Congratulations to Professor Gianluca Cusatis, Professor Assad Oberai & Professor Lucy Zhang

Rensselaer's MSEC affiliated Professors Gianluca Cusatis, Assad Oberai and Lucy Zhang have received a three (3) year, $901,167 award from The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA).

The goal of the proposed effort is to formulate a multiscale multiphysics computational framework for the accurate simulation of the blast induced failure response of solids and structures, including generated debris flow and the accurate assessment of debris inflicted secondary damage. The stated objective will be achieved by the development and seamless multiscale integration of three key components:

1. a three-dimensional meso-scale model for fracture and fragmentation, accounting for aleatory variability of material properties;
2. a three-dimensional macro-scale model for pervasive failure; and
3. a fluid/solid interaction model that allows a two way coupling between the solid and fluid domains at various length scales.

The solid domain will be modeled using a multiscale Lagrangian approach immersed in an Eulerian fluid domain. Extensive calibration and validation of the developed framework will be performed to assess its accuracy and efficiency. The multidisciplinary team of experts involved in this project and the resources of their home Institutions will ensure the successful achievement of the research objective, which, in turn, will advance the current body of knowledge in Science for Protection and Science to Defeat Weapons of Mass Destruction.

Rensselaer will also be working with Sandia National Laboratories on this project.  More information.