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Bridging the gap with a "stepping stone" for more solar energy

Submitted by Zhenyu Zhang on

Converting the abundant energy from the sun into a form convenient for human use has been a long standing dream for sustainable generation of environmentally clean energy.  With the seminal discovery of water splitting by Fujishima and Honda in the early 1970s [1], titanium dioxide (TiO2), an inexpensive white pigment widely used in our daily life, emerged as the premier photocatalysts for enabling solar energy utilization. However, because of its wide intrinsic band gap, TiO2 can absorb only ultraviolet light. This results in less than 1% efficiency for solar energy conversion. Reducing the band gap of TiO2 is the main avenue for boosting the conversion efficiency. In a recent paper to appear in Phys Rev. Lett. [2], Zhu et

Effective strain range

Submitted by Sushanta on

HI everyone

 

I am doing research using Sih's strain energy density concept for predicting  fatigue failure in asphalt pavements.  I am pretty new in this area and got stuck while reading some papers. Anybody has some idea how to predict the effective strain range near the crack tip. 

 

ΔE= A/Rj∫ΔEeff dr

and 

 how to get the constant A and β. 

 

 

regards 

sushanta bhusal

Green Tribology

Submitted by Dr. Michael No… on

Tribology is defined as the science and technology of interacting surfaces in relative motion, which involves friction, wear and lubrication.

The term “tribology” was introduced in the 1960s by Prof. Peter Jost.  In the consequent decades, various aspects of interacting surfaces in relative motion have been the focus of tribology, including, for example, the tribology of automotive applications, microelectromechanical systems, magnetic storage devices, adhesive contact, micro/nanotribology, biotribology.

Tenure-track Assistant Professor postion in Engineering Mechanics at the University of Texas at Austin

Submitted by Chad Landis on

The Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics at the University of Texas at Austin has a tenure-track position at the Assistant Professor level beginning September 2010 in the area of Mechanics of Solids, Structures and Materials.

Contact Analysis using Abaqus 6.9

Submitted by iyousuf on

Dear All

 Currently I am working as a researcher and there is a new project on which i need some help. I have to do a contact analysis between two bodies initially and than move to low speed impact betrween two composite materials. I have just started using Abaqus and not very familiar with it. I have although completed some very basic application like cantilver beam and stress analysis, but struggling to complete a contact analysis between two bodies in a simple 2D problem.

Nanoscale Computation/Modeling Domain Expert Opening at Lurie Nanofabrication Facility

Submitted by Sandrine Martin on

The Lurie Nanofabrication Facility (LNF) is the University of Michigan site of the National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network (NNIN) and is hiring a new domain expert in computation and modeling.



RESPONSIBILITIES

Develop and coordinate computational modeling and simulation capabilities for users of the LNF. Focus on capabilities related to MEMS/NEMS, including micro and nano fluidics devices and structures.

Impact of cellular materials

Submitted by Henry Tan on

As the title suggests, there are two focuses of this discussion theme: impact and cellular materials.

Impact protection can be very practical problems in safety, fires and explosions, oil and gas industry, subsea structures, car manufacturing, nuclear industry, rocket space engineering, etc.