Physics, Uncertainty & Scale: Towards Credible Composite Aircraft Simulations

Free Webinar

Wednesday, 26 November 2025 | Online

14:00 (Bengaluru)
10:30 (Berlin) | 09:30 (London)

P​art of the प्रवाह -Pravaha - NAFEMS India Webinar Series
E​xploring Frontiers in Engineering Modelling & Simulation

Building seamlessly on the previous NAFEMS webinar “Leveraging Scientific ML to Augment Engineering Modelling & Simulation,” this session pivots squarely to what simulation credibility demands at real-world scales. In the fast-evolving landscape of composite aircraft structures, the challenge is clear: no amount of data or neural prediction can substitute for rigorous physics, robust mathematics & sharp uncertainty quantification at the component level.

Modern aircraft certification still relies heavily on costly, time-consuming physical testing. Yet, the escalating complexity of nonlinear, failure-driven behaviour in large composite assemblies demands a new paradigm. With Airbus expertise in-tandem, & rooted in my ongoing doctoral advising for their engineer Rahul’s research on uncertainty quantification, this talk dives deep into cutting-edge advances: from the principled deployment of the Variational Asymptotic Method (VAM) & the collateral model order reduction to the latest adaptive sampling, dimensionality reduction, & multi-fidelity frameworks. We examine how projection-based & physics-informed strategies can distil multi-million degree-of-freedom nonlinear finite element (FE) models, retaining essential behavioural fidelity, yet rendering uncertainty analysis truly tractable & reasonably meaningful!

Surrogate models, adaptive & actively learned, are deployed not as black box replacements, but as accelerators supplementing physics-based simulation, enabling fast, reliable sensitivity & reliability assessments. Recent literature, industry joint studies & NMCAD Lab’s latest results converge on this: taming uncertainty in aerospace nonlinear FE analysis is not about more computation, but smarter mathematical innovation grounded in ample verification, real validation & thus, almost inevitable global collaboration.

For us NAFEMS members, the message is simple: the future of composites certification is neither brute force nor AI alone, but a blend of modern mechanics, clever mathematics, & pragmatic uncertainty quantification too, undertaken in open partnership between academia & industry, as our ongoing Airbus–IISc collaboration exemplifies.

Agenda

• W​elcome & Introductions
  J​o Potts, NAFEMS
• U​pdate on NAFEMS India
  NAFEMS India Chair - Uma Maheshwar | BEC - GE Aerospace
  NAFEMS India Chair Elect - Jaya Raju Namala | Airbus Group India Private Ltd. 
• Physics, Uncertainty & Scale: Towards Credible Composite Aircraft Simulations
  Prof. Dineshkumar Harursampath, Indian Institute of Science
• Q​&A

Professor Dineshkumar Harursampath

A​ssociate Professor
Structures & Materials

I​ndian Institute of Science
Department of Aerospace Engineering