CAREER: Bridging the Gap between Deterministic and Stochastic Structures for Mixed Stochasticity System Design

该奖项全部或部分由2021年美国救援计划法案（公法117-2）资助。由具有随机（或称随机）特性的部件组成的系统或产品，对复杂工程系统的设计提出了重大挑战。目前缺乏系统的方法来设计利用这种类型的混合随机性结构的文物。该教师早期职业发展计划（CAREER）项目将建立一个新的计算框架，弥合随机和规则结构模式之间的差距，以实现：1）具有可定制随机性和所需属性的结构的生成设计和2）由混合随机结构单元组成的混合随机性结构系统的设计，以实现最佳性能。两套工程应用将被用来评估的方法，并证明其对社会的好处：设计的微结构材料的能量存储系统和设计的混合随机性结构系统的车辆碰撞安全。这些研究成果的广泛应用将使众多行业受益，例如高容量储能材料、结构安全性和可靠性以及汽车轻量化，这些行业依赖于具有混合随机性的材料和结构。此外，本研究的结果将有助于混合随机系统的可靠性设计的理论和方法，如电网系统，供水系统，交通系统。该项目的教育和推广目标是创建一个教育-研究-产业融合的原型，并将其应用于K-12教育推广，地方企业推广和大学教育。K-12教育推广将激励学生在科学和工程领域追求教育和职业。对当地企业的推广将有助于小企业和小制造商在COVID-19后的世界中竞争。本计画的主要研究目标是建立一个新颖的计算架构，借由建立一个涵盖随机性从随机到规则的结构模式的统一设计空间，来弥合确定性与随机性结构之间的差距。该框架使生成设计的微结构/结构与可剪裁的属性和随机性，以及设计的混合随机性结构系统，由确定性和随机结构单元，以实现最佳性能。这项研究将从三个方面改变结构/微结构系统的发现和设计。首先，将开发一种用于混合随机性结构的首个设计表示方法，该方法将使具有可定制随机性的结构的设计成为可能。其次，该研究将为确定性和随机系统之间的知识转移提供理论基础，以激发实现目标特性的新设计。第三，为混合随机结构系统的稳健可靠性设计建立了一个新的设计框架。教育和推广计划包括一个科学，技术，工程，艺术和数学（STEAM）项目，为K-12教师和学生在代表性不足的少数民族学校，研究传播到当地的小企业和小制造商，并整合大学教育，研究，该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的学术价值和更广泛的影响评审标准。

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).Systems or products composed of parts that have random (or stochastic) characteristics pose a significant challenge to the design of complex engineering systems. There is a lack of systematic methods for designing artifacts utilizing this type of mixed stochasticity structure. This Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) project will establish a novel computational framework that bridges the gap between random and regular structural patterns to enable: 1) generative design of structures with tailorable stochasticity and desired properties and 2) design of mixed stochasticity structural systems that consist of mixed stochastic structural units to achieve optimal performance. Two sets of engineering applications will be used to evaluate the methodology and demonstrate its benefit to society: design of microstructural materials in energy storage systems and design of a mixed stochasticity structural system for vehicle impact safety. The broader application of the research developments will benefit a wide range of industries, such as high-capacity energy storage materials, structural safety and reliability, and automotive lightweighting, which rely on materials and structures with mixed stochasticity. Furthermore, the results of this research will contribute theories and methodologies that benefit the reliability design of mixed stochasticity systems, such as power grid systems, water distribution systems, and transportation systems. The education and outreach objective of this project is to create a prototype of education-research-industry integration and apply it to K-12 education outreach, outreach to local businesses, and university education. The K-12 education outreach will motivate students to pursue education and careers in science and engineering fields. The outreach to local businesses will assist small businesses and small manufacturers to compete in the post–COVID-19 world. The integration among research, industry practice, and education will strengthen the undergraduate and graduate students’ learning experiences.The overarching research goal of this project is to create a novel computational framework that bridges the gap between deterministic and stochastic structures by establishing a unified design space that covers structural patterns whose stochasticity ranges from random to regular. This framework enables generative design of microstructures/structures with tailorable properties and stochasticity, as well as design of a mixed stochasticity structural system that consists of deterministic and stochastic structural units to achieve optimal performance. This research will transform the discovery and design of structural/microstructural systems in three ways. First, a first-of-its-kind design representation method will be developed for mixed stochasticity structures that will enable the design of structures with tailorable stochasticity. Second, the research will provide a theoretical foundation for transferring knowledge between deterministic and stochastic systems to inspire new designs that achieve target properties. Third, a new design framework will be established for the robustness and reliability-based design of mixed stochasticity structural system. The education and outreach plan includes a Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math (STEAM) project for K-12 teachers and students in underrepresented minority schools, research dissemination to local small businesses and small manufacturers, and integration among university education, research, and industrial collaboration.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.