Spring 2015

Colloquia are held on Fridays at 11:30 a.m. in Cullimore Lecture Hall II, unless noted otherwise. Refreshments are served at 11:30 am. For questions about the seminar schedule, please contact Yassine Boubendir.


Date: April 24, 2015

Speaker: Shawn Chester
Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering,
New Jersey Institute of Technology

University Profile

Title: "Multiphysics Mechanics of Polymeric Gels"

Abstract:

Many new and exciting phenomena in mechanics are inherently multiphysics. Because so many technologically important phenomena are inherently multiphysics, constitutive models and associated numerical simulation tools must also include all relevant physics to capture the primary features of the materials response and be truly predictive. A polymeric gel is a cross-linked polymer network swollen with a solvent, with certain gels capable of large reversible volume changes as they are cycled about a critical temperature. I discuss the development of a thermodynamically consistent continuum level theory to describe the coupled mechanical deformation, fluid permeation, and heat conduction of such thermally responsive gels. The theory has been numerically implemented in a finite element program by writing newly developed finite elements. I show that the theory is capable of simulating the coupled behavior of such materials, such as swelling, consolidation, and thermal responsiveness.