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Research Statement

Parisa Khodabakhshi

I believe research is the lifelong process of calming ones sense of academic curiosity. After
finishing my masters degree I started working in a renowned company as a structural engineer. The work experience in industry gave me a new perspective into real-life engineering
challenges. However, it also made crystal clear to me that it would not satisfy me in long
term.
Nowadays, most of the innovative ideas are multi-disciplinary. Therefore, in order to
thrive in academia, faculty members are not only required to have willingness to learn new
topics, but they should also build the skills to collaborate with other researchers and faculty members from areas other than their own expertise. This requires a clear mind and
eagerness to work as a group. As a civil engineering student, I realized that what civil engineers lack the most is familiarity with the field of applied mechanics and how to make use
of it to improve the design concepts. I decided to divert from the common path taken by
most students in my major, and chose to work with a distinguished advisor from Mechanical
Engineering department to build the missing chain between the Civil and Mechanical engineering concepts. This decision was not an easy task, and I had to work much harder than
most of my peers to learn the fundamentals required to do research in a multi-disciplinary
area. However, I believe that I will benefit from the efforts I put into it by becoming a more
well-rounded engineer and researcher.
I am currently working on several projects which will be briefly discussed in the following:
Nonlocal Theories in Continuum Mechanics
Recent developments in the field of material science and the emerge of new materials requires
the need for new theories to account for the nonlocal features which cannot be explained by
classical local continuum theory. Nonlocal theories are in general divided into two categories,
namely weakly nonlocal and strongly nonlocal theories. In strongly nonlocal theories, stress
not only depends on the strain but also its derivatives. These include gradient theories as an
example. On the other hand, the stress in weakly nonlocal theories depends on strain at all
points within the domain (integral theories). The problem with strongly nonlocal theories is
that enhancing the constitutive theory still does not resolve the problem of stress singularity
at the crack tip, whereas integral theories are capable of settling this issue.
Several nonlocal models have been proposed in the literature; however, their use and
applicability in some practical cases is limited. I intend to introduce a new integro-differential
nonlocal model which eliminates the shortcomings of the existing models. To be specific,
a widely spoken paradox regarding the differential form of Eringen nonlocal model is its
inability to capture nonlocal features for the case of a cantilever beam. A nonlocal cantilever
beam is widely used in chemical and biological sciences to simulate the micro- and nanosized actuators. An early-stage model that I have developed eliminates this shortcoming, and
therefore, it can be widely used in computational modeling of the micro- and nano- sensors
and actuators used in studies to better interpret the data obtained from these devices.
This idea has been presented in a journal article, a workshop on nonlocal continuum
mechanics, and a conference. Two subsequent journal papers are also in preparation.
Modified Finite Element Methods Suitable for the Study of Damage
Engineers are not just concerned with the design and construction of structures (and/or
devices), but they also need to be able to give an estimate of the life-span of a structure and
how and when the structure will be damaged. Due to the amount of uncertainty involved,
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Research Statement

Parisa Khodabakhshi

damage mechanics is one of the most complicated concepts of computational mechanics, and
at the same time one of the most critical areas. Researchers have long been engaged in
modeling different modes of damage and methods of quantifying it. However, most of the
methods in the literature are not practically applicable to every-day complex structures. To
this end, I am working on a new framework for damage analysis by introducing a modified
finite element framework. Conventional finite element method is without doubt the most
widely used computational framework in the field of mechanics and structural analysis.
Therefore, the ability to study damage using finite element method paves the way for a more
straightforward study of damage within the structures.
It is shown that for hyperelastic materials nodal forces in elements can be expressed in
terms of the strains along the edges1 of the element. This forms the basis for the modified
finite element framework. One can determine the forces and strains along the edges, and
place a damage criteria on the edge based on a displacement criterion or a force criterion.
A journal paper on this area is being prepared which discusses the idea more thoroughly.
Future directions
Some of the ideas that I have for future studies are listed in the following:
1. Determination of the relevance between the length scale parameter and existing dimensions of the nano- and micro- sized materials
Nonlocal theories in general introduce a length scale parameter into the problem. However, most of the studies have just investigated the parametric effect of the length scale
parameter on the results and no explicit physical interpretation has been given for the
length scale parameter. To be able to make use of such theories, one needs to be able
to determine a value for the length scale parameter.
2. Probabilistic study of damage using the modified finite element framework
In most engineering structures the goal is to avoid any probable failure or fracture.
Therefore, any changes in the structure and gradual damage need to be monitored to
determine the corresponding safety measures. My goal is to determine a probabilistic
approach to damage as opposed to the existing deterministic approach. This enables
the engineers to make predictions on how probable a special mode of failure is, and in
what direction it will propagate. This approach can also be used to study the coupling
between different modes of damage.
3. Soil structure interaction and dynamics of the structures
Coming from a seismically active home country and having a masters degree in earthquake engineering, I have an interest in studying the response of the structures to
dynamic loads and how this response will be affected by the characteristics of the base
(flexible or rigid). I have been involved in this topic since my masters degree. There
exists several gaps in the literature on the response of tall structures to dynamic loads
considering the soil-structure interaction.
Funding for the research can be obtained by submitting proposals to national laboratories,
NSF, and/or some research-based software developing companies working in the field of
continuum mechanics.
1

A line connecting any two distinct nodes of an element

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