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Don't read this
Don’t
READ
this
Not OK? Still reading? Well, some people just cannot be
helped. Here, at your own risk, are a few words about the world
outside CASA. You could say it is about the neighbours.
As you already know, CASA is an SFI; one of several funding
schemes administered by the Research Council of Norway. Two
of the others are Innovation building projects for industry (IPN)
and Competence building projects for industry (KPN). Both of
these have a more limited scope than an SFI. The similarity lies
in the desire to help industry through research.
MOUNTAIN HIGH…
Did you know that it takes 12 helicopter trips to get a single
power pylon to its destination? Since Norway is full of
mountains, this means a lot of expensive transport. In comes
IPN AluMast. The ambition is to make pylons of aluminium
instead of steel. This could potentially reduce the need from
12 to 5 helicopter trips per pylon.
Researcher Marius Andersen works with the behaviour and
modelling of aluminium columns in AluMast. After defending
his PhD at SFI SIMLab he has turned his attention to the
structural response of thin-walled aluminium tubes subjected
to axial loading. The aim: to avoid buckling and collapse. In
his work, Andersen will take advantage of the numerical
simulation methods and experimental techniques available at
SIMLab.
Understandably, CASA partner and aluminium producer Hydro
is a partner in AluMast. So are SINTEF and many more.
…FJORD WIDE…
Did you know that the Norwegian Parliament wants to build
a ferry-free highway – the new E39 – from Kristiansand to
Trondheim? This involves crossing eight fjords, including the
Sogne Fjord where it is 1.3 kilometres deep and 3.7 kilometres
wide. A submerged floating tunnel is one of the solutions being
considered. No such tunnel exists today.
When researcher Martin Kristoffersen defended his PhD at SFI
SIMLab, the topic was oil pipelines subjected to impact. Since
then he has changed material and dimensions: at present,
he is investigating what would happen in an explosion inside
a tunnel made of concrete. Thanks to SIMLab’s shock tube,
Kristoffersen is able to perform small-scale testing. The
results are paired with numerical modelling to understand the
behaviour of the concrete.
CASA partner the Norwegian Public Roads Administration has
signed an agreement with NTNU including 20 PhDs dealing with
the new E39 alone.
…AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA
Yes, you do know that polymers change behaviour at freezing
temperatures. What you probably don’t know very much
about, is the details. This is PhD candidate Joakim Johnsen’s
domain. He works on the project Arctic Materials II, which is
a consortium led by SINTEF. A number of other CASA partners
participate as well: DNV GL, Statoil, Hydro and Sapa.
The main goal of Johnsen’s PhD project is to develop a
method to obtain local deformation data from experiments of
polymers. He looks at the behaviour of two types of polymers
at temperatures ranging from +25 to -30 degrees Celsius. He
is also working on recording the self-heating in the material
using an infrared camera.
Johnsen seeks to develop a material model that captures the
change in material behaviour due to variations in temperature
and strain. This is obviously crucial knowledge for the oil and
gas industry and other operators in the Arctic.
CONDUCTIVITY VS. STRENGTH
SINTEF is also involved in several KPNs with links to CASA. Two
of them are AMPERE and FICAL.
In AMPERE, the hunt is for the optimal combination of
mechanical properties and electrical conductivity in aluminium
alloys at elevated temperatures. Such properties are sought
after in the engine room of cars, in heat exchangers and
many other places. Potentially, aluminium could replace
costly copper in subsea electric cables. CASA Professor Knut
Marthinsen is project leader and other partners include Hydro
and Sapa. SINTEF researchers Stéphane Dumoulin and Térence
Coudert are also central in the project.
FICAL looks into aluminium grain borders with special attention
on corrosion. There is a substantial potential for increased
use of aluminium in the automotive industry and elsewhere.
Improved mechanical and corrosion properties would further
increase the potential.
FICAL attacks these challenges at the nanoscale and seeks
to develop modelling tools for optimizing alloy design and
performance. CASA Professor Randi Holmestad and SINTEF
researchers Calin Marioara, Jesper Friis and Inga Ringdalen are
all involved in the project.
TOPPFORSK
Then there is prestigious Toppforsk project FractAl which
was the subject of last year’s “Don’t Read This” article. CASA
Professors Odd Sture Hopperstad and Tore Børvik have teamed
up with Hydro’s Ole Runar Myhr and Professors Ahmed Benallal
from the French university LMT-Cachan and Jonas Faleskog
from the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden.
The aim is to enable the design of both the material and
structure of aluminium alloys in an optimal combination
without having to use time-consuming and expensive
mechanical tests.
And that’s only a selection of the neighbours. Perhaps in the
near future you will learn why results of CASA research are
relevant to tap geothermal energy from the Earth’s crust.
Did you read the «Don’t Read This» article in last year’s annual report?
Then you know that it wasn’t about CASA. Nor is this year’s version. So stay away, OK?