John Dunphy (BOC), Mark Conroy, and Alojz Invankovic (project supervisor) at prize-giving.
The award, presented by John Dunphy, sales manager for engineering & safety at BOC, is given to the student who makes the best presentation – as voted by both staff and other students – on their postgraduate work in the first year. BOC generously sponsor this prize annually.
Mark’s research is concerned with predicting failure in composite and adhesive joints which are subjected to mixed mode loading. Historically only one mode of loading – the weakest mode – was used for testing. However, it has recently been shown that this is overly simplistic. Indeed, the data sheets of components designed and certified in the past may not tell the full story. The aim of the current study is to develop, with the aid of numerical models, a complex mixed-mode prediction of strength using only a simple test procedure.
Mark’s project is co-funded by Henkel Ireland and the Irish Research Council. A part of this work is also being carried in line with a numerical round robin within the European Structural Integrity Society (ESIS). This round robin is being coordinated by University College Dublin.