Research question
How can we recover spatially varying material properties from a limited number of experiments—without assuming that phase boundaries or interface locations are already known?
Approach
I co-develop an inverse identification framework that connects measured full-field deformation to a finite element model. The experimental boundary displacements are applied directly to the model, reducing dependence on idealized loading assumptions and strengthening simulation–experiment correlation.
- Identify constitutive properties within multiple material phases
- Recover heterogeneous property fields and interface geometry together
- Use full-field kinematics as dense information for an otherwise ill-posed inverse problem
- Evaluate the recovered model against measured responses rather than solver convergence alone
Why it matters
Many engineered and biological materials are heterogeneous by design or by nature. A model that averages away this spatial structure may reproduce a global load–displacement curve while missing the local fields that govern damage and failure. This work aims to make those fields experimentally identifiable and mechanically interpretable.
This research is conducted at UT Austin in collaboration with the Oden Institute and Sandia National Laboratories.