Nadia Lapusta

Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Geophysics

Courses

Ae/Ge/ME 160 a: Continuum Mechanics of Fluids and Solid
Elements of Cartesian tensors. Kinematics - study of deformations, rotations and stretches, polar decomposition. Lagrangian and Eulerian strain velocity and spin tensor fields. Kinetics - balance laws and stress measures. Basic thermodynamics of bodies.

Ae/Ge/ME 160 b: Continuum Mechanics of Fluids and Solids
Formulation of problems in continuum mechanics. Examples of special classes of constitutive laws for materials without memory. Objective rates, corotational, convected rates. Principles of materials frame indifference. Newtonian fluids, isotropic thermoelastic solids. Elements of viscoelasticity, plasticity, and fracture mechanics.

Ae/Ge/ME 266 a: Dynamic Fracture and Frictional Faulting
Introduction to elastodynamics, waves in solids. Radiation from moving cracks. Dynamic fracture theory, energy concepts, cohesive zone models. Friction laws, nucleation of frictional instabilities, dynamic rupture of frictional interfaces.

Ae/Ge/ME 266 b: Dynamic Fracture and Frictional Faulting
Thermal effects during dynamic fracture and frictional faulting. Crack branching, faulting along non-planar interfaces. Related dynamic phenomena such as adiabatic shear localization. Applications to engineering phenomena and physics of earthquakes.

Ge 169: Reading Courses in Geophysics
Topic: Earthquake Physics and Seismology

Fault constitutive laws. Fault geometry. Models of earthquake nucleation, dynamic rupture, and earthquake cycle. Relation of models and observations. Earthquake predictability and early warning.

ME 65: Mechanics of Materials
Introduction to continuum mechanics, principles of elasticity, plane stress, plane strain, axisymmetric problems, stress concentrations, thin films, fracture mechanics, variational principles, finite element methods, fracture, and plasticity.

Ae/AM/CE/ME 102 a: Mechanics of Structures and Solids
Introduction to continuum mechanics, principles of elasticity, plane stress, plane strain, axisymmetric problems, stress concentrations, thin films, fracture mechanics, variational principles, finite element methods, fracture, and plasticity.

ME 90/91 abc: Senior Thesis, Experimental/Analytical