One fascination has always been with modeling physical phenomena. My first job at Westinghouse was to use finite elements to calculate the stresses in a reactor vessel support skirt due to seismic loads. That led to a Master's degree and eventually a job at Sandia National Laboratories, where one project I worked on was stimulation of natural gas wells using propellants. Recognizing that I did not understand fracture, Sandia supported me in Ph.D. studies with Dr. Tony Ingraffea on the analysis of dynamic fracture. I am now teaching at Kansas State, but still involved in much of the same questions. Some recent and current projects are shown below:
Storage Tanks with Frangible Joints
Linear and
Elastic/Plastic Crack Growth
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