A fully funded PhD position is available in my group at the University of Groningen (Netherlands), on discrete dislocation plasticity and interaction with precipitates. A strong solid mechanics background and computational mechanics skills are needed. The project is multi-scale since it will include connection with atomistics.
To apply (deadline 30 June): https://werkenbij.rug.nl/vacature/phd-position-multi-scale-modelling-of…
Dynamic shear banding under adiabatic conditions in a mesoscale polycrystalline aggregate is studied using a model of mesoscale dislocation mechanics and experiments. The model involves a length scale related to hardening induced by excess/polar/geometrically necessary dislocation (GND) density, and utilizes a simple classical crystal plasticity model with isotropic Voce law hardening. Simulations of statistically representative volume elements of a polycrystal determined from experimental samples are conducted. Studies in 2-d (section) and 3-d capture the experimentally observed finite-width shear bands and the formation of low-angle subgrain boundaries even in the absence of heat conduction in the model, as well as size-dependent strengthening for grain sizes from 1 to 20μm. The 2-d and large-scale 3-d simulations, the latter involving 1 million finite elements, provide access to the progressive evolution of material strength, stress state, and temperature in the course of large deformations. GND distributions accumulate at grain boundaries and form patterned structures within grain interiors, offering insight into the microstructural changes that precede failure in adiabatic shear bands. Mesh-converged, delocalized and localized plastic flow to very large deformations without softening is observed for a significant range of parameters, reflecting a competition between GND hardening and thermal softening in setting the non-softening steady state in the absence of other ductile damage mechanisms in the model.
A model of dissipative micromagnetics coupled to (visco-)elasticity is explored, following the procedures of the Ericksen-Leslie theory of nematic liquid crystals allowing for angular momentum due to magnetization. An outcome is the Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert theory coupled to material spin. A further power-less augmentation to the angular momentum of the theory with classical kinetic energy density is also considered, with a preliminary exploration of its potential in representing the Einstein-de Haas and Barnett effects within continuum mechanics. A treatment of the continuum mechanics of hard magnetic soft materials as a constrained polar material is presented. The models of DeSimone and James (2002) and Zhao et al. (2019) are discussed as two different, namely energetically and kinematically, constrained models of magnetoelasticity encompassed within the overall framework.
All-solid-state batteries have received enormous attention in recent years, and for good reason. Replacing a flammable liquid electrolyte with a solid one, especially when coupled with a lithium metal anode, promises higher energy density and improved safety. But, as is so often the case in materials science, the key issue comes down to the ubiquitous “interface”! Two solids must remain in intimate contact while lithium is removed, transported, redeposited, and mechanically constrained. This is not simply electrochemistry with a solid electrolyte added in.
Material strength is a classical concept that has recently found renewed applications in fracture mechanics, especially in models for crack nucleation in brittle solids. In this paper, we formulate material strength in the setting of finite elasticity and examine its geometric, constitutive, and symmetry-theoretic foundations. We show that spatial covariance requires a strength function to depend on both stress and the corresponding strain measure, so that strength is not controlled by stress alone, but by the pair (stress,strain).
The Executive Committee of the ASME Applied Mechanics Division is pleased to congratulate Professor Nancy R. Sottos, Maybelle Leland Swanlund Endowed Chair of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, as the recipient of the 2026 Stephen P. Timoshenko Medal.
The Executive Committee of the ASME Applied Mechanics Division is pleased to congratulate Professor David Steigmann, Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of California at Berkeley, as the recipient of the 2026 Warner T. Koiter Medal.
The Executive Committee of the ASME Applied Mechanics Division is pleased to congratulate Professor Yihui Zhang, Professor of Engineering Mechanics at Tsinghua University, as the recipient of the 2026 Daniel C. Drucker Medal. This award, which includes a medal, a certificate, and an honorarium, will be presented at the AMD Honors and Awards Banquet, during the 2026 ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition (IMECE 2026), to be held during November 8 – 12, 2026, at the Vancouver Convention Centre, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
The Executive Committee of the ASME Applied Mechanics Division is pleased to congratulate Professor Sinan Keten, Jan and Marcia Achenbach Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Civil and Environmental Engineering at Northwestern University, as the recipient of the 2026 Zdeněk P. Bažant Medal.
ISIE 2026 – Prague, Czech Republic (September 2–4, 2026)
We are pleased to invite the impact engineering community to the 12th International Symposium on Impact Engineering (ISIE 2026), which will take place in Prague, Czech Republic, from September 2 to 4, 2026.
The symposium will bring together researchers, engineers, and practitioners working in areas such as:
