Session: Rising Stars of Mechanical Engineering Celebration & Showcase

Paper Number: 147946

147946 - Multiscale Multiphysics Design of Multifunctional Materials and Structures 

This CAREER project aims to explore a fundamentally new holistic approach to designing intricate multifunctional structures and materials by creating new multiphysics design algorithms that are able to optimize multifunction material constituents and architectures simultaneously. Existing design algorithms are typically limited to the design of single-function materials, which prevent the design of multifunctional systems with conflicting design requirements. Overcoming current design limitations for multifunctional materials is challenging because i) the mathematical models that are used to predict the performance of such designs are complex, ii) numerical solutions for such models are computationally expensive, and iii) it requires interdisciplinary/multiphysics design methods capable of tailoring materials at multiple scales to balance opposing design drivers. Motivated by this, the research objective of this CAREER proposal is to advance the science of virtual multifunctional materials design by creating a 3-M (Multiphysics, Multiscale, Multifunctional) Design framework that establishes new algorithms capable of optimizing paradoxical functions in a material system.  The cores of the proposed framework are efficient reduced-order models (ROMs) and machine learning (ML)-based surrogate models integrated into multiphysics/multiscale optimization methods to enable efficient design of such materials with desired multifunctional properties.

 

The intellectual merit of the proposed work in this CAREER award is centered around leveraging computationally efficient physics-based models and multiphysics optimization methods for designing multifunctional systems. The proposed framework allows tailoring multifunctional materials by balancing among conflicting design requirements that could not otherwise be achieved using single-function design strategies. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed framework, the 3-M Design is used to design structural battery (SBCs) and microvascular (MVCs) composites with superior properties. SBCs show significant potential in producing mass-less batteries used in the automotive, aviation, and robotics industries. Actively cooled MVCs make it possible to use fiber-reinforced polymer composites in high-temperature automobile, aerospace, and microelectronic applications. The proposed framework is material independent and can be used for the design of different multifunctional materials that may have opposing design requirements.

 

The benefits of multifunctional materials and structures are very broad, and the rewards of developing such systems are enormous. For instance, the realization of SBCs with even moderate capacities would transform electrical vehicle industries. Moreover, the use of SBCs goes well beyond transportation applications, such as transportable electronics. In another example, the use of MVCs offers a new class of lightweight/high-strength materials for a wide range of high-temperature applications. As such, even modest improvement of performance in these multifunctional materials provides tremendous cost savings on large scales.

 

The educational objectives of this project primarily work to address three educational challenges facing K-12 students in Philadelphia and students in mechanical engineering nationwide: (a) an increasing number of students at risk of school failure, (b) an intensely low percentage of underrepresented minority (URM) and female students in STEM fields such as mechanical engineering, (c) a lack of understanding of the differences between engineering design and engineering science among engineering students. To fulfill these challenges, the proposed plan has two parts (i) an out-of-school-time (OST) STEM education program for URM and/or academically at-risk students, (ii) an integrated design educational program that provides a STEM pipeline plan for students from K-12 to undergraduate/graduate level. The project impacts hundreds of students at different levels from high school through graduate school.

Presenting Author: Ahmad Najafi Drexel University

Presenting Author Biography: Ahmad Raeisi Najafi is the P.C. Chou Endowed Assistant Professor in the Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics Department and the director of the Multiscale Computational Mechanics and Biomechanics LAB (MCMB LAB). He is an internationally recognized researcher in the field of design optimization and bone biomechanics. He also serves as the director of the NSF S-STEM AMIE Scholarships at Drexel University.

Najafi’s research focuses on design optimization, damage and fracture, and orthopedic materials and implants. His group develops computational algorithms for the design of multifunctional multiscale materials and structures for use in mechanical, biomedical, aerospace, and infrastructure applications. His research also advances the fundamental understanding of the underlying mechanics of fracture in multifunctional biological and synthetic composite materials. He also integrates computational mechanics approaches into orthopedic biomechanics to study human skeletal diseases and injuries and design new orthotropic materials and implants. To conduct these studies, he closely collaborates with experts in mechanics, biomechanics, civil engineering, manufacturing, and material engineering and science. Sponsors of his research have included the NSF, NIH, PA Department of Community & Economic Development, Coulter Foundation, and DARPA.

Najafi is a recipient of the NSF Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) Award (2022), the Drexel Provost Award for Outstanding Early Career Scholarly Productivity (2023), the College of Engineering Outstanding Early-Career Research Award (2023), and the Drexel University Career Development Award (2019). He is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineering (ASME), the US Association for Computational Mechanics (USACM), the International Society for Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization (ISSOM), and the American Society of Biomechanics (ASB). He served as the Editorial Board member of the Multifunctional Materials journal (2019-2022).

Najafi received his first Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the Tehran Polytechnique in 2006. He then studied at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, receiving his second Ph.D. in theoretical and applied mechanics in 2016.

Authors:

Ahmad Najafi Drexel University