2013, Hömberg, Dietmar, Petzold, Thomas, Rocca, Elisabetta

We study a model for induction hardening of steel. The related differential system consists of a time domain vector potential formulation of the Maxwells equations coupled with an internal energy balance and an ODE for the volume fraction of austenite, the high temperature phase in steel. We first solve the initial boundary value problem associated by means of a Schauder fixed point argument coupled with suitable a-priori estimates and regularity results. Moreover, we prove a stability estimate entailing, in particular, uniqueness of solutions for our Cauchy problem. We conclude with some finite element simulations for the coupled system.

2022, Hömberg, Dietmar, Lasarzik, Robert, Plato, Luisa

In this paper we consider a pair of coupled non-linear partial differential equations describing the interaction of a predator-prey pair. We introduce a concept of generalized solutions and show the existence of such solutions in all space dimension with the aid of a regularizing term, that is motivated by overcrowding phenomena. Additionally, we prove the weak-strong uniqueness of these generalized solutions and the existence of strong solutions at least locally-in-time for space dimension two and three.

2008, Fasano, Antonio, Hömberg, Dietmar, Naumov, Dmitri

We study a mathematical model for laser-induced thermotherapy, a minimally invasive cancer treatment. The model consists of a diffusion approximation of the radiation transport equation coupled to a bio-heat equation and a model to describe the evolution of the coagulated zone. Special emphasis is laid on a refined model of the applicator device, accounting for the effect of coolant flow inside. Comparisons between experiment and simulations show that the model is able to predict the experimentally achieved temperatures reasonably well.

2006, Hömberg, Dietmar, Yamamoto, Masahiro

Motivated by the growing number of industrially important laser material treatments we investigate the controllability on a curve for a semilinear parabolic equation. We prove the local exact controllability and a global stability result in the twodimensional setting. As an application we consider the control of laser surface hardening. We show that our theory applies to this situation and present numerical simulations for a PID control of laser hardening. Moreover, the result of an industrial case study is presented confirming that the numerically derived temperature in the hot-spot of the laser can indeed be used as set-point for the machine-based process control.

2009, Hömberg, Dietmar, Kern, Daniela

The goal of this paper is to show how the heat treatment of steel can be modelled in terms of a mathematical optimal control problem. The approach is applied to laser surface hardening and the cooling of a steel slab including mechanical effects. Finally, it is shown how the results can be utilized in industrial practice by a coupling with machine-based control.

2016, Hömberg, Dietmar, Patacchini, Francesco Saverio, Sakamoto, Kenichi, Zimmer, Johannes

The classical Johnson-Mehl-Avrami-Kolmogorov approach for nucleation and growth models of diffusive phase transitions is revisited and applied to model the growth of ferrite in multiphase steels. For the prediction of mechanical properties of such steels, a deeper knowledge of the grain structure is essential. To this end, a Fokker-Planck evolution law for the volume distribution of ferrite grains is developed and shown to exhibit a log-normally distributed solution. Numerical parameter studies are given and confirm expected properties qualitatively. As a preparation for future work on parameter identification, a strategy is presented for the comparison of volume distributions with area distributions experimentally gained from polished micrograph sections.

2016, Farshbaf-Shaker, M. Hassan, Henrion, René, Hömberg, Dietmar

Chance constraints represent a popular tool for finding decisions that enforce a robust satisfaction of random inequality systems in terms of probability. They are widely used in optimization problems subject to uncertain parameters as they arise in many engineering applications. Most structural results of chance constraints (e.g., closedness, convexity, Lipschitz continuity, differentiability etc.) have been formulated in a finite-dimensional setting. The aim of this paper is to generalize some of these well-known semi-continuity and convexity properties to a setting of control problems subject to (uniform) state chance constraints.

2007, Chełminski, Krzysztof, Hömberg, Dietmar, Kern, Daniela

We investigate a thermomechanical model of phase transitions in steel. The strain is assumed to be additively decomposed into an elastic and a thermal part as well as a contribution from transformation induced plasticity. The resulting model can be viewed as an extension of quasistatic linear thermoelasticity. We prove existence of a unique solution and conclude with some numerical simulations.

2015, Guo, Yukun, Hömberg, Dietmar, Hu, Guanghui, Li, Jingzhi, Liu, Hongyu

This work concerns the inverse scattering problems of imaging unknown/inaccessible scatterers by transient acoustic near-field measurements. Based on the analysis of the migration method, we propose efficient and effective sampling schemes for imaging small and extended scatterers from knowledge of time-dependent scattered data due to incident impulsive point sources. Though the inverse scattering problems are known to be nonlinear and ill-posed, the proposed imaging algorithms are totally direct involving only integral calculations on the measurement surface. Theoretical justifications are presented and numerical experiments are conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of our methods. In particular, the proposed static imaging functionals enhance the performance of the total focusing method (TFM) and the dynamic imaging functionals show analogous behavior to the time reversal inversion but without solving time-dependent wave equations.

2007, Fasano, Antonio, Hömberg, Dietmar, Panizzi, Lucia

A mathematical model for the gas carburizing of steel is presented. Carbon is dissolved in the surface layer of a low-carbon steel part at a temperature sufficient to render the steel austenitic, followed by quenching to form a martensitic microstructure. The model consists of a nonlinear evolution equation for the temperature, coupled with a nonlinear evolution equation for the carbon concentration, both coupled with two ordinary differential equations to describe the phase fractions. We prove existence and uniqueness of a solution and finally present some numerical simulations.