Welcome to the web page presenting the research lines related to the Optimization of Structures and Railway Systems developed in the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU). Research group is made up of 12 people, most of them also carry out teaching tasks within the same Department.

The group is located mainly at the School of Engineering of Bilbao, although some researchers also carry out their professional jobs in private companies. Research focuses on various topics related to structural optimization and railway vehicles optimization, such as shape and topology optimization, railway dynamics, the design of flexible mechanisms, optimization of wheel profiles, derailment risk studies, elastic rolling contact problems, conformal contact, etc. From this page, a more detailed explanation of the main lines of research through can be accessed through the links below.

The group has extensive scientific equipment to carry out its research activities, including rapid prototyping machines, high-precision devices for measuring rolling profiles and corrugation, vibration analyzers and specialized software for theoretical modelling. The result is quality research that gains international visibility through scientific conferences and publications in high-impact scientific journals.

Over the last years, funding has been obtained through competitive research projects from the Spanish government, the Basque government and also from European projects and University-Business projects.

Traditionally, the research team has been incorporating engineering students from their final years, who simultaneously study and collaborate within the Department in research projects, enabling complementary training and the achievement of their Final Degree Projects and Final Master's Thesis. In addition, several Doctoral Thesis framed in the research of the group have been carried out.