Sharing experience and knowledge in multiscale modelling of materials
Project aims
Within this project, we aim to help students and university staff to improve their experience in atomistic (ab initio) simulations of materials. The project has the following objectives:
- Strengthen the mutual cooperation between our group in Brno (ab initio) and the research group at the Nanomechanical lab at NTNU, Trondheim.
- Improve our capability to perform atomistic simulations.
- Develop on-line tutorials on atomistic simulations (ab initio) for students and university staff.
- Organise workshops and learning activities focused on atomistic simulations at both institutions.
- Improve the quality of the current and future projects of our master's and PhD students in materials science.
Project details
| Project number: | EHP-CZ-ICP-3-012 |
| Project time period: | 1 August 2021 - 31 July 2023 |
| Programme type: | Institutional cooperation projects |
| Programme: | Education |
| Programme provider: | House of Foreign Cooperation |
| Project applicant: | Brno University of Technology |
| Partner institution: | Norwegian University of Science and Technology |
| Principal investigator: | Petr Šesták, Ph.D. |
This project is supported by the EEA Funds 2014-2021 which represent the contribution of Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway to reducing economic and social disparities and to strengthening bilateral relations with 15 EU countries in Central and Southern Europe and the Baltics.
Atomistic simulations: A brief overview of our research area
Atomistic modelling represents an indispensable part of modern materials science, providing direct insights into material behaviour at the nanoscale level and a deeper understanding of experimental observations. Additionally, it facilitates the design of new environmentally friendly materials that can meet the needs of contemporary human society. For these reasons, it is widely used by master’s and PhD students as well as university staff in their daily research work, bachelor’s, master’s or PhD theses, etc.
However, the gradual penetration of these simulations into common students’ needs also requires the creation of new teaching materials. In recent years, these needs have been reinforced by the global pandemic situation and the demand for more online learning. For these reasons, and with the help of the above-mentioned project, we have created online tutorials in response to the specific needs of our students, especially for our Norwegian partner, where ab initio simulations are not used as often as in our institute. We focus on the simulations of material properties of solids, with particular emphasis on the study of large planar defects such as grain boundaries, stacking faults, vacancy bubbles, etc. This emphasis is necessary to enable students and staff from both institutions to effectively address challenges, including areas such as hydrogen embrittlement and segregation of impurities.
In general, we will provide an effective way for students who are new to the subject to quickly learn the methods and start working successfully on their materials research topics by developing a set of new e-learning materials available to students at both institutions. These e-learning materials will also help to maintain the know-how at both institutions even after the end of the project.
