Solid Mechanics Research Group

Welcome

Welcome to the Solid Mechanics Group
at Iowa State University

Learn about our research

Join Us

Rocket Motors

Solid Rocket Motors

Advancing solid rocket propulsion technology by developing tools for simulation driven design.

Material Modeling

Advanced computational materials modeling

Developing cutting-edge methods for simulating – and visualizing – material behavior from atoms to applications.

Microstructure

Microstructure Evolution

Creating next-generation materials by manipulating their structure at the microscopic level

Damage Mechanics

Finding ways to make materials stronger, lighter, and more resilient by predicting the ways that they fail.

Machine Learning

Machine Learning

Using artificial intelligence to unravel the mysteries of why materials break

Topology Optimization

Applying diffuse interface modeling techniques to automate the design process. This video shows the optimal topology of a cantilever structure to support a load, computed using Alamo.

Welcome to the research website for the Solid Mechanics Research Group at Iowa State University.

The discipline of solid mechanics is concerned with determining how structural materials respond to external loading, and – often – predicting the reliability and safety of the materials in their environments. Materials are uniquely complex in that they exhibit vastly different behaviors at different scales. At the nanometer scale, they behave as lattices of atoms or, perhaps, chains of polymer. At the mesoscale, they exhibit features, such as grain boundaries, that act as key players in mechanical processes. At the application scale, these microscopic behaviors present as behaviors that we all know and understand: plasticity, viscoelasticity, fracture, etc. Understanding this atoms-to-applications picture is a grand challenge in solid mecahnics.

Our group uses the latest computational methods to develop new tools to enable better simulation of solid mechanics. We are interested in a broad range of applications, ranging from solid rocket propellant to asteroid-satellite impact.

We employ high performance computational techniques combined with rigorous theoretical and applied mechanics to develop new methods for materials simulation that enable predictive modeling for materials analysis and design

Computational solid mechanics lies at the intersection of mechanics, mathematics, materials science, physics, and high performance computing. We aim to produce methods that are theoretically sound, codes that efficient, and results that are believable. Are you interested in joining us? Please check out our page on joining the solid mechanics group.