Dear colleagues,



Apologies for cross postings.



The second ECCOMAS Thematic Conference on the eXtended Finite Element

Method (XFEM) will take place in Cardiff (Cardiff University) in the

period 29 June - 1 July 2011. [see http://www.xfem2011.com for

details]



We would like to invite you and your students to submit original

research contributions in the area of partition of unity enrichment.

Load-bearing biological materials such as shell, mineralized tendon and bone exhibit 2-7 levels of structural hierarchy based on constituent materials (biominerals and proteins) of relatively poor mechanical properties. A key question that remains unanswered is what determines the number of hierarchical levels in these materials. Here we develop a quasi-self-similar hierarchical model to show that,

Unidirectional nanocomposite structures with parallel staggered platelet reinforcements are widely observed in natural biological materials. Our recent paper, published in J. Mech. Phys. Solids, is aimed at an investigation of the stiffness, strength, failure strain and energy storage capacity of a unidirectional nanocomposite with non-uniformly or randomly staggered platelet distribution.

A PhD position in the area of mechanics of heterogeneous materials is open in the Civil & Environmental Engineering Department at the University of Virgina.

The successful candidate will possess strong analytical and computational skills, as well as an MS degree in a related field. A TOEFEL score of 90 plus is required for admission into the SEAS PhD Program at the University of Virginia in the case of international student applicants. It is anticipated that the successful applicant will start his/her PhD studies at some point in the spring of 2011. 

The Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science at Duke University invites applications for a tenure-track faculty position to begin Septmeber 1, 2011. We anticipate hiring at the tenured Associate or Full Professor level, although truly exceptional candidates may be considered at the level of untenured Assistant or Associate Professor.

Department Overview

Duke University and the Pratt School of Engineering invite applications and nominations for the position of Chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science (MEMS). MEMS is one of four departments in the Pratt School of Engineering, within a world-class, top-ranked teaching and research institution.

Department Overview

  I have written a Fortran code for nonlinear viscoelasticity according to the Hughes' recurrence algorithm based on a total Lagrangian formulation.  And a relaxation test is made. There is some deviation from the analytical solution(Theoretically the stress response should be an exponential decay plus a constant, isn't it?). The numerical ultimate stress is larger than the analytical one. As a larger initial strain is applied, the deviation is smaller. For a inital strain of 10%, there is almost no difference between the num. and analy. solution. What can account for this?

The Technische Universitaet Dortmund in Germany is advertising a full professorship (W3) in Mechanics in the Institute of Mechanics at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering.