Dubravka Mijuca: NAFEMS Eastern Europe Steering Committee Member

As part of our series on the NAFEMS Eastern Europe Steering Committee members, we would like to introduce you to Dubravka Mijuca.

Tell us briefly about yourself 

I am a university professor, scientific researcher, and industrial project leader who provides numerical simulation services to a capital engineering project in Serbia and abroad.

Regarding my scientific career, my main scientific contribution is the development of the new, reliable, spatially multiscale thermo-mechanical finite element semi-coupled primal-mixed method and software FEMIX using brick finite elements, where all physical variables of interest are calculated simultaneously. I am active in the scientific community and have papers published in high-ranking journals such as Computational Mechanics and Finite Elements in Analysis and Design. In the past, I have organized or co-organized several international conferences and workshops. I have either led or been a member of a number of scientific and industrial projects in Serbia, Germany, and under the umbrella of the NAFEMS community. I was heavily involved in establishing the energy efficiency and sustainable development curricula in Serbia. I served as co-president of the Serbian Society of Computational Mechanics and I am currently a member of the NAFEMS Eastern-European Steering Committee.

My finite element analyst jobs include complex engineering structures with high risk in operation, like high temperatures or impact, and the severe potential of human injury and/or financial loss. Examples include; soil/pile bearing capacity calculations using original simulation method, analysis of anti-flood geotextile tubes structural integrity, detection of the best material and its thicknesses for the motorbike helmets, wire ropes under fire hazards, and many others. I am also excellent in composite materials calculations and the design of efficient impact protector apparatuses based on the wave-cell topology.

I am a passionate advocate against dimensional reduction and ad-hoc neglecting of any physical variables in engineering calculations.

When did you first encounter numerical simulation?

During my university studies in Solid Mechanics, I took the subjects ‘Computational Mechanics’ and ‘Finite Element Analysis’. Later in my graduate programs, I had an excellent mentor, Prof. dr Ing. Mladen Berkovic, an aeronautical engineer. He had a vision of a completely new finite element approach in engineering numerical calculations with increased reliability, and I had the pleasure to realize some of his ideas.

When did you first hear about NAFEMS?

The first time I heard of NAFEMS was from my mentor in 1992, when he explained to me the motives and goals of NAFEMS and why it was the best resource for me if I wanted to be a recognized finite element analyst.

What made you want to be included in the activities of the regional steering committee?

I was invited to this committee by David Felhos who learned about me through mutual colleagues from NAFEMS. It is a great pleasure and honor to be involved in this community.

What do you see as the future of NAFEMS?

I think that NAFEMS should continue to stand for best practice in using the finite element method as well as support a gradual changing of the structural engineering curricula.

I also think the organization should support the development of finite element methods based on fewer simplifications per spatial dimensions and physical variables. This is because the dimensional reduction in primal finite element method approaches leads to either over-constrained designs under mechanical loading, for example anchor bolts and base plates that are bigger and heavier than they have to be, or the wrong estimation of how much time a structure has under fire before it collapses as seen with the Fukushima nuclear plant and twin towers in New York.

To find out more about the NAFEMS Eastern Europe team activities or to get involved, please get in touch

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