University of Michigan Professors Highlighted in AIAA Aerospace Year in Review

University of Michigan researchers have been featured in the 2023 AIAA Aerospace America Year in Review. Professor Anthony Waas, Assistant Research Scientist, Avin Vijay, Minh Hoang Nguyen, Royan D’Mello, and their team have been highlighted for their groundbreaking work in the Aerospace Design and Structures article.

In March, Dr. Waas and Vijay’s team successfully tested a 3D-printed, 66-meter hexagonal solar array in a vacuum chamber. The design, funded by DARPA’s Novel Orbital Moon Manufacturing, Materials, and Mass-Efficient Design program, incorporates a truss for enhanced structural damping and a thin elastic facing sheet to increase fundamental frequency without a significant mass increase. The mock-up’s vibrations during tests precisely matched numerical predictions, showcasing the team’s expertise and advancing possibilities for large-scale structures in space. 

Additionally, Dr. Waas’s team was also highlighted for their work that introduced a cutting-edge simulation framework using Abaqus software, revolutionizing the modeling of composite materials. The enhanced tool set, featuring a meshing strategy with failure mode separation and a probabilistic modeling approach, accurately simulates complex damage progressions in laminates under quasi-static tensile loads. Results demonstrate the model’s precision in predicting failure loads. Additionally, the framework supports Monte Carlo probability simulations for diverse virtual specimens. The team is actively developing an Abaqus plugin to simulate the curing process, allowing for the quantification of residual stresses and post-manufacturing material deformations.

This achievement solidifies the University of Michigan’s position as a leader in cutting-edge aerospace research.