University Events

Description: Mechanical Engineering (MNE) SEMINAR by Dr. Feng Zhu

DATE:
November 28, 2023

TIME:
2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.

LOCATION:
Science & Engineering (SENG), Room 110 (Materials Science Lab) and on Zoom: https://umassd.zoom.us/j/91640406955?pwd=eklBZWVDOXVDa2VwUFMra1kwNWhjdz09
(contact hling1@umassd.edu or scunha@umassd.edu for Passcode).

SPEAKER:
Dr. Feng Zhu, Associate Research Professor
Mechanical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University

TOPIC:
3D Printed Cellular Solids for Energy Absorption -
Testing, Modeling and Design

ABSTRACT:
Cellular solid materials, boasting numerous microstructures, serve as vital energy absorbers across aerospace, aeronautical, shipbuilding, automotive, and defense industries. These materials undergo substantial deformation under constant stress during crushing, effectively absorbing significant kinetic energy before stabilizing or fracturing into a more secure state. With advanced additive manufacturing, like 3D printing, creating intricate cellular solids is now easily achievable. Their mechanical traits are assessed through combined mechanical tests and numerical simulations. Yet, the intricate relationship between design parameters (e.g., geometric variations) and overall structural performance is often implicit in test and simulation data, challenging current computer-aided engineering (CAE) tools. Traditional optimization struggles to generate designs meeting desired performance due to limitations in mining information from extensive datasets. This study aims to tackle these challenges by developing a systematic design methodology using data-driven techniques like machine learning. This approach facilitates efficient decision-making for optimal cellular solid design by correlating structural response and design variables from a large simulation dataset. It uncovers complex coupling effects among these variables and formulates decision-making rules based on preference information to generate optimal designs. The study showcases two types of case studies: (1) at the component level to illustrate the methodology and (2) at the system level, demonstrating its application in developing complex mechanical systems. This innovative approach promises to revolutionize the way we design and optimize cellular solid materials for diverse industrial applications.

BIO:
Feng Zhu is currently an Associate Research Professor and Insitute Fellow at Hopkins Extreme Materials Insitute (HEMI), Johns Hopkins University. He also holds adjunct appointments with the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Ralph S. O'Connor Sustainable Energy Institute. Prior to joining JHU, he was an assistant professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Professor Zhu has an interdisciplinary background. His research interests include material and structure behavior under extreme loading conditons (such as crash, high-speed impact, ballistic penetration, blast etc.), human body injury prevenion, safety of energy storage and transportation systems as well as AI in the CAD/CAM/CAE. Prof. Zhu is an author of 1 book and over 120 technical papers, including 90 peer-reviewed journal papers. He serves as an editorial board member or guest editor for several international journals. His research has been funded by government agencies as well as defense and automotive industry. Feng Zhu atained his BEng from Central South University in China, his MPhil from the University of Hong Kong in China, and his PhD from Swinburne University of Technology in Australia.

For more information please contact Dr. Hangjian Ling, MNE Seminar Coordinator (hling1@umassd.edu).

All are welcome.

Students taking MNE-500 are encouraged to attend this special seminar! All other MNE BS and MS students are invited to attend. EAS students are also invited to attend.