Patrick Zimbrod

I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something.

— Richard Feynman

My work profile

Currently, I am a PhD student in the Faculty of Applied Computer Science at the University of Augsburg. My group focuses on computational modelling of production processes with my personal focus lying within efficient solution of problems given by Partial Differential Equations (PDEs).

I mostly work on improving quality output within additive manufacturing, in particular the Laser Powder Bed Fusion process (PBF-LB/M). Within my project work, I contribute to developing a robust, sensor-based online classification system for part quality using mostly machine learning. You can find more details under projects. For my PhD work, I try to identify and implement a computationally efficient way to model the complex meso- and microscale physics during PBF-LB/M. This should ultimately accelerate material qualification in additive manufacturing so that new high performance materials can be developed faster and with less empirical effort.

My interests

Mostly growing from those specific topics, I have developed a fascination for computational modelling and in particular modelling mathematically tough problems that are governed by PDEs. Processes that involve multiscale phenomena and stiff problems have taken me from Finite Volume over CG and DG Finite Element methods to custom, high performance mixed Galerkin approximations.

I am also interested in materials informatics, especially new ways of obtaining process-structure-property-performance relationships by means of HPC and physics-informed machine learning.

You can follow my journey over at my blog. You can also have a look at my recent GitHub projects.

My Education

I studied engineering science and mechanical engineering at the University of Bayreuth where I focused on lightweight design and process engineering.

Parallel to my regular curriculum, I was involved in motorsports and worked in the aerospace and healthcare industry. There I was given the opportunity to receive additional training on CFD, lightweight material design using composites and project management.