Our “specialty” in mechanics is elucidating how low-symmetry and heterogeneous structures give rise to unusual mechanical behaviors. We transition that knowledge into predictive tools for industry to use in designing better materials, components, and manufacturing processes. These tools include new analysis software for studying mechanics, physics-based models of structure-property relationships spanning length scales from nanometers to meters, and also machine learning tools for statistically driven process-structure-property discovery, optimization and design.
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN MECHANICS RESEARCH
Zach Brunson, Beam Team PhD candidate, has identified the need for representing stress states in anisotropic materials as a 6-dimensional object and has developed a new approach to plotting 6D yield hypersurfaces. Using the new visualization approach, errors resulting from classic plotting techniques have been addressed and bounded for special cases; new insights into anisotropic, asymmetric, and pressure-sensitive yield theories have been brought to light; and more accurate methods for calibration of existing yield theories have been developed.
