Some of Our Previously Funded Projects
- Establishing a Foundation for Real Physics-Based Fatigue Failure Predictions of Sea-Based Aircraft
US Navy, Office of Naval Research, Airframe Structures and Materials Program
2017 to 2019 - Harnessing Additive Manufacturing to Increase the Sustainability and Productivity of Smallholder Agriculture in Africa and Asia
Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future
2016 to 2018 - Characterization the Fatigue Performance of Additively Manufactured Ti-6Al-4V Components
US Navy, NAVAIR, Magee Technologies
2017 to 2018 - Advancing Full Scale 3-D Printing Processes Towards Sustainable Concrete Construction
Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future
2017 - Characterizing the Fatigue Performance of Additively Manufactured Ti-6Al-4V
US Navy, NAVAIR, Magee Technologies
2015 to 2016 - Understanding the Mechanical Behavior of Additively Manufactured Ti-6Al-4V Components for Naval Air Applications
US Navy, NAVAIR, Integrated Systems Solutions
2015 - Characterizing Fatigue Induced Stiffness Degradation in Simple Welded Aluminum Structures via Direct Experimental Testing
US Navy, Office of Naval Research, Structural Reliability Program
2014 to 2015 - Assessing the Utility of Existing Models to Characterize the Mechanical Performance of Additively Manufactured Alloys in the Navair Service Environment
US Navy, NAVAIR, Integrated Systems Solutions
2014 to 2015 - Improving Crack Growth Prediction at Al Welds in Marine Environments via Quantum Mechanics Based Atomistic Modeling
US Office of Science and Technology Policy (PECASE), Office of Naval Research, Structural Reliability Program
2010 to 2015 - Atomistic Exploration of Impurity Effects on the Intrinsic Brittleness of Silicon Carbide
US Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Aerospace Materials for Extreme Environment Program
2011 to 2014 - Multiscale Peridynamics Theory for Corrosion Fatigue Damage Prediction
US Navy, Office of Naval Research, Technical Data Analysis
2013 to 2014 - Characterizing Stiffness Degradation in High Performance Welded Aluminum Structures
US Navy, Office of Naval Research, Structural Reliability Program
2012 to 2014 - Characterizing the Fracture Properties of Planar Defects in Aluminum
NASA, Durability and Damage Tolerance Branch
2008 to 2012 - An Atomistically Informed and Experimentally Calibrated Ductile Fracture Model of Aluminum for Hull Structural Analysis
US Navy, Office of Naval Research, Structural Reliability Program
2008 to 2011 - Incorporating Materials Aging and Degradation into the Analysis of Ship Structures
US Navy, Office of Naval Research, Structural Reliability Program
2008 to 2009 - Using Concurrent Multi-Scale Simulations to Guide the Exploration of Severe Plastic Deformation in Tungsten
US Army Research Laboratory, Ordnance Materials Branch
2008 to 2010
- Constellation University Institute Project: The Institute for Future Space Transport
Sponsor: NASA Marshall RC; Period: 10/2007 – 9/2012 - Prognosis of Long-Term Load-Bearing Capability in Aerospace Structures: Quantification of Microstructurally Short Crack Growth
Sponsor: Air Force Office of Scientific Research; Period: 5/2010 – 5/2013 - A 3D Experimental and Numerical Study of Microstructurally-small Fatigue Crack Growth in an Aluminum Alloy
Sponsor: National Science Foundation; Period: 9/2010 – 8/2013 - Multi-scale Simulation of Fatigue Damage
Sponsor: Northrop Grumman Corporation; Period: 1/2007 – 12/2011 - Multi-Scale Simulation of Cracking Processes in Metallic Materials
Sponsor: NASA; Period: 1/2007 – 12/2008 - Geometrical Simulation of Complete Process of Microstructurally Small Fatigue Cracking
Sponsor: DARPA; Period: 1/2009 – 12/2009 - Computational Methods in Physics-Based Modeling of Damaged Flight Structures
Sponsor: NASA LaRC; Period: 1/2008 – 12/2010 - Multi-scale Simulation of Fatigue Damage Sponsor: Northrop Grumman Corporation; Period: 1/2007 – 12/2011
- Structural Integrity Prognosis System (SIPS) (Creating models for multi-scale simulations)
Sponsor: DARPA/Northrop Grumman; Period: 10/2003 – 5/2008 - Computational Micro-Mechanical Investigations of Crack Initiation in Metallic Polycrystals
Sponsor: NASA Langley – ACMB; Period: 10/2002 – 9/2005 - An Advanced Interactive Discovery Environment for Engineering Education
Sponsor: NASA, New York State, AT&T; Period: 2/2001 – 12/2008 - ASP: Adaptive Software for Field-driven Simulations
Sponsor: NSF/ITR; Period: 9/2000 – 8/2005 - Finite Element/Fracture Mechanics Simulation of Trajectories During Transverse Fracturing of Plastic Films
Sponsor: Eastman Kodak; Period: 12/1999 – 12/2002 - A Two-Tier Computation and Visualization Facility for Multiscale Problems
Sponsor: NSF/CISE RI; Period: 1/1999 – 9/2004 - Probabilistic Simulation of Fatigue Crack Initiation
Sponsor: AFOSR; Period: 4/1998 – 10/2001 - Crack Propagation on Teraflop Computers
Sponsor: NSF; Period: 3/1998 – 8/2001 - Crack Turning/Arrest Behavior of Integral Structure
Sponsor: NASA Langley Research Center; Period: 1/1998 – 9/1999 - Simulation of Crack Growth in Spiral Bevel Gears
Sponsor: NASA Lewis Research Center; Period: 12/1996 – 11/2002 - Three-Dimensional Crack Initiation and Propagation in Transparent Rock-Like Material Subject to Compression
Sponsor: NSF; Period: 9/1996 – 4/2000 - Simulation of Damage Tolerance in Honeycomb Core Structure
Sponsor: Boeing Commercial Airplane Co.; Period: 5/1996 – 12/1998 - Measurement of Fracture Toughness of Concrete Using the Short-Rod Procedure
Sponsor: NSF; Period: 9/1995 – 5/1999 - Finite Element Stress Analysis Subroutines for RAPID
Sponsor: FAA; Period: 9/1990 – 4/2000 - Crack Growth Prediction Methodology for Multi-Site Damage
Sponsor: NASA Langley Research Center; Period: 9/1990 – 9/1998 - Three-Dimensional Simulation of Propagation of Arbitrarily-Shaped Crack
Sponsor: Northrop Grumman Corporation; Period: 1/1985 – 12/2001 - Hydraulic Fracture Propagation
Sponsor: Schlumberger; Period: - Development of Virtual Crack Extension Method for Calculation of Rate of Energy Release Rate
Sponsor: Northrop Grumman Corporation; Period:
Past research has involved computer simulation, theoretical modeling, and physical testing of complex deformation and failure processes in materials ranging from rock to aerospace alloys. A large portion of past research has utilized atomistic modeling, finite- and boundary-element engines with unique topological data structures and computer-visualization techniques. These systems have been used by the aerospace industry at Boeing, GE, Northrop Grumman, and Pratt and Whitney; by the petroleum industry at Schlumberger, Dowell, and Exxon; and by government agencies such as the FAA and NASA Langley and NASA Glenn Research Centers.
For the aerospace community, tools developed by the Group have improved the ability to assess damage tolerance in critical flight structures, especially in aging commercial military and jet aircraft, and in gas turbine components. The most common objective has been to predict the rate of fatigue crack propagation to estimate the remaining life and residual strength of components.
For the petroleum industry, The Group’s tools have been used to predict the process of hydraulic fracturing of oil and gas wells, a process that stimulates increased production. Simulations involve complex geometries of multiple cracks, and coupling with fluid flow and particle transport processes.
The Group’s tools have also been used to perform forensic studies of cracking in large concrete structures, identifying the causes of failure in bridge piers and of gravity and arch dams in the U.S. and in Europe.
Since 1988, a spin-off company Fracture Analysis Consultants has spearheaded the majority of engineering application efforts with the Group’s tool set.