Post-doctoral fellow Structural calculations on an SFRP injected industrial demonstrator. Consideration of microstructural heterogeneity by homogenization.

Isae Ensma; France; On-site; EUR 24,000 - 29,000; Full time

Job summary

ISAE-ENSMA invites applications for a post-doctoral fellowship in the AnoHona project at the ENDO team of the Pprime laboratory. The fellow will implement and evaluate structure simulations with MFront–Abaqus, tackling multi-scale homogenization challenges and thermo-hygro-viscoelastic coupling in a 13-month fixed-term contract.

The role requires a PhD in mechanics of materials, strong programming skills, and a good command of English.

Qualifications

• Engineering or Master’s degree in Mechanics and PhD in the field of mechanics of materials.
• Good level in English is essential.
• Skills in homogenization would be an asset.

Responsibilities

• Run FE simulations on the industrial demonstrator using the MFront–Abaqus chain.
• Analyse fibre orientation tensor distributions from injection simulations.
• Develop tutorials and unit tests to explain configurations and extend developments.

Skills

Programming

Mechanics

Homogenization

Education

PhD in mechanics of materials

Engineering or Master’s in Mechanics

Tools

Abaqus

MFront

Job description

Organisation/Company ISAE-ENSMA Research Field Technology » Space technology Researcher Profile Other Profession Positions Postdoc Positions Application Deadline 4 Dec 2026 - 23:59 (Europe/Paris) Country France Type of Contract Temporary Job Status Full-time Hours Per Week 37:30 Offer Starting Date 4 Jan 2027 Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? Not funded by a EU programme Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No

Offer Description

As part of its public service mission, ISAE-ENSMA conducts closely integrated research and educational activities that draw on numerous academic and industrial partnerships.

As a committed player in its local community and region, a member of the ISAE Group, and a champion of excellence in aerospace for the mobility of the future, ISAE-ENSMA addresses industrial and societal challenges by offering high-level scientific and technological expertise to lead complex research and technology projects, manage teams and organizations, drive innovation across the entire value chain, and formulate a vision within a global, highly interconnected, and rapidly evolving context.

MISSIONS AND WORKING ENVIRONMENT

This post-doctoral fellowship is part of the AnoHona PRC (Advanced NOnlinear HOmogenization for structural aNAlysis), which began in 2024 for a period of 48 months and involves 6 French laboratories and the University of La Plata (Argentina). It will be carried out at ISAE-ENSMA in the ENDO team of the Pprime laboratory (UPR CNRS 3346).

Manufacturers in the transport sector are seeking to develop digital tools for dimensioning parts based on an integrated approach that takes into account the microstructure variability in the part, induced by the manufacturing process, in the estimation of the mechanical response. Thus, the AnoHona project aims to:

(i) provide homogenization methods that better address the microstructural complexity of industrial materials and the multi-physical couplings present under conditions of use, (ii) to propose a software library open to the scientific community allowing their implementation in any structural calculation code, and finally (iii) illustrate/evaluate the relevance of the approach on an SFRP injected industrial demonstrator.

The post-doctoral fellow will address points (ii) and (iii). He/she will work on the preparation and realization of structure simulations on the industrial demonstrator, their evaluation and valuation. The connection of Abaqus with MFront, where the methods developed in the ANR project will be implemented, will be at the heart of his work. Configurations of increasing complexity will be considered to assess and illustrate the feasibility of the approach in a gradual and controlled way.

MAIN ACTIVITIES

After a phase of setting up the FE model of the demonstrator, the simulations (with the MFront-Abaqus connection) will be carried out by considering the microstructure as homogeneous at the macroscopic scale (that is to say identical at any integration point). Simulations with effective behaviours of increasing complexity (linear and non-linear) will be envisioned to illustrate the good functioning of the MFront-Abaqus chain in this level 1 configuration. Then, the distribution of the fibre orientation tensor obtained by an injection simulation will be analysed in order to identify the main families of orientations present within the demonstrator. The simulations (linear and then non-linear) will then be carried out with effective behaviours differing from one family to another (level 2). The real heterogeneity of the orientation distribution will then be taken into account in the simulations (level 3). Finally, the homogenization approach developed in a PhD thesis of the ANR project to address thermo-hygro-viscoelastic coupling will be used with linear schemes of increasing performance, the latter one resulting from another post-doc of the project. The results of a cyclic test under representative temperature-humidity conditions will allow to illustrate the added value of the theoretical and numerical developments resulting from the project compared to the available experimental data. Finally, tutorials will be written and accompanied by unit tests to explain the calculations in each of the envisaged configurations and highlight how users can extend these developments to meet their needs.

RESEARCH PROFILE

Engineering or Master’s degree in Mechanics followed by a PhD thesis in the field of mechanics of materials, with a strong interest for programming and structural analysis. Good level in English is essential. Skills in homogenization would be an undeniable asset.

After a phase of setting up the FE model of the demonstrator, the simulations (with the MFront-Abaqus connection) will be carried out by considering the microstructure as homogeneous at the macroscopic scale (that is to say identical at any integration point). Simulations with effective behaviours of increasing complexity (linear and non-linear) will be envisioned to illustrate the good functioning of the MFront-Abaqus chain in this level 1 configuration. Then, the distribution of the fibre orientation tensor obtained by an injection simulation will be analysed in order to identify the main families of orientations present within the demonstrator. The simulations (linear and then non-linear) will then be carried out with effective behaviours differing from one family to another (level 2). The real heterogeneity of the orientation distribution will then be taken into account in the simulations (level 3). Finally, the homogenization approach developed in a PhD thesis of the ANR project to address thermo-hygro-viscoelastic coupling will be used with linear schemes of increasing performance, the latter one resulting from another post-doc of the project. The results of a cyclic test under representative temperature-humidity conditions will allow to illustrate the added value of the theoretical and numerical developments resulting from the project compared to the available experimental data. Finally, tutorials will be written and accompanied by unit tests to explain the calculations in each of the envisaged configurations and highlight how users can extend these developments to meet their needs.

RESEARCH PROFILE

Engineering or Master’s degree in Mechanics followed by a PhD thesis in the field of mechanics of materials, with a strong interest for programming and structural analysis. Good level in English is essential. Skills in homogenization would be an undeniable asset.

Specific Requirements

13-month fixed-term contract beginning January 4, 2027

Working time:100% (full-time)

Category A

Typical job:Post-doctoral

Gross remuneration:from €2,400 gross per month

Diploma requested:

Doctoral thesis obtained less than 3 years ago.

Desired experience:

Modeling in non-linear mechanics Programming, Structural calculations