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Mechanics

You are here: Home / Research Areas and Major Fields / Mechanics

Having its roots in the classical theory of elastic materials, solid mechanics has grown to embrace all aspects involving the behavior of deformable bodies under loads. Thus, in addition to including the theory of linear elasticity, with its applications to structural materials, solid mechanics also incorporates modern nonlinear theories of highly deformable materials. This includes synthetic polymeric materials, as well as biological materials.

The Mechanics Program at Berkeley fully reflects the diversity of modern continuum mechanics. We offer courses and research topics that include linear and nonlinear elasticity, plasticity at large deformations, shell theory, composite materials, directed (or Cosserat) continua, media with microstructure, continuum electrodynamics, and continuum thermodynamics. The interests and expertise of our faculty encompass theoretical, computational, and experimental aspects of continuum mechanics. We encourage our students to expand the breadth of their coursework to include courses in related areas, such as dynamics, fluid mechanics, and mathematics.

A major research area involves finite deformation of highly deformable materials including computational aspects pertaining to the development of constitutive theories, special solutions, and theoretical predictions of material response. Examples of this work include: ductile metals under special loading programs (e.g., strain cycling); microcrack growth in brittle materials; constructing new theories of inelastic behavior in the presence of finite deformation which explicitly incorporate microstructural effects such as dislocation density; and thermodynamical developments for deformable media undergoing finite motion.

Material and stress characterization issues in a wide range of solids, including metals, composites, electronic materials, and geologic materials, are also a major focus area in our program. Both experimental and analytical research is being conducted in the areas of nondestructive stress evaluation, characterization of thin solid films, large deformation material behavior, and microstructure evaluation. Stress and property evaluation are topics being pursued for bulk materials and thin films. A variety of approaches are involved including ultrasonics, X-ray diffraction, and custom designed micro-electro-mechanical structures (MEMS).

Collaborations exist with the Berkeley Sensors and Actuator Center (BSAC) in the characterization of materials for MEMS devices on the order of a few micrometers in thickness and whose lateral dimensions are on the order of tens to hundreds of micrometers. Particular emphasis is directed to the relationship between material processing and its effect on the resulting microstructure and the mechanical response. Similarly, work in the fields of plasticity and quantitative texture analysis is directed toward providing descriptions of the macroscopic, observable behavior of polycrystalline materials in terms of the microstructure inherent within these materials.

Our program also includes other aspects of continuum mechanics including approximate theories (such as those involving moderate strains or moderate rotations) and the Lagrangian representation of vorticity. The behavior of continua that are almost rigid, with a view to characterizing their dynamical characteristics, is also an important topic.

The Major Field Advisors for each research area are listed here.

Core Faculty:
Bogy

David B. Bogy

Casey

James Casey

Mohammad Mofrad

Mohammad R. K. Mofrad

Oliver M. O'Reilly

Oliver M. O’Reilly

Panayiotis Papadopoulos

Panayiotis Papadopoulos

David Steigmann

David Steigmann

Tarek Zohdi

Tarek I. Zohdi

Faculty with research interests that relate to Mechanics issues include Professors M. Reza Alam, Kyriakos Komvopoulos, George Leitmann, and Fai Ma.

 

Mechanics Labs:
Computational Manufacturing and Materials Research Laboratory

Computational Manufacturing and Materials Research Laboratory

Research themes: (1) Modeling and simulation of advanced manufacturing and 3D printing systems; (2) Modeling and simulation of multiphase/composite material ...
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Computational Solid Mechanical Laboratory

Computational Solid Mechanical Laboratory

CSML was founded in 1992 and curates research in the area of computational solid mechanics. It employs several graduate students, ...
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Computer Mechanics Lab

Computer Mechanics Lab

The CML was founded in January 1989 after several years of close collaborative research between the department's faculty members and ...
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shoe strings

Dynamics Lab

Our research focuses on the dynamics of mechanical systems and frequently draws upon rigid body dynamics, continuum mechanics, robotics, and ...
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Gu Research Group

Gu Research Group

The Gu Research Group works at the intersection of mechanics, additive manufacturing, materials, and computer science. We aim to make additive ...
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Molecular Cell Biomechanics Laboratory

Molecular Cell Biomechanics Laboratory

Mofrad Lab combines the state-of-the-art molecular and multiscale biomechanics, computational biology and bioinformatics, and statistical machine learning approaches toward understanding ...
Read More

 

Berkeley Mechanics Research in the News:
Tarek Zohdi

ME Professor Tarek Zohdi Appointed an Editor of Computational Methods of Applied Mechanics and Engineering

Tarek Zohdi

ME Professor Tarek Zohdi Receives Prestigious Humboldt Research Prize in the Area of Mechanics

UC Berkeley Researchers Find Pasta Can Help Build Assistive Robots

UC Berkeley Researchers Find Pasta Can Help Build Assistive Robots

Is Spaghetti the Key to Building a Better Robot?

Is Spaghetti the Key to Building a Better Robot?

Mathematical Model Shows Why Spaghetti Curls When Cooked

Mathematical Model Shows Why Spaghetti Curls When Cooked

ME Professor Tarek Zohdi Named 2019 AAM Fellow

ME Professor Tarek Zohdi Named 2019 AAM Fellow

zohdi

ME Professor Tarek Zohdi Appointed Member-At-Large by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and National Research Council of USNCTAM

ME Professor David Steigmann Wins 2017 Acta Mechanica Sinica Best Paper Award

ME Professor David Steigmann Wins 2017 Acta Mechanica Sinica Best Paper Award

Special Issue of "Continuum Mechanics and Thermodynamics" Honors ME Professor David Steigmann

Special Issue of “Continuum Mechanics and Thermodynamics” Honors ME Professor David Steigmann

Tarek Zohdi

ME Professor Tarek I. Zohdi Appointed Co-Chairman of the National AmeriMech Symposium Series

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