The actual development of techniques (imaging, microsensors, micromanitpulaitons), as well as analysis and modeling tools increasingly powerful, have enabled significative progresses in different fields of technology. These progresses are only possibly thanks to the formation of pluridisciplinary teams where the engineer play a key role.
Biomechanics is therefore between Engineer Science (mechanics, physics, ...) and Life Science (medicine, physiology, biology). The issues addressed are at different level: cell (cell adhesion on a biomaterial, characterization, ...), organ (flows in vessels, mechanics of articulations, biomaterials) or global (mechanics of the movement, accidentology, ...).
Soft matter is the study of the behavior of specific materials such as physiologic or agribusiness fluids, paint, oil, molten polymers, liquid crystals, cosmetics, moss, muds or granular environment. All of these materials are complex fluids raising questions of stability or rheology (they often flow oddly). Their behavior is highly influenced by their microstructure and their interfacial propoerties. Their study implied a coupling between mechancs, chemistry and physics, and specific reasonning (scaling law, dimensional analysis).
The MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical Systems) are miniaturized systems - micrometric size - that new technologies allow to manufacture massively today. These systems enable realizing functions, like fluid circumlation in a DNA puce, thermalization of a chemical reaction in a micro exchanger, or moving a micro lever stabilizing a aircraft wing boundary layer. The MEMS, a highly pluridisciplinary field, are now experiencing very strong economic growth.
As part of your internship, you will join a research team in a research organization (or hospital), in France or abroad.
Topics
Topics of study can cover various aspects of fluid mechanics, solid mechanics, statistic physics and material science.
- Physiologic flow: large arterial or venous circulation (modeling and measure), mechanical properties of cells, adhesion between cells, cell adhesion on a miomaterial, artificial organ: heart, cardiac valves, artificial kidney, ...
- Biomechanics of the musculoskeletal system: articulations, bone or joint prosthetics, shock effect, muscular biomechanics, functional adaptation.
- Complex fluids: polymer flow (rheology, injection in a mold, ...), fiber effect (composites), behavior of paste and emulsion fluids, granular environment, suspension dynamics (statistical or macroscopic models, measure, closure relation ...).
- MEMS: their issue cover notably the study of mono or multiphase fluid flows, at the micron scale, in inhabitual situations for fluid mechanics
Internships
The subjects of internship may be experimental, with or without experiment in vivo. Subjects of digital modeling are also proposed. The internship takes place in France or abroad. It is organized depending on the type of subject of interest to the student and on the country where they wish to do their internship.
Examples of internships done in the earlier years:
- Biomechanics
- UTC (Compiègne): Blood filtering / hepatocytes encapsulating./ modeling interaction between two cells
- IGR (Paris) Elecropermeabilizing cell membrane
- LAB (Renault-PSA) : biomechanics properties of a bone.
- Université de Berlin: Modelising ventricular assist system.
- Université de la Rhur (Bochum): Analysis hemodialysis machine performances.
- Université d’Aix-la-Chapelle : blood hemolysis in a shear field
- Imperial College (Londres): trabecular structure of bones, intervertebral disk.
- University of Southern California (San Diego): Leucocytes response to a shear fluid.
- Georgia Tech (Atlanta): Study of the cell behavior through image analysis.
- Washington University (Saint Louis): Model of skeletal muscle contraction
- Mac Gill University (Québec) : Interactions between suspended whites cells in a capillary tube
- Université de Montréal (Québec) : 3D-cinematic analysis of the knee joint
- MIT : Cell mechanique
- Complex fluids
- Harvard : paint deposit.
- Göttingen : Muds flow.
- Université de Twente : singularities at interfaces.
- Stanford University : Stability of a coaxial flow.
- Institut Français du Pétrole (Rueil-Malmaison) : Models of gradual unclogging of a well at production launch..
- Cambridge University : Mechanics of the sandpile.
- MEMS
- UCLA (Los Angeles) : Wall treatment for a micro mixer
- ENS (Paris) : Liquid-solid sliding effect in a micro channel / Two-phase flow in a micropipe.
Evaluation modalities: Written report of 20-30 pages
Course language: French
- Teaching coordinator: Baroud Charles
- Teaching coordinator: Quéré David