Free for InterPore Members - Registration opening soon!
Mechanics of Deformable Porous Media
This course provides a systematic introduction to the mechanics of deformable porous media from a variational perspective. Beginning with continuum mechanics fundamentals, participants will learn how variational principles – rooted in calculus of variations and energy methods –provide a unified framework for deriving governing equations in elasticity, plasticity, and fracture. The course progresses from small-strain linear elasticity through dissipative systems and phase-field fracture modeling to finite strain hyperelasticity. The course ends by showing how theory applies to pore-scale modeling, and what challenges and insights arise from probing deformation and failure on pore-scale geometries derived from imaging data. These insights simplify computations significantly in some cases but complicate them in others.
What Will You Learn?
• How variational and energy methods (e.g., virtual work, dissipation potentials) provide a unified framework for deriving governing equations of solid mechanics.
• Computational approaches to plasticity, fracture, and large deformations, including phase-field modeling of crack propagation.
• How pore-scale modeling on geometries derived from imaging data reveals insights and challenges related to deformation and failure in porous materials.
Yashar Mehmani is an assistant professor in the Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering at the Pennsylvania State University, University Park campus, with affiliations in the Institute of Energy and the Environment (IEE) and the Institute for Computational and Data Sciences (ICDS). He received his BS from Sharif University of Technology in Iran and his PhD from the University of Texas at Austin, both in Petroleum Engineering. He was a postdoctoral fellow and research scientist at Stanford University's Energy Resources Engineering Department (2015–2020). His research focuses on the fundamental physics of fluid flow and solid deformation in porous materials, with emphasis on pore-scale modeling and theory, multiscale methods, and applications to energy and environmental systems.
Course Dates & Time:
- Monday, August 3 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM (EDT)
- Tuesday, August 4 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM (EDT)
- Wednesday, August 5 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM (EDT)
- Thursday, August 6 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM (EDT)
Course Fee: Thanks to support from an NSF CAREER Grant, this course will be offered free to all participants. Participation is limited to InterPore members.
Important note: All lectures will be offered live via Zoom, and participants are expected to attend all sessions in order to be granted a certificate of attendance. Recordings of the lectures will be provided in most cases within 24 hours after each session. These recordings will be available following course via the MyInterPore page. Please note that sharing the recordings with others is not permitted.
Course access information and more details will be sent to all participants the week before the course start. For questions, please contact margaret.dieter@interpore.org.
Course Price Display
Free for InterPore Members - Registration opening soon!