The Applied Research Programme of the National Centre for Research and Development is a horizontal programme aimed at supporting the science sector and the industry sector within the scope of applied research in various scientific fields and industry branches.

Applied research is defined as research work conducted in order to gain new knowledge with specific practical application. It consists either in searching for possible practical uses for research results or in searching for new solutions allowing to meet the assumed practical targets.

The National Centre for Research and Development has approved and subsidized three projects involving researchers from IPPT PAN:

  1. Project “In-service railway bridge structures dynamic response measurement and assessment unit”.

    The railway bridge structures monitoring system, which takes advantage of the dynamic response measurement and evaluation method is the practical goal of the proposal. The monitoring system is focused on the structures with the spans exceeding 30 m. Such bridges are very difficult to substitute with temporary structures during renovation or replacement activities. The manufacture of integrated transducer, which exploits the inclinometers accompanied with acceleration and strain measurements, for indirect displacement measurement under the dynamic load would be the core research task. The transducer will not require any referential point. This appliance will be in particular useful in case of structure monitoring, in which the underneath access is difficult or inaccessible (bridge structures over passing the busy road, railroad or water obstacles).

    The project coordinator is Road and Bridge Research Institute.

    The research team from IPPT PAN will work: Prof. Jan Holnicki-Szulc, Ph.D., Dr. Habil., Eng. (head of the team), Łukasz Jankowski, Ph.D., Dr. Habil., Eng., Piotr Pawłowski, Ph.D., Eng., Andrzej Świercz, Ph.D., Eng.

  2. Project “Development of non-destructive methods for characterization of carburized layers in gears”.

    The aim of the project is developing a methodology for quantitative evaluation of case-hardened layers in thickness and hardness with Non-destructive testing. The developed methodology of research will form the basis to develop a system for measuring and testing procedures and methodological and benchmarks to design and monitor a thickness and the hardness of the carburized layer on elements such as steel gears. As part of the research tasks are planned use of methods based on the phenomenon of magnetic induction such as eddy current method, Barkhausen noise and magnetic emissions. The usefulness of the methods is verified in reference samples a and rollers made of steel used in the aerospace industry defined geometry and then tested on gears. The developed system will be an alternative to the destructive methods to assess quality control wheel and gear shafts.

    The project coordinator is Rzeszow University of Technology.

    The research team from IPPT PAN will work: Dominik Kukla, Ph.D., Eng. (head of the team), Paweł Grzywna, M.Sc., Eng., and Mirosław Wyszkowski.

  3. Project “Mechanically assisted laser forming of thin-walled profiles”.

    The basic aim of the project is to develop an innovative method of mechanically assisted laser forming of thin-walled profiles. The method consists in a hybrid thermo-mechanical forming of profiles, i.e. with simultaneous action of a laser heat source and external forces. The project includes investigations based on the knowledge gathered thus far in studies on the free (i.e. without external forces) laser forming that were undertaken for the first time in Europe by teams from IPPT PAN and Kielce University of Technology. WSK „PZL Rzeszów” company is interested in results of the project, to use them in forming of conical diffusers, made of heat resistant materials, such as Inconel-type superalloys, for various types of jet propulsion engines. Utilitarian aims of the project are in particular: a shortening of manufacturing time and an improvement in the quality of such parts. The project is carried out by the following scientific consortium: Kielce University of Technology, Metal Forming Institute, Rzeszow University of Technology and IPPT PAN. The team from IPPT PAN has the task of modeling und numerical simulation of mechanically assisted laser forming of shells.

    The project coordinator is Kielce University of Technology.

    The research team from IPPT PAN will work: Jacek Widłaszewski, Ph.D., Eng. (head of the team), Prof. Krzysztof Wiśniewski, Ph.D., Dr. Habil., Eng., Zdzisław Nowak, Ph.D., Dr. Habil., Eng., Paweł Jarzębski, M.Sc., Eng., Marcin Nowak, M.Sc., Eng.