Workshop on Metamaterials and Metastructures for Civil Infrastructure

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Progress in fundamental mechanics, advanced manufacturing and materials science has led to the creation of a truly groundbreaking family of new materials called architected metamaterials. These materials exhibit behavior and properties that do not occur in natural materials. The high cost and small volumes associated with architected metamaterials have thus far largely prevented their adoption in structural and civil infrastructure applications. Yet the unprecedented properties of these materials hold the potential to transform built environment. A new perspective on architected metamaterials is needed to realize this potential. This workshop will provide a forum to initiate a dialogue among a diverse and leading group of experts and to explore the research frontier. The workshop will bring together researchers and industrial professional from the communities of advanced manufacturing, materials, geotechnical and structural engineering, construction and design to identify research opportunities in architected metamaterials for structures and provide recommendations to address these opportunities. The workshop will be held at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst campus, in April 2021. The focus of the workshop will be uncovering how fundamental principles of architected metamaterials could be harnessed to enhance performance of civil infrastructure, and to identify the fundamental research gaps while keeping in mind constraints on cost, durability, sustainability, manufacturability and ease of construction. The workshop will explore critical future directions towards scalable architected metamaterials. The influence and utilization of additive manufacturing, construction robotics and other advanced construction manufacturing approaches will be discussed to identify bottom-up and top-down strategies for bringing metamaterials to the built environment. The workshop will provide recommendations in the form of a workshop report. These recommendations will be disseminated to a broad group of stakeholders.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.