Louise obtained a B.Eng Hons degree in Materials Technology and a PhD on mixed mode intralaminar fracture of glass/epoxy laminates from the University of Surrey. She has over 20 years research experience at NPL and is now a Senior Research Scientist. Louise is author or co-author of NPL reports, refereed papers and 5 NPL Measurement Good Practice Guides.
Louise uses finite element analysis (FEA) to study a broad range of materials (metals, polymers, adhesives, composites). Her areas of expertise are: using FEA to improve the understanding of physical experiments, measurement of properties and calculation of parameters suitable for use in FEA and prediction of materials behaviour under a range of loading conditions.
Areas of interest
Louise’s FEA work covers a wide range of areas associated with the broad range of materials studied at NPL. Examples include fracture toughness predictions of cracks around corrosion pits, material removal during erosion tests, nano-indentation of two-phase systems investigating interface effects, growth of corrosion pits, thermal modelling of Laserflash experiments, development of 3D multi-channel fuel cell models, modelling the behaviour of piezo electric devices and verification of new test methods for Standards development. Louise uses the FE packages Abaqus and Comsol in her work.
Email Louise Crocker