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The Influence of Light Propagation Direction on the Stress-Induced Polarization Dependence in Si Waveguides

Submitted by Min Huang on

The effects of light propagation direction on the stress induced polarization dependence of silicon-based waveguide were studied. As silicon is an anisotropic material, the change of polarization dependence induced by the photoelastic effect depends on the light propagation directions. It is found that when the light propagates in <100> directions on {100} silicon, the changes of refractive index and polarization shift are about 20% more sensitive to the stress than those when the light propagates in <110> directions. (IEEE Photonic Technology Letters, vol. 18, No.

Want papers published, proposals granted and to be a good reviewer? Here is the key --- "Ten Simple Rules" series.

Submitted by Zhen Zhang on

Getting papers published and getting proposals granted are often great challeges for young researchers, let alone being a good reviewer. The "Ten Simple Rules" series by P.E. Bourne, L.M. Chalupa, and A. Korngreen delineate what we should follow.

More details about writing a good paper and proposal were also given by G. M. Whitesides ("writing a paper") and M.F. Ashby ("how to write a paper").

Nonlinear Stability Analysis of Self-assembling Nanoscale Patterns

Submitted by Pradeep Sharma on

I thought I should take advantage of iMechanica and obtain feedback on some recent work that we did on nonlinear stability analysis of patterns.

A paradigmatic model that governs monolayer self-assembly was constructed a few years back by Wei Lu (Michigan) and Zhigang Suo. Apart from obtaining several physical insights they also conducted a linear stability analysis of their model. Borrowing technqiues from the nonlinear physics community, our work presents nonlinear stability analysis i.e. the initial state is no longer homogeneous and stable states beyond the transition are calculated. This allows a detailed construction of stability maps for various patterns without extensive numerical calculations.

This work is currently under review and I am attaching a pre-print with this post. Any comments and suggestions would be well-appreciated.

“An Introduction to the Mechanics of Solids” by S. H. Crandall, N.C. Dahl, and T. J. Lardner

Submitted by Namiko Yamamoto on

“An Introduction to the Mechanics of Solids” by S. H. Crandall, N.C. Dahl, and T. J. Lardner

As the title explains, this book shows very basics of the solid mechanics. The book has a good coverage of the concepts of primary elements of mechanics, the three equations, some environmental effect, and examples of torsion, bending, and buckling. This book elaborately explains/proofs several important equations, whose procedures tend to be skipped in many courses due to time limitation. Various case studies/problems accompanied with suitable figures have always helped me to get better senses. It is also easy to find what I am looking for in the book with neatly sorted tables and index. And most importantly, I like this book since the book discusses engineering applications and the limitations of these models.

The materials given in ES240 exceed the range that this book can cover, but this book still is a good resource to go back to when I forget the basics since my sophomore year when I used as our textbook for the materials and structures.

Faculty Positions in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Arizona State University

Submitted by Hanqing Jiang on

Open Faculty Positons:

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.

Symposium: Mechanics of micro/nano structures on soft substrates: applications for flexible and stretchable electronics

Submitted by Teng Li on

The SES 2007 Conference, Oct. 21-24, 2007, Texas A&M University campus in College Station, Texas, home to the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum.

Call for abstract

Symposium: Mechanics of micro/nano structures on soft substrates: applications for flexible and stretchable electronics

Faculty position in computational mechanics engineering science and mechanics department, Penn State University

Submitted by Wei Hong on

The Engineering Science and Mechanics Department at The Pennsylvania State University invites applications for a tenure-track faculty position in computational mechanics at the assistant professor level. Exceptional candidates at the associate or full professor level will also be considered. Candidates are sought with a foundation and research interests in mechanics across all scales from the molecular to the macroscopic, including expertise in: efficient massive and nonlinear computations; molecular and multiscale simulations; innovative and efficient approaches to nonlinear FEM for large deformations, inhomogeneities, and/or inclusions; problems with evolving microstructure such as phase transitions and damage evolution; massively parallel simulations of large systems of equations; novel numerical/empirical approaches to modeling multiscale constitutive behavior of composite, biological or otherwise novel material systems.

Textbook Recommendation

Submitted by Adrian Podpirka on

So besides using Timoshenko (which is basically the bible of solid mechanics), I have been using Slaughter's The Linearized Theory of Elasticity which I came across in the Gordon McKay Library.

Unlike some of the other textbooks, there is a big focus put on the theory and the idea behind the examples while still having many worked out problems. The first few chapters give a big refresher course on mathematics and lay the groundwork for what is to be taught later on.

I came across this book in particular for the in depth coverage of Airy Stress Functions.

The book is broken into 11 chapters:

Review of Mechanics of Materials
Mathematical Preliminaries
Kinematics
Forces and Stress
Constitutive Equations
Linearized Elasticity Problems
2D Problems
Torsion of Noncircular Cylinders
3D Problems
Variational Methods
Complex Variable Methods