Master Projects in Computational Material Science
Novel modelling techniques
Multi-scale modelling of fracturing and interface processes
When a material fractures, the fracture occurs at a microscopic scale, but the consequences may be macroscopic: The whole material may break in two. In order to model such processes, we need to model the fracturing process at a fine scale using for example molecular dynamics. However, we cannot model the whole system at the same fine scale because this would take too much computer time. Instead, we model the material far away from the fracture with an averaged model - a continuum model -- and couple the model to the atomic model close to the fracture. Developing such coupled models is a challenge and is developing into a new field: multiscale modeling. In this project, you will develop a multiscale model that couples a discrete model of fracturing with a large-scale continuum model of elastic deformation, and apply the model to problems of geological relevance. If you want a real challenge, you may instead choose to develop a model coupling bulk fluid flow to surface processes such as precipitation or dissolution processes for nanoparticle transport processes in geological and biological systems.
Contact: Anders Malthe-Sorenssen (malthe@fys.uio.no) in room FV408.
Granular materials
Granular materials - systems consisting of macroscopic grains - are ubiquitous in nature and important for many industrial processes. Many modern materials are made by hot-pressing (sintering) of microscopic grains, and the pharmaceutical industry depends on powder processing of both dry and wet powders. Many new phenomena have been discovered in the physics of granular systems during the last 20 years, and still many phenomena are there to be uncovered. Studying this field you have a good change to do pioneering work in a new field of science where we are now starting to develop good theoretical and numerical tools.
Contact: Anders Malthe-Sorenssen (malthe@fys.uio.no) in room FV408.
Deformation of soft granular materials
| Hard granular matter has recently been intensively studied in physics with many new exciting discoveries, whereas soft granular materials where the grains may deform permanently have received little attention. This is surprising, since soft granular media are important in geological and biological systems. In this project you will develop a new general model for soft granular media, test the model by comparing it with recent experiments, and use the model to address problems of geological, biological or technological relevance. |
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Contact: Anders Malthe-Sorenssen (malthe@fys.uio.no) in room FV408.
Dynamics of wet granular materials
| Wet particulate systems are important for biological and technological applications. Most biological systems are wet, and the handling of powders and colloids (nano-scale particles) are often done in wet systems. Studying wet granular systems, you will develop novel modeling techniques to study the motion of large numbers of nano-scale particles in water. You may discover new phenomena by yourself or work in close collaboration with experimental studies. |
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Contact: Anders Malthe-Sorenssen (malthe@fys.uio.no) in room FV408.
Friction
Friction is important for many technological applications. The empirical laws of friction have been known for centuries, but a good theoretical understanding of friction is lacking. Friction is a macroscopic effect of microscopic (atomistic) contacts along rough contacting surfaces. Acquiring a fundamental understanding of friction is a challenge because the forces (and local deformations) at local contact points are coupled to long-range stress and strain fields in the bulk solid.
In this project, you will develop a theoretical and numerical model that allows you to move gradually upwards in scale from the atomic to the macroscopic, while retaining the most important microscopic properties of the friction process. This will allow you to develop a better understanding for how the elastic properties of a material influence the frictional behaviour, and may provide new insights into how to control friction in technological applications and to predict frictional forces in geological and biological systems.
Contact: Anders Malthe-Sorenssen (malthe@fys.uio.no) in room FV408.
Strings and sheets
Rough sheets, such as crumpled sheets of paper, display different material properties than smooth sheets. For example, the effective elastic behavior represented by the effective Young's modulus depends not only on the disordered geometry of the sheet but also on the size of the sheet.In the project on disordered sheets you will develop numerical and theoretical models to address the implications of disorder on the effective material properties of a rough sheet, and apply the results to develop a better understanding of folding of large membranes.
In the project on crumpled strings you will study the behavior of confined strings and long, linear molecules.
Contact: Anders Malthe-Sorenssen (malthe@fys.uio.no) in room FV408.