In the middle of September my secondment in Croatia started. I spent a month in the University of Rijeka. I tried to gain the most out of my experience working in an inspiring environment and being surrounded by researchers working on state-of-the-art finite element techniques on non-linear dynamics and computational mechanics.

The PhD group of engineering mechanics department of the faculty welcomed me and they navigated me in the faculty showing to me the equipment of the Laboratory. I gave a presentation to them where I talked about the scientific background of my early research approach. In specific, I showed the basic concept of the already existing Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian approach. Discussion followed with some comments on the type of the implemented finite element.

Moreover, I had the opportunity to gain a lot of knowledge related to my project under the guidance of Prof. Gordan Jelenić. He had an immediate communication with me and very frequent meetings. The main topics I studied on were the reduced and full integration for the Timoshenko beam and the shear locking effect. Also, the derivation of a formula for the linearized geometrically exact beam using small displacements and rotations. Finally, I was acquainted with the basic rotational parametrization for the 3D geometrically exact beam.

I spent time with the local early stage researcher, Jan Tomec, having project- and non-project-related discussions. Together we gave a presentation of the THREAD project in the Rijeka Science Festival. Unfortunately, it took place online because of Covid-19, however it was a new and challenging experience for me.

Of course, I took the opportunity to explore the place and I was fascinated by the stunning view from the Trsat Castle!