Scott Bardenhagen - Research Assistant Professor
Phone: (801) 587-9819
Email: bard@golden.mech.utah.edu
Dr. Bardenhagen's recent research has centered around understanding microstructural influence on the macroscale behavior of solids. Most recently he has investigated the microstructural response of granular material via direct numerical simulations using the Material Point (ALE) technique. The investigation benefitted from the development of an efficient numerical contact algorithm and provided new insight into macroscopic manifestations of granule material properties and collective behavior. He has used homogenization theory to develop, based on the details of the microstructure, macroscale constitutive models capable of predicting shear banding instabilities. He has developed finite deformation macroscale constitutive models for several polymers of interest in composites, and has been active in connecting these models to mesoscale structure and molecular properties determined by molecular dynamics simulations.
Current research activities include the development of constitutive models for plastic bonded explosives (a granular composite), development of the Material Point technique, and performing simulations of the thermal response of mechanically confined explosives. The Problem Solving Environment, a University of Utah tool for interfacing modeling codes, performing parallel computations, visualizing results, and managing runs, provides the avenue for large scale, massively parallel simulations.