The cytoskeleton provides the mechanical scaffold and maintains the integrity of cells.  It is usually believed that one type of cytoskeleton biopolymer, microtubules, bear compressive force.  In vitro experiments found that isolated microtubules may form an Euler buckling pattern with a long wavelength for very small compressive force.  This, however, does not agree with in vivo experiments where microtubules buckle with short-wavelength.  In order to understand the structural role of microtubules in vivo, we (Jiaping Zhang and Hanqing Jiang) developed a mechanics model to study microtubule buckling supported by cytoplasm.  We found that the ability for a cell to sustain compressive force does not solely rely on mic

A gel is an aggregate of polymers and solvent molecules.  The polymers crosslink into a three-dimensional network by strong chemical bonds, and enable the gel to retain its shape after a large deformation.  The solvent molecules, however, interact among themselves and with the network by weak physical bonds, and enable the gel to be a conduit of mass transport.  The time-dependent concurrent process of large deformation and mass transport is studied by developing a finite element method. 

Buckling of stiff thin films on compliant substrates has many important applications ranging from stretchable electronics to precision metrology and sensors.  John Hutchinson, Zhiggang Suo, Rui Huang, Xi Chen et al. have developed nice theories for stiff thin film buckling on soft substrate. However, many of these models assume plane-strain deformation, which do not agree with experimental observations for narrow thin films.  We  (Hanqing Jiang, Yonggang Huang et al.) developed an analytical model to incorporate the finite width effect of thin film buckling on compliant substrate.

Prof. Yonggang Huang of Northwestern University was awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship in 2008. Today, the president of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, Edward Hirsch announced that 190 new fellowships were choosen from more than 2,600 applicants (news ). Yonggang won the competition because of his achievement on atomistic-based continuum theory for nanomaterials. A complete list is here

Nonlinear buckling of thin,
high modulus plates on compliant

Appl. Phys. Lett. 90, 133119 (2007)
Mechanics of Precisely Controlled Thin Film Buckling on Elastomeric Substrate

McMat 2007, June 3-7, 2007, University of Texas at Austin

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Symposium: Multiscale Multiphysics Modeling and Simulation of Nanomaterials and Nanostructures

Open Faculty Positons:

• Computational Mechanics
• Multiscale Environmental Fluid Dynamics
• Smart Structures and Intelligent Systems

Open Faculty Position in Computational Mechanics

The Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Arizona State University seeks applicants for a tenure-track faculty position in the area of computational mechanics. The appointment will be commensurate with the candidate’s experience and accomplishments and can be at the assistant, associate or full professor rank, beginning August 2007. At the time of appointment, candidates must have an earned doctorate in engineering or a related field.