Blog posts

Phase field modeling of phase transformation using Comsol?

Submitted by vahid2364 on Fri, 06/17/2016 - 18:00

Dear members of imechanica,

Does anyone have any exprience in phase filed modeling of phase transformation in comsol? To be more specific, I would like to know if it is possible to solve the field equation and diffusion equation at the same time using Comsol PDE module or any other module?

I know that there are phase field modules for liquid/solid intractions in Comsol. However, what I intend to do is phase transformation or solidification.

Thanks in advance.

Relation between E and G for rubber

Submitted by agkrish on Fri, 06/17/2016 - 17:13

Hi,

I am working in rubber. Since this is hyperelastic material, I seriously doubt whether I can use the relation E=2G*(1+nu) which is valid for metals.

Is there any relation for rubber as such? Can anyone give me a direction on how to get the relation between these two?

Thanks in advance!

Postdoctoral Research Position at University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA

Submitted by Cyrus Kahirdeh on Fri, 06/17/2016 - 15:39

job

Applications are accepted for a postdoctoral research associate position at Center for Risk and Reliability, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA.

New book: Mechanics of Soft Materials

Submitted by Konstantin Volokh on Fri, 06/17/2016 - 10:37

This book is an outgrowth of lecture notes of a graduate course on mechanics of soft materials that I teach since 2009. The interest in mechanics of soft materials is triggered by the development of new engineering and biomedical technologies. Mechanical behavior of soft materials is strongly nonlinear from both physical (constitutive equations) and geometrical (large deformations) standpoints and the standard texts on mechanics of materials are not enough in this case. The nonlinearities make the subject challenging yet rich and exciting.

Discussion of fracture paper #14 - How to understand the J-integral when multiple cracks are growing at different rates

Submitted by ESIS on Fri, 06/17/2016 - 08:05

A nice demonstration of toughening by introducing multiple secondary cracking of planes parallel with the primary crack is found in the paper:

”Fracture resistance enhancement of layered structures by multiple cracks” by Stergios Goutianos and Bent F. Sørensen in Engineering Fracture Mechanics, 151 (2016) 92-108.

RVE size determination

Submitted by Mirkhalaf on Thu, 06/16/2016 - 23:29

research

multiscale modelling

The definition of the size of the Representative Volume Element (RVE) is extremely important for the mechanics and physics of heterogeneous materials since it should statistically represent the micro-structure of the material. In the present contribution, a methodology based on statistical analysis and numerical experiments is proposed to determine the size of the RVE for heterogeneous amorphous polymers subjected to finite deformations.

Call for Papers: Experimental Mechanics Special Issue on “Mechanics of Energy Materials”

Submitted by Shuman_Xia on Thu, 06/16/2016 - 21:41

research

Special issue

experimental mechanics

energy materials

Advanced energy materials hold one of the keys to fundamental advances in the conversion, storage, and harvesting of energy for a broad range of consumer electronics, automotive, aerospace, and defense applications. The successful development and deployment of these materials relies critically on a fundamental understanding of strongly coupled multiphysics phenomena. Mechanics of energy materials has emerged as a rapidly growing area of research that has significant technological implications in improving the efficiency, reliability, and sustainability of energy infrastructure.