Description:
The Materials and Structures Division will lead in the fundamental and applied knowledge in science and engineering that bridges interdisciplinary research in materials science and structural mechanics and design, leading to advances in: (i) theoretical, experimental, or computational methods, and (ii) uses contemporary methods to address modern challenges in materials and structures. Research includes a fundamental understanding of deformation, damage evolution, nondestructive evaluation, contact and friction through constitutive modeling, multi-scale (spatial or temporal) and multi-physics analysis, computational methods, or experimental techniques, failure of composite built structures when subjected to complex three-dimensional static, cyclic and dynamic loading conditions. Structures research includes projects on computer-aided structural engineering, intelligent structural engineering system and innovative concepts in high-performance structures. Research includes advances in nonlinear deformation, instability, and collapse in the context of large deformation, wave propagation, multi-scale (spatial or temporal) and multi-physics analysis, computational methods, or experimental techniques.
Areas of interest:
a) System design, evaluation, analysis and optimizations:
1. Airframe
- Structural Design and Safety
- Design, Analysis, and Simulations
- Multidisciplinary Optimization
- Structural Reliability
- Composites and smart materials
- Manufacturing techniques
- Durability analysis
2. Fluid-Structural Behavior
- Collisions
- Aeroelasticity
- Aero-acoustics
- Human-machine interface
- Model of bone structural behavior when exposed to low gravity and hyperspeeds.
b) New materials:
- Light-density materials
- Mechanics of nanocomposites and multifunctional composites
- Materials that mimic real livings systems
c) New computational techniques
- Schemes that retain the accuracy of the full non-linear methods but at a reduced cost
- Inverse problems, optimization, large-scale parallel computation, and visualization
d) Earth and Zero gravity research
- Space-System Analysis
- Materials science
- Human behavior and injury: muscle and bone wastage