The University of Polytechnique Hauts-de-France (UPHF) is proud to announce that the article titled "Uncertainty -Based Scale Identification and Process–Topography Interaction Analysis via Bootstrap: Application to Grit Blasting", published in the international journal Fractal and Fractional, has been selected from among 55 other articles to feature on the cover of volume 9, issue 1 (January 2025).
This work is the result of an interdisciplinary collaboration between LAMIH (Laboratory of Automation, Mechanics, and Industrial and Human Informatics) and LARSH (Laboratory of Research in Societies and Humanities), bringing together a team of researchers including François Berkmans, Julie Lemesle, Robin Guibert, Michal Wieczorowski, Maxence Bigerelle, and Christopher Brown.
François Berkmans, the lead author of the study, comes from an arts background, making him the first doctoral student at UPHF to conduct research in a joint Science and Arts program. This thesis is part of an international partnership between UPHF and the Poznan University of Technology, within the EUNICE European University.
This work presents a novel approach to identifying relevant scales for studying the interactions between manufacturing processes and surface topography. It extends a method developed by Benoît Mandelbrot, applying bootstrap, an advanced statistical technique that allows for the assessment of measurement uncertainty. The authors demonstrate how to robustly quantify the effects of grit blasting on material roughness. These results open up important perspectives for optimizing industrial processes and characterizing functional surfaces.
The recognition of this article by Fractal and Fractional, ranked 17th globally in Mathematics, Interdisciplinary Applications according to the Web of Science (WOS), reflects the scientific excellence of the UPHF researchers and their contribution to methodological advances in surface metrology. This work also exemplifies the polytechnic vision of Valenciennes, which fosters interdisciplinarity and innovation through the collaboration of science and arts, an essential asset for the future of research and industrial applications.
Selected cover of the special issue designed by François Berkmans representing the sandblasting process on Titanium samples using glass beads. On the bottom the multiscale decomposition to compute fractal analysis.
We encourage you to read the article here.
