News at the Institute for Mechanics

In our newest publication, Henning Müller presents a Lattice Boltzmann method for non-linear solid mechanics, building upon preliminary work by Erik Faust from RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau. This work constitutes a simple extension of a previous approach, using a moment-chain with a constitutive forcing term. The evaluation happens in the reference configuration, where the interaction force term is defined through typical stress-strain relations. The method is validated through benchmarks and simulations of wave propagation. This publication shows the application of the LBM to solids with non-linear material laws for the first time, indicating the strong potential to solve dynamic systems with large deformations. The article is available as open access in Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering: Müller, H., Faust, E., Schlüter, A., Müller, R. Extending the Lattice Boltzmann Method to non-linear elastodynamics, Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Eng. 438, 118076 (2025). DOI: 10.1016/j.cma.2025.118076

The Technical University of Darmstadt opened its doors to provide insights into research, innovation and education on 25 May 2025. The Study Field of Mechanics was participating with a booth at the Campus Lichtwiese. Supported by the Mechanics student council, visitors were given insights into the degree programs B.Sc. Ingenieurwissenschaften und Mechanik and M.Sc. Mechanics, as well as the research activities of the Institute of Mechanics. In addition to a Hoberman sphere, various meta-materials produced by a 3D printer could be explored by the visitors. A particular highlight was the talk entitled 'From Newton's apple to intelligent materials: an insight into the history and development of mechanics' by Henrik Hembrock. The talk provided interested guests with exciting insights into the history of mechanics, concluding with current research questions.

An interim meeting of the Natural and Engineering Sciences College of the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes – German Academic Scholarship Foundation – took place at the institute for Mechanics from 19 to 21 May 2025. Under the supervision of Prof. Angelika Humbert, Prof. Ralf Müller and Rabea Sondershaus, the students of AG3 are working on the mechanical description of glaciers and ice sheets. The focus is on modeling the material behavior of glacier ice and the simulating cracks in ice. The College is running since March 2024 and will extend over two years. During this time, the group meets regularly to collaboratively work on various research questions. At the interim meeting, the students received an introduction to the Lichtenberg high-performance computer at TU Darmstadt. The remaining time was used for a hackathon, during which the first simulations were successfully carried out on the Lichtenberg system.

At the beginning of March this year, the German-Polish Winter Colloquium “Mechanics and Advanced Materials” took place for the 10th time at the Chalet Giersch of the TU Darmstadt in the French Alps. The week-long colloquium featured a varied programmed of lectures by various scientists from different institutions in Poland and Germany. After the jubilee edition of the colloquium, the 11th edition will take place in two years' time.

In the upcoming summer semester 2025, the Continuum Mechanics Group will again offer the two special lectures Analytical Mechanics and Introduction to Special Relativity in English. Lecturer of the courses is our former institute member Dr. Dimitrios Makridis.

The Golden Pen of the summer semester 2024 was awarded by the Civil and Environmental Engineering student council to Mara Lena Koch and Prof. Dominik Schillinger for Engineering Mechanics III. This highly coveted prize at Department 13 of TU Darmstadt is awarded every semester to the fastest exam correction in relation to the number of participants. Congratulations!

In our latest publication, Jonathan Stollberg in collaboration with our former postdoc Tarun Gangwar (IIT Roorkee) and Prof. Oliver Weeger (Cyber-Physical Simulation) presents a novel optimization algorithm for functionally graded and additively manufacturable lattice structures. Among other things, the method is based on a parameterized material model, which was implemented as a neural network. Basic physical conditions for the model are already fulfilled by the architecture of the neural network. The article is available as open access in Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering: Stollberg, J., Gangwar, D., Weeger, O., Schillinger, D. Multiscale topology optimization of functionally graded lattice structures based on physics-augmented neural network material models. Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Eng. 438, 117808 (2025). DOI: 10.1016/j.cma.2025.117808

The edge strength of cut glass sheets depends heavily on the cutting process. The most common method is to use a cutting wheel to create a crack system in the flat glass, at which the glass is then broken. The investigation of this process with numerical simulation and experiments is the subject of the new DFG-funded project “CrackCut”. Dr.-Ing. Aris Tsakmakis (Division Material Mechanics), Dr.-Ing. Matthias Seel (Institute of Structural Mechanics and Design/Glass Competence Center) and Prof. Dr.-Ing. Ralf Müller (Institute for Mechanics) are involved in the joint project.

As part of a cooperation with the “Nonmetallic Inorganic Materials” group at the Department of Materials and Earth Sciences, a publication on stress-induced precipitate selection in ferroelectric materials and its influence on the electrical properties of piezoceramics has been published in the journal Nature Communications. The publication is now available as Open Access: Zhao, C., Benčan, A., Bohnen, M. et al. Impact of stress-induced precipitate variant selection on anisotropic electrical properties of piezoceramics. Nat Commun 15, 10327 (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-54230-0 We would like to thank Prof. Jürgen Rödel and his group for the excellent cooperation.

On November 24, a film crew visited the Institute of Mechanics to attend the lecture on the mechanics of glaciers and ice sheets and gain an insight into the work of the institute. The footage is to be included in a documentary presenting women who were pioneers in polar research.