A physics-consistent data-driven paradigm for designing complex material systems

复杂材料系统，如混合材料、合金和复合材料，正在改变从航空航天工程到生物医学设备行业的现代技术格局。应用程序是无止境的：具有更高强度和更低密度的新型合金为提高可重复使用的航空航天器的可靠性提供了无限的机会。使用磁性软物质的小型软机器人正在建立靶向药物输送和微创手术的新前沿。目前的材料设计方法严重依赖于试错法，这是低效和无效的，由于大量的设计参数和缺乏对材料的不确定性和多尺度结构-功能关系的理解。为了填补这些知识空白，提高复杂材料系统的设计效率，我的研究团队将开发一种新的物理一致的数据驱动材料设计范式。我们设计范式的关键新奇在于它将基础物理学与现代数据科学相结合。它将通过多尺度、多物理场计算框架对复杂材料系统的行为进行建模，并利用数据挖掘和机器学习技术进行有效的材料设计和优化。具体来说，我们将构建准确和强大的计算技术，以数值生成物理一致的数据，以补充稀缺的实验数据。我们将设计有效的均匀化方案，将材料的宏观性质与微观结构和机制联系起来。将上述数值策略与机器学习技术相结合，我们将揭示隐藏的材料多尺度结构-功能关系，否则很难发现。我们还将系统地量化源于随机微结构和制造工艺的材料不确定性，同时确定优化目标性能的材料设计参数。物理一致的数据驱动的材料设计范式代表了材料建模，表征和发现的一般方法，可应用于各种复杂的材料系统，并促进材料创新。这些创新将进一步推动医疗设备、柔性电子和软机器人技术的变革，产生显著的社会、环境和经济效益。此外，我们的研究将推进尺度桥接，不确定性量化和高维约束优化的理论和技术，这是许多科学学科面临的基础研究问题。位于固体力学，数值方法，材料科学和科学计算的交叉点，这项研究将传授参与学生的关键技能，如理论推导和计算编程，以在未来的跨学科研究和开发领域取得成功。

Complex material systems, such as hybrids, alloys, and composites, are transforming modern technological landscapes, ranging from aerospace engineering to the biomedical device industry. The applications are endless: novel alloys with higher strength and lower density open unlimited opportunities to enhance the reliability of reusable aerospace vehicles. Small-scale soft robots using magnetic soft matter are establishing new frontiers in targeted drug delivery and minimally invasive surgery. The current material design approach relies heavily on trial and error, which is inefficient and ineffective due to the large number of design parameters and the lack of understanding about material uncertainties and multiscale structure-function relationships. To fill these knowledge gaps and increase the design efficiency of complex material systems, my research team will develop a novel physics-consistent data-driven material design paradigm. The key novelty of our design paradigm is its integration of fundamental physics with modern data science. It will model the behaviors of complex material systems through a multiscale, multiphysics computational framework and leverage data mining and machine learning techniques for efficient material design and optimization. Specifically, we will construct accurate and robust computational techniques to numerically generate physics-consistent data complementary to scarce experimental data. We will devise effective homogenization schemes to connect material macroscopic properties with microscopic structures and mechanisms. Combining the above numerical strategies with machine learning techniques, we will reveal hidden material multiscale structure-function relationships that are otherwise difficult to discover. We will also systematically quantify material uncertainties originating from their random microstructures and fabrication processes, while identifying the material design parameters that optimize targeted performances. The physics-consistent data-driven material design paradigm represents a general methodology for material modeling, characterization, and discovery, which can be applied to various complex material systems and facilitate material innovations. These innovations will further drive technological transformations in medical devices, flexible electronics, and soft robotics, generating significant social, environmental, and economic benefits. Moreover, our research will advance the theories and techniques in scale-bridging, uncertainty quantification, and high-dimensional constrained optimization, which are fundamental research questions faced by many scientific disciplines. Located at the intersection of solid mechanics, numerical methods, materials science, and scientific computing, this research will impart participating students with key skills, such as theoretical derivation and computational programming, to succeed in the interdisciplinary research and development landscape of the future.