I joined the Computational Mechanics Lab in January 2019, and it has been a great experience. My research focuses on fracture mechanics, where I use the phase field approach to simulate how cracks form and grow in materials. My main goal is to create a computationally efficient method for solving phase-field fracture problems. This will help us address more realistic and practical issues. To achieve this, I am focusing on space-time adaptivity and parallelizing the code. Space-time adaptivity means adjusting the computational mesh and time steps dynamically to capture the details of the fracture process accurately. Parallelization allows us to use high-performance computers to solve large problems faster.

In our lab, we mostly use open-source software for our research. I use FEniCS for finite element analysis, which is an excellent tool that makes our work easier and more efficient. Besides fracture mechanics, my work also includes topology optimization for large-scale practical problems. Topology optimization finds the best material distribution within a design space for optimal performance. Our team is working on using phase field methods for large-scale topology optimization problems that have real-world relevance. This involves developing new algorithms and techniques to handle the complexity and scale of these problems efficiently.