Two positions at the Mechanical Engineering Department at the University of British Columbia
Two positions are open for Ph.D. or Masters students in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. The positions are joined with the Modeling and Simulation group and the Micro and Nano mechanics laboratory. We are looking for skilled and highly motivated individuals to pursue a Ph.D. or M.A.Sc. in the area of multiscale modeling of materials and solids mechanics. Two projects are available:
Gyro-elastic beams for the vibration reduction of long flexural systems
The paper presents a model of a chiral multi-structure incorporating gyro-elastic beams. Floquet–Bloch waves in periodic chiral systems are investigated in detail, with the emphasis on localization and the formation of standing waves. It is found that gyricity leads to low-frequency standing modes and generation of stop-bands. A design of an earthquake protection system is offered here, as an interesting application of vibration isolation. Theoretical results are accompanied by numerical simulations in the time-harmonic regime.
1 phd position for NON-italian citizens at Politecnico di BARI - ITALY. Expires 12 sept
1 phd position for phd is reserved to non-italian citizens at Politecnico department of Mechanical engineering.
Attached the SELECTION CALL FOR ADMISSION TO THE RESEARCH DOCTORATE (Ph.D.) PROGRAMS – XXXIII CYCLE AT THE POLITECNICO DI BARI ACADEMIC YEAR 2017/2018
Various options for research themes are available, also including solid mechanics, fatigue or contact mechanics.
See attachment or write for details at mciava AT poliba.it
Application expires on Sept.12 !!
PhD position at Boise State University
The Micron School of Materials Science and Engineering at Boise State University is seeking a PhD student to work on projects related to computational materials science. The projects are focused on developing models for microstructural evolution in materials. The applications include functional materials, energy materials, materials under extreme environments, and advanced manufacturing.
Ph.D. and Post-doc opportunities in ‘Small-scale mechanics and advanced microstructural characterizations’ at Texas A&M
Dr. Kevin Xie's group at Texas A&M is planning to recruit two Ph.D. students and a postdoctoral research fellow starting 2018.
The overarching aim of the research projects is to understand mechanics of materials at nano- and sub-micron scales by applying advanced microstructural characterization techniques such as Cs-corrected STEM, TEM- based orientation mapping, EELS, and atom probe tomography. The details of the projects are as follows:
Self-Sealing Cementitious Materials by Using Water-Swelling Rubber Particles
Dear all,
Our group has recently published a paper on self-sealing of cementitious materials by using water-swelling rubber particles as admixtures. This is the first time that such an approach was developed to increase the water-tightness of cracks and therefore enhance the concrete durability.
The paper can be found at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/319208857_Self-Sealing_Cementi…
Regards
Computational modeling of tactoid dynamics in chromonic liquid crystals
Chiqun Zhang Amit Acharya Noel J. Walkington Oleg D. Lavrentovich
Motivated by recent experiments, the isotropic-nematic phase transition in chromonic liquid crystals is studied. As temperature decreases, nematic nuclei nucleate, grow, and coalesce, giving rise to tactoid microstructures in an isotropic liquid. These tactoids produce topological defects at domain junctions (disclinations in the bulk or point defects on the surface). We simulate such tactoid equilibria and their coarsening dynamics with a model using degree of order, a variable length director, and an interfacial normal as state descriptors. We adopt Ericksen's work and introduce an augmented Oseen-Frank energy, with non-convexity in both interfacial energy and the dependence of the energy on the degree of order. A gradient flow dynamics of this energy does not succeed in reproducing some simple expected feature of tactoid dynamics. Therefore, a strategy is devised based on continuum kinematics and thermodynamics to represent such features. The model is used to predict tactoid nucleation, expansion, and coalescence during the process of phase transition. We reproduce observed behaviors in experiments and perform an experimentally testable parametric study of the effect of bulk elastic and tactoid interfacial energy parameters on the interaction of interfacial and bulk fields in the tactoids.
Employment Opportunity: Program Director, Mechanics of Materials and Structures (MoMS) Program, Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI), National Science Foundation (NSF)
August 18, 2017
Dear Colleagues:
The Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI) in the Directorate for Engineering (ENG) announces a nationwide search to fill a Program Director position for the Mechanics of Materials and Structures (MOMS) program.
Formal consideration of interested applications will begin September 15, 2017, and will continue until a selection is made with an intended start date of January, 2018.
Theoretical and experimental constitutive modelling of soft materials at the nano scale: Cylindrical micellar filaments
We present theoretical and experimental descriptions of the elasticity of cylindrical micellar filaments using micro-mechanical and continuum theories, and Atomic Force Microscopy. Following our micro-mechanical elasticity model for micellar filaments [Asgari, Eur. Phys. J. E 2015, 38(9)], the elastic bending energy of hemispherical end caps is found. The continuum description of the elastic bending energy of a cylindrical micellar filament is also derived using constrained Cosserat rod theory.