Haythornthwaite Foundation and the Applied Mechanics Division - 2014 Research Initiation Grant Awards

2015 Thomas J.R. Hughes Young Investigator Award - Professor Thao (Vicky) D. Nguyen

2015 Thomas K. Caughey Dynamics Award - Professor Gábor Stépán

2015 Ted Belytschko Applied Mechanics Award - Professor James R. Barber

The Executive Committee of the ASME Applied Mechanics Division is pleased to announce and congratulate Professor James R. Barber, University of Michigan, as the recipient of the 2015 Ted Belytschko Applied Mechanics Award. This award will be presented at the AMD Honors and Awards Banquet, tentatively scheduled on Tuesday, November 17, 2015, during the ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, to be held in Houston, Texas, November 13-19, 2015.

Phase-field crystal (PFC) is a model with atomistic-scale details acting on diffusive time scales. PFC uses the density field as its order parameter, which takes a constant value in the liquid phase and a periodic function in the solid phase. PFC naturally takes into account elasticity, solid–liquid interface free energy, surface anisotropy, and grain boundary free energy by using this single-order parameter in modeling of coexisting solid–liquid structures.

Composites reinforced by thinner fibers are intensively studied in recent years and expected to have better
mechanical properties. With development of nanotechnology, the diameter of fiber can be as thin as
several nanometers, such as nanofibers and nanotubes. Then, do these thinner fibers definitely result in
composites with better mechanical properties? In this paper, the toughening effect of reinforcing fibers in
composites is investigated based on the three-level failure analysis model. It is found that thinner

The submission to JAM in 2013 was ~42 manuscripts/month.  Probably because of its rapid review process (1st round of review ~ 10 days, and 2nd round of review ~24 days including authors' revision time) and rapid publication (online within 48 hours after acceptance), the monthly submission is nearly doubled now.  For example, the submission in December, 2014 is 78 in a single month. 

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We are looking for a PhD researcher to work at numerical simulations of the electro-mechanical response of nano-reinforced polymers, within the Marie Curie training network “TheLink”. The position is fully funded for 36 months and funding includes tuition fees and a competitive maintenance/salary, as well as additional benefits for those with a family. The researcher will work towards a PhD in Mechanics of Composites at Imperial College London, Department of Aeronautics, under the supervision of Dr V.L. Tagarielli and Dr S.T.