Faculty Interest

Research Interest:

The primary focus of Prof. El-Awady’s research group is to develop a fundamental understanding of the underlying deformation mechanism in materials. The goal of his research group is to enhance the field of Materials-by-Design, by moving from empirical, trial-and-error development techniques of materials, to a combination of state of the art multiscale computational methods and experimental techniques that can result in expediting the process of developing reliable materials with superior performance. His group’s primary research interests range from: multiscale materials modeling, damage and fracture mechanisms of materials, material degradation in extreme environments, nano-materials and structures, coatings for high temperature applications, in situ SEM experiments.

Research Interest:

Computational Mechanics Modeling with a focus on multi-scale structure-materials analysis and simulations, multi-physics modeling and simulation of multi-functional materials, materials characterization, process modeling, emerging fields like Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME).
Specific areas of activity include:

• Multiple spatial and temporal scale modeling and simulations of mechanical-electro-magnetic phenomena, applied to antenna and sensor applications
• Multiple spatial and temporal scale image-based modeling of polycrystalline materials
• Multiple spatial and temporal scale image-based modeling of composite materials
• Multi-scale material characterization and virtual image simulation
• Fatigue and life prediction of metals and composites with experimental integration
• Brittle and ductile failure of heterogeneous materials
• Instabilities in thermal barrier coatings
• Molecular dynamics simulations of polymeric and metallic materials
• Probabilistic methods in multi-scale modeling
• Metal forming and materials processing simulation and design
• Novel finite element model development with adaptivity
• Biomaterials and design of bio-implant and prosthetics

Research Interest:

• Topology Optimization
• Structural Optimization
• Material Design
• Structural Design
• Computational Mechanics

Research Interest:

• Plastic deformation and failure in glasses and crystalline solids
• Accelerated molecular dynamics methods (Hyperdynamics)
• Long time scale kinetic Monte Carlo methods for predicting nanostructure evolution in semiconductors and battery compounds
• Non-equilibrium atomistic processes in materials including friction, wear and reactive mixing

Research Interest:

Primary interest and expertise in computational stochastic mechanics with a number of focus areas: 

• Stochastic simulation of statistically equivalent microstructures, including multi-phase and polycrystalline materials
• Probabilistic multi-scaling and homogenization of materials with random microstructure
• High-rate fracture and anisotropic damage of brittle materials
• UQ for experimental characterization of material microstructure
• Fragmentation of structural materials

Research Interest:

• Amorphous and nanocrystalline materials
• Computational materials science
• Mechanical properties of materials
• Metallic glasses
• Phase transformations in solids
• Physical metallurgy
• Synchrotron radiation
• Transmission electron microscopy (TEM)
• X-ray diffraction

Research Interest:

• Computational materials discovery and design
• Materials informatics
• Nanoscale materials
• Materials for energy storage and conversion

Research Interest:

Biomechanics: mechanical behavior, growth and remodeling of fibrous soft tissues. Constitutive Modeling: thermomechanics, viscoelasticity, viscoplasticity of shape memory polymers and polymer composites. Fracture Mechanics: fracture and failure of rate dependent materials.

Research Interest:

The research in Dr. Trayanova’s Computational Cardiology Lab centers around understanding the normal and pathological electrophysiological and electromechanical behavior of the heart using multi-scale simulation approaches that include biophysically-detailed representations of cellular and subcellular processes and image-based descriptions of the geometry and structure of the heart. Research projects focus on the mechanisms for cardiac arrhythmogenesis and cardiac electromechanical interactions. Importantly, a large number of projects are devoted to the improvement of the clinical therapies of defibrillation, infarct-related ventricular ablation, and cardiac resynchronization therapy using a personalized approach.

Research Interest:

Research Interest:

• Stochastic Simulation
• Uncertainty Quantification
• Computational Stochastic Mechanics