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Welcome on the web pages of the Civil and Material Engineering department of the Polytechnical Faculty of the Royal Military Academy (COBO). The  department gives education to candidate career officers of the belgian armed forces.

The Department provides education, research and expertises in three domains:

• Experimental and numerical analysis of structures : this includes the strength of materials approach, the elasticity approach and the finite element analysis for a wide range of structures (mechanical and typical civil engineering structures). The laboratory has developed large experience in strain gauge measurements and supports research on the application of the digital image correlation technique for strain field measurements.

Special emphasis is put on dynamic behaviour of structures : the department has participated to several measurement and analysis campaigns for civil engineering structures (ship hulls, bridges, buildings);

 

• Materials science : this includes education and research on the constitutive laws and the failure mechanisms of a wide variety of materials, including traditional metallic materials (and especially Ti) as well as evolutive materials such as composites. Special emphasis is put on the dynamic behaviour of materials in lab conditions (e.g. split Hopkinson pressure bars) and impact tests.

• Practical experience is acquired by case studies  on failed materials and structures coming from the military as well as from the civil society.

• Effects of explosions on structures : this includes education and research on the interaction of blast waves with structures, with particular emphasis on the progressive collapse phenomenon. The Dept runs also a pyrotechnic laboratory for analysis of pyrotechnical choc load effects on satellite equipment and critical mechanical components.