Multi-scale Computation and Computational Mechanics

Researchers at Michigan are using multi-scale computational methods to research ranging from the molecular basis of soot formation in combustion to the manner in which molecular-level defects affect macroscopic mechanical properties (see below). These methods focus on predicting the mechanical, electrical, and optical behavior of materials and structures from smaller scale models in an accurate and reliable way. Such scale-bridging sometimes involves the inclusion of quantum-mechanical calculations or complex substructure models.

Computational mechanics seeks to develop new methods for computer aided prediction of physical phenomenon important to engineering, whether it be how to design the microscale of a structure to optimize its wave propagation response or predicting DNA conformations.

We leverage the resources of the parallel computing cluster maintained by the Michigan Center for Advanced Computing to perform large scale computations. (View Affiliated Researchers)

Research Highlights

Macroscopic Material Behavior from Atomistic Considerations

Nanoparticle formation in combustion

Vikram Gavini's research group is developing computational and mathematical tools to perform electronic structure calculations at macroscopic scales, thus paving the way for an accurate understanding of the behavior of defects and their influence on material properties.

Angela Violi's research group is developing a multiscale computational approach to characterize nanoparticle formation in combustion environments. This approach is key to understanding the atomistic interactions underlying nanoparticle structures and growth.


Computational Mechanics Highlights

Noel Perkin's group is using computational rod theory to efficiently model DNA's biological response to loading. Doing so enables us to understand, for example, how DNA forms supercoils (image to right) and how it forms loops when bound to gene-regulating proteins (image below).


Multi-scale Computation and Computational Mechanics Researchers

Rayhaneh Akhavan

Simulation of turbulence

Matthew P. Catanier

Turbine blade dynamics

Bogdan Epureanu

Structural health monitoring and biodynamics

Krishna Garikipati

Computational Physics Group

Vikram Gavini

Electronic structure calculations at macro-scale

Karl Grosh

Biomechanics and electroacoustics

Greg Hulbert

Phononic material design and computational mechanics

Hong G. Im

Combustion and reacting flows

Noboru Kikuchi

Optimization and Homogenization methods

Wei Lu

Multiscale Simulation of Materials and Structures, Self-assembled Nanostructures

Noel Perkins

DNA mechanics and dynamics

Angela Violi

Multiscale computational nanoscience lab