Daniela Boso, daniela.boso@unipd.it

Research areas:

• A coupled thermo-electro-magneto-mechanical model for high temperature superconducting tapes
  
  With: Marco Breschi marco.breschi@unibo.it; Eugenio Pilastro epilastro@gmail.com; Andrea Musso andrea.musso3@unibo.it
  
  High Temperature Superconducting (HTS) materials are nowadays considered as possible candidates for high field magnets, e.g. for nuclear fusion and high-energy physics. The development of this new generation of conductors requires extensive information about the impact of the main characteristics of the cable and coil architecture on the electrical performances of a single superconducting tape. In particular, for a proper conductor design, it is important to fully characterize the single tape in its working conditions. In this research activity, a coupled thermo-electro-magneto-mechanical computational model is developed, to analyze the behavior of HTS tapes and predict their performances inside the coil. The critical current degradation at the yield strength of the tapes under axial tensile loads, torsional loads and bending loads is evaluated. In the last two cases, the drop of electrical performances is studied as a function of the twist-pitch and the curvature. The multi-physics model is going to be validated against experimental measurements of the critical current performed at the University of Bologna on REBCO tapes by SuNAM Co., immersed in liquid nitrogen under tensile, bending and torsional loads.
• Porous media mechanics to model biomechanical and biomedical problems
  
  With: Bernhard Schrefler bernhard.schrefler@dicea.unipd.it; Pietro Mascheroni pietro.mascheroni@helmholtz-hzi.de; Raffaella Santagiuliana santagiuliana.raffaella@gmail.com; Simone Moscheni simone.moscheni@gmail.com.
  
  In this research activity, a computational model based on porous media mechanics is developed to address a class of biomechanical and biomedical problems. The mathematical formulation is based on the Thermodynamically Constrained Averaging Theory (TCAT), which is a rigorous method for developing continuum multiphase models at any scale of interest. The complete description of the system includes the dynamic conservation and thermodynamic relations for all phases and interfaces. To close the system of equations, which contain additional terms due to averaging across the scales, suitable model parameters and constitutive relations are specified. Case-by-case, the general model is duly modified to study: the in-vitro and in-vivo tumor growth; the mechanical degradation of the plantar tissue in diabetic patients; a three-layer biomimetic scaffold for osteochondral defects. An important feature, common to all applications, is the model capability to catch the influence of the mechanical microenvironment on the evolution of the system under study.

Keywords: Superconducting HTS tapes, strain sensitivity, tumor growth, diabetic foot, biomimetic scaffolds, computational models