The VALorization Group (VAL) operates at the intersection between the worlds of research and industry. Its activities centre essentially around the Z-set finite-element based suite of codes (Zébulon, Z-mat) specialised in materials with non-linear behaviour and life prediction models for fatigue, etc. Within this context, the activities of the Group VAL include the:
Z-set distributions for different platforms as well as documentation and training supports are available from the following address: http://www.zset-software.com
By virtue of its principle of so-called "industrially oriented" development, the Zébulon finite element code offers the possibility of unlimited user extensions. Furthermore, it provides sophisticated constitutive material laws without any equivalent among other codes on the market, as exemplified by the Centre des Matériaux-ONERA models derived from research and available to industry. Lastly, for costly calculations in terms of CPU time and/or memory, the Zébulon code possesses a parallel solver linked to parallel pre and post-processing tools.
The computing facilities available to the VAL Group include a new cluster of 162 Opteron bi-processors cadenced at 2.2GHz, each of them possessing 4 to 16 Mo of RAM. Parallel computing is one of the privileged activities of the group which is regularly entrusted with responsibility for large calculations.