Many engineering and biological materials exhibit processes spanning over a broad spectrum of length and time scales. These processes endow the dynamics of synthetic and natural materials with a complex emergent behavior that cannot be described without considering several length and time scales simultaneously.  

This symposium addresses mechanics-related phenomena, and emphasizes the added value of multiscale modeling. Two major topics are addressed in this symposium. The first is concerned with structure-property relations to describe the mechanical behavior on macroscopic scales. The second refers to the multi-disciplinary interaction between mechanics and processes in e.g. biology, chemistry, geosciences and engineering: How such processes are impacted by mechanical action, and how in turn they are affecting the mechanical properties. Multiscale modeling is an exquisite tool to address these issues.    

The key challenge is to let the various levels, ranging from from atomic to continuum (small - large; fast - slow) communicate through appropriate spatio-temporal coupling procedures. Since complex emergent behavior is ubiquitous in our everyday life, various approaches to couple different levels of description are developed in both natural sciences and engineering disciplines. The overarching goal of this symposium is to bring together speakers from all these disciplines to discuss the latest theoretical, computational, and experimental developments in the field of multiscale modeling of mechanically driven processes in complex materials.

Gerhard Holzapfel (Graz University of Technology)
“Multi-scale modeling of cross-linked actin networks: Continuum formulation and computational analysis”

Ruben Juanes (MIT)
“Fingering, fracturing and dissolution in porous media”

Petros Koumoutsakos (ETH Zurich)
“Multiscale flow simulations using grids and particles”

Patrick Onck (University of Groningen)
“Coarse-grained MD modeling of unfolded proteins in nuclear pores”

Doros Theodorou (National Technical University of Athens)
“Energy landscape-based approach to deformation in glassy polymers”