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Research area(s)

• Finite element and meshless methods
• Material models for metals and composites
• Impact mechanics
• Crashworthiness and structural integrity
• Shockwaves in solids

Research Interests

Professor Vignjevic’s research interests over the last 25 years, have been focused on solids and structures under extreme loading and resulted in the output of over 70 journal papers. This includes the development of first principle-based simulation tools for analysis and the simulation based design (SBD) of structures including structural integrity, safety, crashworthiness and impact resistance. To be precise, Professor Vignjevic has been working on two important modelling aspects: i) development of improved constitutive models; and ii) improved spatial discretisation techniques. These two aspects combined are the key enablers for accurate modelling of progressive damage and failure in solids and structures.

His research has contributed to the improvement of simulation tools applicable to range of industrial problems. Rade, his team and students have been working with a number of companies in dealing with challenging engineering problems. For instance bird strike on fan blades with Rolls Royce; aircraft (fixed wing and rotorcraft) ditching and crash worthiness with AIRBUS, Westland Helicopters and EUROCOPTER; modelling of shockwaves in solids with AWE; car crashworthiness with JLR, Aston Martin, Mercedes PETRONAS and Williams F1teams; and high velocity impact on composite structures with BAE Systems and AIRBUS.

Project details

• EXTREME - Horizon 2020
• Modelling dynamic behaviour of metals - AWE
• Space harpoon - AIRBUS/ESA
• Modelling of overhead equipment – Network Rail

Research clients and partners include:

• Rolls Royce
• AIRBUS
• Westland Helicopters
• EUROCOPTER
• AWE
• JLR
• Aston Martin
• Mercedes PETRONAS
• Williams F1 team
• BAE Systems
• Network Rail