iMechanica

Ares Rosakis and collaborators across three other institute have just published a fascinating account of a rather unexpected mechanism for generating  tsunamis. The paper, published in PNAS, is attached with this post.

The associated press-release provides a compelling lay-person summary: https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/contrary-to-previous-belief-strike-sl...

We revisit Nye's lattice curvature tensor in the light of Cartan's moving frames. Nye's definition of lattice curvature is based on the assumption that the dislocated body is stress-free, and therefore, it makes sense only for zero-stress (impotent) dislocation distributions. Motivated by the works of Bilby and others, Nye's construction is extended to arbitrary dislocation distributions. We provide a material definition of the lattice curvature in the form of a triplet of vectors, that are obtained from the material covariant derivative of the lattice frame along its integral curves.

In this paper we investigate the possibility of elastodynamic transformation cloaking in bodies made of non-centrosymmetric gradient solids. The goal of transformation cloaking is to hide a hole from elastic disturbances in the sense that the mechanical response of a homogeneous and isotropic body with a hole covered by a cloak would be identical to that of the corresponding homogeneous and isotropic body outside the cloak.

I am seeking a PhD student to work on the design and modeling of morphing solids and shells. The position is fully funded and is available at the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of Missouri – Columbia.

Applicants will have a BS or an MS or an Engineering degree in a relevant area (Mechanical or Civil Engineering, Physics or Applied Mathematics). Knowledge of Python, Matlab and of an FEA software (e.g., Ansys) is a plus.

The prestegious Horace Mann medal is bestowed on selected Brown University graduate school alums who have made a significant impact in their fields. In 2021, this award goes to a mechanician whom we all know very well--Professor Ares Rosakis. The official news item can be found here: https://www.brown.edu/academics/gradschool/about/awards/horace-mann-meda...

Esteemed Colleagues,

this post is to invite you all to attend our free on-line global live TAFMech webinar on Fracture Mechanics-related topics that will take place this Friday (07/05) at 2.30 PM GMT (3.30 PM BST). The webinar details are as follows:

Þ Prof. Tim Topper – University of Waterloo, Canada

Jiao, S., & Liu, M. (2021). Snap-through in Graphene Nanochannels: With Application to Fluidic Control. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 13, 1158–1168.

Liu, M., Gomez, M., & Vella, D. (2021). Delayed bifurcation in elastic snap-through instabilities. J Mech. Phys. Solids, 151, 104386.

Mutian Hua, Shuwang Wu, Ximin He

Bioinspired Soft Materials Group

University of California, Los Angeles

Introduction

A PhD position in the area of experimental corrosion/electrochemistry and corrosion fatigue of conventional and additive manufactured alloys is available in the Department of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering at Virginia Tech. Candidates should be strongly self-motivated individuals possessing an MS degree in mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, materials science and engineering, or other closely related disciplines, and have demonstrated extensive experience in relevant research areas.

A Postdoc position is available immediately in Professor Ryan Hurley’s laboratory (http://hurley.me.jhu.edu) in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Hopkins Extreme Materials Institute at the Johns Hopkins University.

A PhD position in the area of kinetic Monte Carlo modeling of interface phenomena is available in the Department of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering at Virginia Tech. Candidates should be strongly self-motivated individuals possessing a MS degree in mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, materials science and engineering, or other closely related disciplines, and have demonstrated extensive experience in relevant research areas.

KU Leuven has a full-time academic, professorship, vacancy in the area of corrosion and wear of metallic surfaces at the Ghent Technology Campus.

KU Leuven has a full-time academic, professorship, vacancy in the area of corrosion and wear of metallic surfaces at the Ghent Technology Campus. The successful applicant will be appointed in the Department of Materials Engineering and the Faculty of Engineering Technology of the Science, Engineering and Technology Group of KU Leuven.

We recently proposed a method that uses distance fields to exactly impose boundary conditions in physics-informed neural networks (PINN).  This contribution is available as an arXiv preprint.

Dear colleagues,

Our work on 'Multiscale analysis of elastic waves in soft materials: From molecular chain networks to fiber composites' is published in International Journal of Mechanical Sciences. 

Please read here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmecsci.2021.106433

In this paper, we have examined:

To students and junior researchers,

Together with Stephane Bordas (Luxembourg University) and Alban de Vaucorbeil (Deakin University, Australia), we have assembled a PDF (https://imechanica.org/files/how-to-write-paper.pdf) outlining our our approach to writing articles on the field of computational mechanics. Also discussed are softwares used. We hope that it will be of help to students and junior researchers.

Dr Liya Zhao from the School of Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering at the University of Technology Sydney, Australia, is seeking PhD students to work on projects related to the following topics. Full scholarship will be provided (AUD 28,092/year).

Our presentations at the School on Advanced Topics in Computational Mechanics (part of the UK Association of Computational Mechanics 2021 Conference) are now available on the MoFEM YouTube channel (link).

Dear iMechanica colleagues, I am pleased to share with you our newest paper on qauntitative prediction of rapid solidification. S. Kavousi, B. Novak, D. Moldovan, and M. Asle Zaeem. Quantitative prediction of rapid solidification by integrated atomistic and phase-field modeling.

Mechanical Testing of the Nasopharyngeal Test Swab

Abstract

Our team led by Professor Tomasz Wierzbicki at MIT Mechanical Engineering is looking for a highly motivated Postdoctoral Associate in the area of machine learning for solid-state batteries. The candidate is expected to develop machine-learning-based computational tools for the characterization of the interfacial failure in Li-metal all-solid-state batteries. Candidates who have experience in physics-informed machine learning, computational and solid mechanics, multiphysics modeling, and all-solid-state batteries are encouraged to apply by sending a CV to Dr.

Dear colleagues,

We invite you to see the preprint of our new paper "Nonlinear statistical mechanics drives intrinsic electrostriction and volumetric torque in polymer networks" that will appear in Physical Review E. Here we use a nonlinear statistical mechanics approach to the electroelasticity of dielectric polymer chains and obtain a two-way coupling between chain deformation and dielectric response. This two-way coupling leads to electrically induced stresses and volumetric torques within an elastomer network which can be leveraged to develop higher efficiency soft actuators, electroactive materials, and novel electromechanical mechanisms. (https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.103.042504).