Energy-efficient structures must be developed in the near future to mitigate further CO2 emissions and global warming. Such structures need to be efficiently designed and optimized for material performance and structural durability. Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME) is an emerging branch of mechanics intended to transform the design and manufacturing paradigm of advanced structures, and drastically reduce engineering time and cost through computationally-driven approaches. This talk will describe a novel ICME framework developed to design and optimize an advanced composite structural joint. Emphasis is placed on linking modeling tools to predict material-structure-property relations at multiple length scales spanning from atomistic to macro. This ICME framework includes molecular dynamics simulations, finite element analysis, continuum damage mechanics, and structural sizing to create a digital twin of the joint and predict its structural performance based on loading history and manufacturing conditions.
BIO
Marianna Maiaru (Associate Professor in Mechanical Engineering, UMass Lowell) is an expert in Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME), virtual manufacturing, and computational mechanics. She received her Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering as a collaboration between Politecnico di Torino in Italy and the University of Michigan. Her research interests include composite structures, damage mechanics, multi-scale analysis, higher-order finite elements, and additive manufacturing. Maiaru has received numerous grants from NSF, NASA and the Air Force, including the AFOSR Young Investigator Program award in 2020 and the NSF CAREER award in 2022. She received the DEStech Young Researcher Award in 2021 and the AIAA ICME Prize in 2020 and 2022.
