Bart Blockmans

Background

About Bart Blockmans

I am a mechanical engineer with a passion for engineering sciences, applied mathematics, physics, computer science, and technology. Above all I love developing tailored numerical tools for challenging engineering problems, especially when they are beyond the scope of commercial software solutions. Throughout 10+ years of academic and industrial research, I specialized in such topics as multi-physical simulation, drivetrain dynamics, contact and damage mechanics, aerodynamics, finite element analysis, flexible multibody modelling, and model reduction. While I am a strong advocate of, the ubiquity of data and the prospects of data-driven engineering can't be dismissed. In fusing physics-based engineering with data, I'm extending my expertise in data-driven techniques including system identification, state estimation, surrogate modelling, and machine learning, and I apply these in the development and deployment of mechatronic digital twins. Finally, as a sports enthusiast, there's no more challenging system to model and optimize than the athlete. By combining physics-based models of human physiology and metabolism with data-driven techniques, I'm invested in the development of human digital twins for athletic performance optimization, and beyond.