange ideas. The majority of them work in aeronautics and the space industry, in sectors which are a lot more heavily funded than in boating. They’ve fine-tuned some methods for analysing the materials they’re interested in, which we should take inspiration from within the context of high-performance material analysis.”
In addition to his doctorate thesis, Adrien sees an opportunity for GSea Design within his research. “The idea is to quickly fine-tune the digital tooling enabling us to estimate the lifespans of the parts we’re designing within the context of dimensional analysis.”
[The Journées Nationales sur les Composites (JNC) are held every two years. They were hosted in Bordeaux from 1 to 3 July 2019 and constitute a special venue for pooling the knowledge of scientific and manufacturing communities.]
