Postdoc position in Solid/Computational Mechanics, Politecnico di Milano - Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Politecnico di Milano 

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Postdoc position in Solid/Computational Mechanics

Fixed term position for up to 18 months

Salary: 25,000 Euro per annum

A Postdoc position will be soon opened at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering of Politecnico di Milano, to work within the Safer Helmets project. This project will be conducted in collaboration with the University of Pavia, the Chemistry Materials and Chemical Engineering Department and the Mechanical Engineering Department of Politecnico di Milano, and the Centro Internazionale Disordini Apprendimento Attenzione ed Iperattività. The aim of the project is to enhance the performance of bike and ski helmets through microstructured polymeric composite materials, by decreasing in amplitude the acceleration peaks (already recognized by international standards to cause injuries) and also shifting them toward frequencies less dangerous for the human brain.

The goals of the work to be carried out are: provide an effective (homogenized) constitutive law for the polymeric materials; model the effects of high strain rates, typically experienced during an impact event; define a suitable distribution of materials density (gradation), compatible with standard production processes, so as to reduce peak values of local accelerations at the helmet/head interface; model damage/cracking in the above defined functionally graded materials; model the global response of the helmet.

Applicants should hold a PhD (or equivalent) in Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Computational Physics or Applied Mathematics. They should have experience in continuum and multi-scale modelling of solid materials. Preference will be given to applicants with a proven research record and publications in relevant areas. Applicants as also expected to be fluent in spoken and written English.

For additional information, please contact Stefano Mariani ( stefano.mariani@polimi.it ).