The Advanced Structures and Composites Center closely integrates modeling and simulation with all aspects of research, tailoring model characteristics and complexity to fit the problem at hand. University or Center licenses are maintained for commercial finite-element packages including ANSYS and LS-DYNA as well as the engineering and scientific computing package MATLAB. Ongoing and recent work ranges from the simulation of blast effects on wood-composite panels, coupled hygrothermal-stress analysis of hybrid wood-FRP composites, to the lattice simulations of wood fracture and failure. The UMaine supercomputing cluster (http://www.clusters.umaine.edu/) is also available to assist with highly computationally intensive problems.

Center personnel also develop commercial-quality simulation codes for specific applications. Recent examples of finite-element package development include software for the materially and geometrically nonlinear analysis of pressurized fabric arches and beams, as well as software for the analysis of pavement structures (http://www.civil.umaine.edu/EverFE/).

  Labs that help support Modeling and Simulation

• The Micromechanics and Nondestructive Evaluation (NDE) Laboratory
  
• The Polymer and Interface Science Laboratory 
• The Resin Infusion Laboratory