School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering Seminar Series, “Constitutive Modeling of Soft Materials: Past, Present, and Future” Presented by Dr. Kshitiz Upadhyay

About the event

Constitutive Modeling of Soft Materials: Past, Present, and Future

Presented by Dr. Kshitiz Upadhyay, Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge

Abstract

Soft materials are ubiquitous in nature, biological systems, and engineering applications, characterized by their ability to undergo large deformations in response to external thermo-mechanical stimuli. Constitutive modeling aims to understand and mathematically describe the thermo-mechanical response of these materials for any geometry and under various loading conditions. In the context of soft materials, these models are essential for the design and analysis of soft robots, computational surgical planning and training, and understanding trauma-induced pathologies such as traumatic brain injuries (TBI), among many other applications. In this talk, I will explore the evolution of constitutive modeling, from empirical stress–strain relations to continuum-thermodynamics-based models, and, more recently, to data-driven models incorporating scientific machine learning (ML). I will particularly focus on the short-time visco-hyperelastic response of soft materials, which is critical in injury biomechanics (e.g., simulations of crashes, blasts, and ballistic impacts) and protective equipment design. Specific examples from my research in this area will illustrate the different paradigms of constitutive modeling and their practical applications.

Presenter Biography

Kshitiz Upadhyay is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at Louisiana State University, where he directs the Soft Materials Mechanics Laboratory. His research focuses on the mechanics of soft materials, with an emphasis on constitutive modeling, injury biomechanics, experimental solid mechanics, and data-driven methods. Dr. Upadhyay’s work is supported by funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Office of Naval Research (ONR), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Louisiana Board of Regents (LABoR), and LSU. He received the 2022 Early Career Research Award from the World Council of Biomechanics for his research on brain injury biomechanics. Before joining LSU, Dr. Upadhyay was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Hopkins Extreme Materials Institute, Johns Hopkins University (2020-2022). He earned his Ph.D. and M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Florida (2020, 2019) and a B.Tech. from the National Institute of Technology–Bhopal, India (2014).