Advanced Computational Materials and Experimental Evaluation Lab

Dr. Michael D. Sangid

msangid@purdue.edu

Michael D. Sangid received his degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC): B.S. in 2002 with a minor in Mathematics, M.S. in 2005, and PhD in 2010. During his undergrad, he worked in the Advanced Materials Testing and Evaluation Laboratory and also the Autonomic Materials Laboratory in the fields of material behavior and testing.  His master’s research focused on Process Characterization of Vibrostrengthening and Application to Fatigue Enhancement of Aluminum Aerospace Components and was sponsored by the Boeing Corporation.  After completing his Master’s degree, Dr. Sangid spent two years working in Indianapolis, IN for Rolls-Royce Corporation, specializing in material characterization, deformation, fatigue, fracture, and creep of high temperature aerospace materials before resuming his education in 2007.  His research has centered around a multi-scale approach to understand grain boundary effects on crack initiation.  Through this work, atomistic simulations are used to quantify local energy barriers to deformation, which are built into continuum models to connect material structure to performance.  Dr. Sangid continued as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at UIUC working on 1.) heterogeneous deformation of materials and fatigue crack growth testing and modeling of new and emerging materials and 2.) prediction of fiber orientation and length in polymer-based long fiber composites. 

In the fall of 2011, Dr. Sangid started as an Assistant Professor at Purdue University in the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics, where he continues his work on building computational materials models with experimental verification and validation efforts.  His research specifically focuses on (micro)structure to performance modeling, via using atomistic simulations to inform multi-scale models for plasticity, fatigue, and fracture of metallic alloys and high temperature composites.  Both material systems have direct applications in Aerospace Engineering.  There is also an experimental component to his research as he does advanced materials testing and characterization including digital image correlation, advanced microscopy, and stress analysis using high-energy x-ray diffraction at the synchrotron source at Argonne National Lab.  This research lies at the confluence of materials science and solid mechanics.  Dr. Sangid is an active member of the Minerals, Metals, & Materials Society; American Society of Mechanical Engineers; American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics; ASM International; and Pi Tau Sigma Honor Society of Mechanical Engineers.

Dr. Alberto W. Mello

mello@purdue.edu

Alberto Mello is Aeronautical Engineer (1989) and Master of Science (1998) from the Aeronautical Institute of Technology – ITA, Brazil. During his masters he studied the effect of variable amplitude loads on structures, by quantifying retardation; acceleration and multiple overloads. He concluded his Ph.D. studies in the Aerospace Department at the University of Texas at Austin, in 2003, where he developed a complex new biaxial loading device for examining crack growth at bonded interfaces under combinations of tension and shear.

 

Complementary, in the field, he was involved in all the Brazilian Air Force – BAF structural integrity and aircraft life extension programs since 1990. He also worked as professor of Fatigue and Fracture Mechanics at ITA, Brazil. He has supervised several students on their master’s theses and final graduation projects. He is the author of numerous comprehensive technical reports of structural studies and damage tolerance analysis for the Brazilian Air Force.

 

Alberto joined Purdue School of Aeronautics and Astronautics in July 2014 as Postdoctoral Research Fellow, to work with Dr. Sangid team at the ACME Lab. Topics of interest: physics of fatigue crack initiation; microscale plastic strain accumulation; damage tolerance analysis; aircraft fatigue life extension; experimental mechanics; mechanics of adhesion and interfacial fracture.

Saikumar Reddy

saikumar@purdue.edu

I received my Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) in May 2009. I joined Carnegie Mellon University as a Masters student in August 2009 to gain expertise in computational engineering by taking up relevant courses and research work. While pursuing my Master’s, I worked with Prof. Kenji Shimada on the effects of mesh directionality and anisotropy on the computational time and convergence accuracy of high speed dynamic crash simulations of thin shell structures. I graduated with a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from CMU in December 2010.

I joined the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Purdue University in Fall 2011 as Ph.D. student with an aim to pursue a research oriented career in the fields of computational solid and fracture mechanics, material characterisation and material modeling using high fidelity computational techniques that utilize the principles of molecular dynamics and quantum mechanics. Currently, I am working with Prof. Michael Sangid on studying Au-Si interface properties using atomistic simulations.

Andrea Rovinelli

arovinel@purdue.edu

I was born in Pesaro, Italy.  I received my BS in Aerospace Engineering from the "ALMA MATER STUDIORUM - University of Bologna" (AMS) in October 2008.  My Bachelor's Thesis was on  "Friction Stir Welding Junctions on Polymeric Materials". Afterwards, I started my MSc in Aerospace Engineering at AMS, while working on two different projects: 1 Development of a Matlab code that helps designers to configure a Prandtl-Plane® using Damage Tolerant Structure Philosophy, giving them all basic performance value, and information about time-to-time inspection (in collaboration with other 2 students); with this project we also participated at Aerodays 2011 in Madrid, Spain ranking 3rd in our category. 2 Research and Design of an Optimum Control, based on “Periodic Riccat

i Equation” to Minimize Helicopter Rotor Vibration in Forward Flight using FFT noise rejection based on "Harmonic transfer Function”.  In September 2012, I joined the Purdue ACME laboratory team as Visiting Scholar, where, at the moment, I am investigating slip system activity near a crack tip using a Crystal Plasticity Model.  My principal research interests are Fatigue Crack Grow and Damage Tolerance Structure.I graduated with my Master's in the Summer of 2013 and started my PhD research at ACME in Purdue in the Fall of 2013!

Ajey Venkataraman

venkata3@purdue.edu

In May 2013, I received my Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech) degree in Mechanical Engineering from National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal, India. My research interests are in computational materials science, primarily of metallic systems. During my undergraduate course, I interned at the Interdisciplinary Center for Advanced Materials Simulation (ICAMS), Germany, where I worked on investigation of hydrogen trap sites in phases of steel using Density Functional Theory (DFT) simulations in Prof. Alexander Hartmaier’s group. Further, for a short period after my Bachelor’s, I interned at Indian Institute of Science (IISc) where I worked towards calculation of elastic constants of binary metallic systems using Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations incorporating the Parrinello–Rahman fluctuation formula.

I joined the School of Aeronautics & Astronautics Engineering at Purdue University as a Master’s student in August 2013 and I’m working with Prof. Michael Sangid’s group working on atomistic simulations. 

Prithivirajan 

Veerappan

vprithiv@purdue.edu

Prithivi is from Tamilnadu, India and finished his Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering from Anna University, Chennai in 2009. Then, he pursued his Master’s in Aerospace Engineering (specializing in structures) at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore from 2009 –2011. Later, he worked as an Engineer in Eaton Corporation from August 2011 - June 2014.  Prithivi’s Bachelor’s thesis was on finding the effect of manganese on the density and compressive strength of Al-6061 alloy through P\M technique. His Master’s work was on the design of corrugated skin based deformable compliant grid aerofoil. While in Eaton Corporation, he worked on stress analysis and fatigue life evaluation of hydraulic products like pumps, motors etc. He also worked on the development of predictive models (mechanical, thermal and electrical) for nanocomposites wherein he learnt about homogenization techniques, microstructure generation, continuum multi-scale models and molecular dynamics.

Prithivi joined the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics as a PhD student in fall 2014 and is working with Prof. Sangid on multi-scale modeling of high temperature polycrystalline alloys in the ACME laboratory.  His overall research interests include modeling of material(s) behaviour, coupled field problems, devices for sensing and energy applications. His personal interests include playing basketball, photography, travelling, and reading books.

Diwakar P. Naragani

dnaragan@purdue.edu

Diwakar P. Naragani is from New Delhi, India. He graduated with B.E. Hons.  in Mechanical Engineering from Thapar University, Patiala in May 2013. During his undergrad he interned at the Aircraft Research and Design Center of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, Bangalore, India. He worked on structural optimization in the stress group before proceeding to the Aircraft division’s composite manufacturing hub to gain first-hand experience in processing and testing composite structures. In his senior year he represented the school’s formula SAE team as the design lead and head of the chassis department and competed in FS Germany and FS Czech Republic. Both experiences sparked interest in material structure-performance relationships.

He joined the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Purdue University in fall 2013 as a Masters student specializing in structures and materials. Currently, he is working in ACME laboratory with Prof. Michael Sangid on characterizing fatigue crack initiation in Ni superalloys through high-energy x-ray diffraction microscopy (HEDM).

Ronald Agyei

ragyei@purdue.edu

Ronald Agyei hails from Ghana, West Africa. He received his BSc in Aerospace Engineering at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. During this period, he interned at the School of Trade Training at the Ghana Airforce where he under guided supervision underwent hands-on training on the workshop practice (joining procedure, lathe machine work and basic machining procedure), basic airframe structural repairs, building and troubleshooting simple electronic relating avionics using state of the art electronic gadgets and software.  He also gained some experience on the operation of the K8G Flight Simulator and Simulator Practice. Upon completion of his BSc he was posted to the Safety Regulations Department of the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority, the aviation authority and regulatory agency of the Republic of Ghana, for his national service.

He is currently enrolled at the school of aeronautics and astronautics of Purdue University and is pursuing further studies in Aerospace Structures and Materials. At the school of AAE, he is part of the Advanced Computational Materials and Experimental Evaluation Lab group under Professor Michael Sangid.  Ronald’s research area is the Characterization of Material Properties through the use of tomograms from X-Ray Microtomography and Digital Image Processing Techniques.

Lena Huynh

huynh10@purdue.edu

Lena Huynh Lena graduated from the Australian Defence Force Academy in 2009 with a Bachelors in Engineering (Aerospace). Her honours research was in the field of Near Infrared Optical Spectroscopy under Dr. Sean O’Byrne. She was awarded the Beaufort Bomber Prize for best Undergraduate Research at the Academy, and also presented her research at the AIAA Australian-Asia Regional Student Conference. Her paper was well received and was later presented at the Global AIAA Student Conference. 

Since graduating, Lena has served in the Royal Australian Air Force in a number of engineering roles. Most notably as a Structural Engineer on the RAAF P-3 Orion Maritime Patrol Aircraft. In 2014, she was selected to pursue a research-based Masters at Purdue University. Her chosen field of research will focus on 3D stress concentrations and their interactions. 

In her spare time, Lena enjoys playing a game of soccer, hiking, mountain biking and he occasional taekwondo class. 

Kevin Vuong

cvuong@purdue.edu

Originally born in Hamburg, Germany, Kevin is currently an undergraduate at Purdue University in the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics looking to specialize in propulsion and structures.  Previously, he has aided in research concerning the effect of surface roughness on heat transfer and aerodynamics at the Karlruhe Institute of Technology in Germany.  Kevin was also a part of the Design Build Fly team at Purdue, in which a UAV was designed and built for a competition sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security.  He has recently been selected as a NASA Aeronautcs Scholarship Program recipient and plans to pursue his Master's degree in the upcoming years.  Kevin's other interests include staying active through workouts and running, video games, and astronomy.  

Hannah Woods

woodsh@purdue.edu

Hannah is from Grayslake, Illinois, and is currently a student at Purdue University. She is pursuing her Bachelor's degree in Materials Science and Engineering with minors in Chemistry and Spanish.  After graduating in May 2017, she plans to attend graduate school with a focus in polymers and composites. She joined Dr. Sangid's research group as part of the 2015 SURF program. Her research in the group focuses on characterization of additive manufactured materials.

Samuel Otto

sotto@purdue.edu

Samuel Otto is a senior at Purdue University studying aerospace engineering with a minor in mathematics. So far, his primary areas of interest are applied mathematics, computational physics, solid mechanics, and turbulence. Sam hopes to grow his interest in solid mechanics through research with Dr. Sangid’s group. He has conducted undergraduate research at Purdue and at NASA’s Glenn Research Center. Through the SURF program in 2013 he worked with Dr. Gregory Blaisdell at Purdue on improving hybrid compact-WENO finite difference schemes for large eddy simulation of high-speed turbulent flows. The primary application of this work was in computational aeroacoustics for the study of jet noise. He was awarded the NASA Aeronautics Scholarship in 2013. Through this program, he worked with Dr. Charles Trefny over the summer of 2014 at NASA’s Glenn Research Center. There, he developed a novel merging strategy for conical flowfields which enabled the design of inward-turning, streamline-traced supersonic inlets with low drag and sonic boom. After graduating, Sam plans to pursue a Ph.D in aerospace engineering. He is also a student member of the AIAA and enjoys weightlifting and amateur rocketry in his spare time.

Dr. Bhisham Sharma

bsharma@purdue.edu

Bhisham Sharma received his B.E. in Mechanical Engineering with distinction from Pune University in 2007. During his undergrad, he interned in the Production Engineering Department at Tata Motors Ltd, working on utilizing dual phase (Ferrite-Martensite) high strength steel alloys for vehicle body construction in order to reduce vehicle weight while increasing dent resistance and energy absorption capacity. He joined Purdue University in 2007, obtaining his M.S. (2009) and Ph.D. (2013) in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering. During his Ph.D. he worked in the Composite Materials Lab with Prof. C.T. Sun. His research was focused on improving the dynamic behavior of sandwich beams with internal resonators. As part of it, he experimentally demonstrated the existence of a local resonance wave attenuation bandgap and demonstrated the improved behavior under periodic and impact loads. He further analyzed the effect of resonator periodicity and the interaction between Bragg and local resonance bandgaps. Currently, he is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Advanced Computational Materials and Experimental Evaluation Lab. 

Javier Esquivel

jesquiv@purdue.edu

I received my B.S. in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from Purdue University in the spring of 2012.  My research interests are in composites and structure to performance modeling. I interned with The Boeing Company during the summer of 2012 where I was in the research and development team for structural analysis department supporting the A160 Hummingbird. My work included developing, supporting, and analyzing fatigue experiments for the main rotor hub, as well as creating and analyzing finite element models for key structural components. At Purdue, I was a part of the Design Build Fly team, participated in the Rube Goldberg competition, and co-founded the Purdue University chapter of the Society of Mexican American Engineers and Scientists. I am an avid sports fan and enjoy video games.

Dr. Lijie Chen

chenlijie@xmu.edu.cn

Lijie Chen received her PhD degree in Mechanical Design and Theory from Northeastern University, China in 2005. After that, she started her two-year Postdoctoral research on Computational Solid Mechanics in Tsinghua University, China. Since 2007, she joined in Department of Astronautics in Xiamen University as an associate professor. Her research interest is mainly focused on engineering mechanics, including fatigue/fracture, finite element method and its application in engineering, structural integrity and reliability, material collapse behaviors under environments, failure analysis and safety assessment for structures. She came Dr. Sangid's group in November, 2012 for one-year visit. 

German Parada

gparada@purdue.edu

I am a senior in Chemical Engineering with a minor in Chemistry from Iowa State University. I have worked on several research projects at my university and the DOE Ames Laboratory, and looking for more research experiences, I joined this lab for the summer of 2013 as a part of the SURF program. During this time I will assist various graduate students with their studies on composite materials, fatigue crack growth behavior of aluminum alloys, microstructure of structural alloys and atomistic simulations of a Gold-Silicon interface. I am very excited for a project that involves the creation of a speckle pattern on an aluminum surface using silane self-assembly and gold nanoparticles. After graduation in May 2014, I plan to obtain a Ph.D in chemical engineering, focusing on polymer synthesis and biomedical or electronic polymer applications.

Nicoletta Fala

nfala@purdue.edu

SUMMER 2012

I am an undergraduate student at Purdue University in the school of Aeronautics and Astronautics, specializing in Design and Systems. I am also working on a minor in French Language and Manufacturing Graphics and I’m about to enter my junior year. I will be graduating in May 2014. My research interests lie in Product /Process Design, Aerospace Systems, Unmanned Aerial System Applications, Design Thinking and Engineering Education. I have previously interned in a research institute developing the infrastructure for remote atmospheric and earth observations using a fleet of four autonomous platforms (unmanned aerial systems). I am also currently trying to obtain my Private Pilot’s License in a Piper Warrior II.    

http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~nfala/