Computational Mechanics & Scientific Computing

We develop efficient, precise algorithms to study and solve complex problems governed by the laws of mechanics. This plays a fundamental role in many important problems, such as materials design, tissue engineering, biomedical imaging, prediction of natural events, energy exploration and use, and more.

Research Areas

Computational fluid dynamics
Computational nonlinear poro-elasticity
Computation of highly nonlinear mechanical systems
Fluid-structure interaction
Flow through porous media
Fracture and fragmentation
Inverse problems and optimization
Multiscale approaches
Uncertainty quantification on complex systems

Related Study Opportunities

PhD and Master of Science (MS) in Civil Engineering

Both programs offer a Computational Mechanics & Scientific Computing Study Track

Master of Engineering (MEng)

In Computational Mechanics & Scientific Computing is a collaboration with the Thomas Lord Department of Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science at Duke
In Civil Engineering offers a concentration in Computational Engineering

Undergraduate Research

Major in Civil Engineering and access the Structural Engineering & Mechanics study track

Primary Faculty

Fred K. Boadu

Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Research Interests: How the engineering, environmental and petrophysical properties of porous media (soils, fractured rock, biological tissues) affect measurable geophysical responses, and subsequently develop methodologies by which these properties can be obtained from non-invasive geophysical…

Henri P. Gavin

Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Research Interests: Structural dynamics, earthquake engineering, seismic hazard mitigation for building contents, nonlinear dynamics, system identification, optimal control with application to systems with controllable damping.

Joseph C. Nadeau

Professor of the Practice in Civil and Environmental Engineering

Research Interests: Theoretical and applied mechanics, micromechanics, composite materials, and probabilistic methods

Hossein Salahshoor

Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Research Interests: Mechanics of biological and bio-inspired systems, brain mechanics, data-driven methods, advanced (meta)materials and (meta)structures, material design, and mathematics of materials and structures.

Guglielmo Scovazzi

Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Research Interests: Finite element methods, computational fluid and solid mechanics, multiphase porous media flows, computational methods for fluid and solid materials under extreme load conditions, turbulent flow computations, instability phenomena.

Manolis Veveakis

Associate Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Research Interests: Theoretical and applied mechanics, Geomechanics, Irreversible Thermodynamics. Emphasis on the multiphysical modelling of plasticity of solids, solid-fluid interactions, friction laws and rheology of geomaterials

Secondary Faculty

Wilkins Aquino

Professor in the Thomas Lord Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science

Research Interests: Computational mechanics, finite element methods, computational inverse problems and their applications in engineering and biomedicine, scientific computing, computational acoustics and acoustics-structure interaction, coupled chemo-mechanics (e.g., electrochemistry-mechanics).

John Everett Dolbow

Professor in the Thomas Lord Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science

Research Interests: Modeling quasi-static and dynamic fracture of structural components, the evolution of interfaces with nonlinear constitutive laws, and developing models for stimulus-responsive hydrogels

Johann Guilleminot

Paul Ruffin Scarborough Associate Professor of Engineering

Research Interests: Computational mechanics, mechanics of heterogeneous materials, molecular dynamics simulations and atomistic-to-continuum coupling, stochastic solvers, statistical inverse problem and model validation, stochastic analysis, uncertainty quantification in science and engineering

Lawrence N. Virgin

Professor in the Thomas Lord Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science

Research Interests: Study of the behavior of nonlinear dynamical systems, including the investigation of the fundamental nature of nonlinear systems based on a mathematical description of their underlying equations of motion and the application of recent results from nonlinear dynamical systems…

Adjunct Faculty

Lyesse Laloui

Adjunct Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Emeritus Faculty

Tomasz Hueckel

Professor Emeritus in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering

Research Interests: Mechanics of materials, theoretical soil mechanics, rock mechanics, theory of plasticity, multi-physics processes in geomechanics, nuclear waste disposal, energy and environmental geomechanics.