Objectives and Integrative Aspects of the Research Program
Primary scientific objective of the Graduate College is to develop models for the description and simulation of fluid-structure interaction phenomena in engineering. Final result will be reduced models for the engineering practice derived from a thorough mechanical and numerical analysis of the coupled fluid-structure system. The reduced models should be able to describe the actual phenomena with a sufficient accuracy and should support parameter analyses of the problems examined.
The models and algorithms used will be verified and validated with reference to experimental results published in literature. Where possible, simple models with case-dependent applicability guidelines will be derived from the more complex models studied initially.
Intermediate goals of the Graduate College are:
The research will be interdisciplinary and, as far as practicable, supported by experimental data obtained from other institutions or departments. Theoretical research will be done also to back up current experimental research conducted by other departments in the areas of water and coastal engineering, steel construction, aerospace and wind energy converters. It is thus possible to verify theoretical models and calculations by comparing them to experimental data and realistic in-situ measurements, and to obtain or derive model parameters.
However, the Graduate College itself will not conduct experimental research.