Sylvie Pommier
ICF Silver Medal
Professor Sylvie Pommier of the Laboratory of Mechanics and Technology, ENS Paris-Saclay, has been awarded the Tipper Silver Medal by the ICF (International Congress on Fracture); international recognition for her contributions to nonlinear fracture mechanics.
Last year, she was the first woman to receive the Réaumur Medal awarded by the French Society of Metallurgy and Materials.
Propagation of fatigue cracks
Sylvie Pommier studies the propagation of fatigue cracks in metals, taking into account complex loading. She has developed an incremental model of fatigue cracking based on an analysis of the main components and the thermodynamics of irreversible processes.
This method makes it possible to model the propagation of a crack in a material with non-linear behavior via a formalism based on non-local state variables. This formalism is particularly suited to characterizing the non-linear behaviour of the material around a singularity that can move—like a crack front—while maintaining a minimum number of degrees of freedom.
The approach has been applied to various materials and to complex loading conditions (variable amplitude fatigue, non-proportional loading, non-isothermal loading, oxidation).
Constance F. Tipper Silver Medal
Every four years, the International Congress on Fracture rewards a few members for their outstanding contributions to the field of fracture. Four gold medals and one silver medal are awarded.
The Tipper Silver Medal honours the memory of Constance Tipper, a pioneer in the study of fracture and author of The Brittle Fracture Story. This medal is awarded to a mid-career researcher who has made significant contributions to fracture mechanics.