ENME E4115: Micromechanics of Composite Materials

Course Overview

This course provides an introduction to the constitutive modeling of composite materials. You will cover key theoretical and computational tools including Green’s functions in heterogeneous media, Eshelby’s equivalent inclusion methods, eigenstrains, and spherical and ellipsoidal inclusions. You’ll also be exposed to micromechanics theory, microstructure of materials, homogenization, and constitutive models of different types of composite materials. Using microstructure-based modeling and design, you will interpret and predict effective mechanical properties of existing and emerging composites. By the end of the course, you will have a fundamental understanding of the mechanical behavior of composite materials, which have been increasingly used in civil, mechanical, biomedical and materials engineering. 

This course is specially designed for senior undergraduates, graduate students, and engineering professionals. You must complete E4113 Advanced Mechanics of Solids before taking this course.

Course Instructor

Huiming Yin

Associate Professor of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics

Huiming Yin received his BS in Engineering Mechanics from the Hohai University, China (1995), his MS in Solid Mechanics from the Peking University, China (1998), and his PhD degree in Structures, Mechanics and Materials from The University of lowa (2004). 

Yin joined Columbia University as an assistant professor in 2008, before being promoted to associate professor in 2013. His pioneering research, which focuses on energy harvesting in civil infrastructure, has positioned him as a leader in the field of mechanics of modern structures and materials. In 2010, he received the National Science Foundation CAREER Award. Yin has also established the Sustainable Engineering and Materials Laboratory and the Center for Energy Harvesting Materials and Systems (CEHMS), which is supported by NSF Industry/University Cooperative Research Center (IUCRC).

Before joining Columbia, Yin worked for California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) as a Civil Engineer and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) as a Postdoctoral Research Scientist. He has been a registered professional engineer (PE) of Civil Engineering in the states of California and New York. His research team has developed new methods and theories to characterize, simulate and characterize multi-physical behavior of advanced infrastructural materials.