The Kumar Research Group is located at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Midtown Atlanta. Our basic research goal is to solve fundamental problems in solid mechanics and leverage them for tackling important engineering challenges such as sustainable material discovery and design. We accomplish this by developing unified mathematical theories, physical models, and computational tools.
Currently, our research focuses on finding the answers to the following questions:
- Is there a unifying framework for fracture nucleation and propagation in materials, hard and soft, and of arbitrary microstructural topologies?
- How can the fracture of soft solids, such as hydrogels and biological tissues, be predicted?
- How do the macroscopic fracture behavior of polymer composites, ceramic composites, etc. relate to the microstructure?
- How do we model the growth, remodeling, and aging of biological tissues?
Recent News
- Our paper titled “Emergence of tension-compression asymmetry from a complete phase-field approach to brittle fracture” was accepted for publication in the International Journal of Solids and Structures.
- Aditya was awarded the 2024 Haythornthwaite Foundation Research Initiation award by the Applied Mechanics Division of ASME.
- Aditya received the Bill Schutz Junior Faculty Teaching Award.
- Olivia Ward joined the group (Sep 2024). She completed her Bachelors degree at CU Boulder.
- Umar Khayaz joined the group (July 2024).
- Aditya attended the NSF Directorate of Mathematical and Physical Sciences Workshop for New Investigators in Alexandria, VA (July 2024).
- We have been awarded a NSF grant! We will study the “Puncture Mechanics of Soft Solids” in collaboration with Prof. Yuhang Hu.
- Chang Liu graduated with an MS in Engineering Science and Mechanics and Computational Science and Engineering. She spent 2 years with the group and worked on various problems in fracture mechanics, including phase-field modeling and homogenization.
- Aditya gave two talks on our recent work to ASML and Army Research Lab.
- Aditya gave a seminar at Michigan Tech on “Frontal polymerization enabled patterning and additive manufacturing of thermoset polymers”.
- Aditya gave an invited talk at the “Workshop on Experimental and Computational Fracture Mechanics” in LSU.
- Our paper titled “The poker-chip experiments of synthetic elastomers” was accepted for publication in the Journal of Mechanics and Physics of Solids. This culminates our years-long effort in understanding the phenomenon of cavitation in elastomers.
- We started a new GDOT project on the study of impact-damaged bridges in collaboration with Profs. Lauren Stewart (PI), Ryan Sherman and Danny Smyl.
- We received a seed grant to study “Resilient Structures Invisible to Earthquake Waves” in collaboration with Profs. Arash Yavari, Phanish Suryanarayana and Francesco Fedele.
- Aditya has been chosen as a USNC/TAM outreach fellow!
- Two of our papers on a novel method of 3D printing are accepted in the journals Additive Manufacturing and Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering.
- Our paper on “Nonlinear Mechanics of Remodeling” is accepted for publication in the Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids. This work is in collaboration with Prof. Arash Yavari, and is the first work on our effort to develop a comprehensive understanding of growth and remodeling.
- Our paper titled “The strength of the Brazilian fracture test” is accepted in the Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids. It is in collaboration with Prof. John Dolbow (Duke) and Oscar Lopez-Pamies (Illinois).