La Saponara Receives Prestigious NSF Career Award

Valeria La Saponara, assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering, has received a 2007 Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award. This five-year grant is the National Science Foundation’s most prestigious award in support of the early career development activities of teacher-scholars who most effectively integrate research and education within the mission of their institution.

The NSF award supports La Saponara and her students in their study of the design, manufacturing and modeling of composite bistable structures. Composites have been used since the 1970s in structures that require high ratios of stiffness and strength to weight, have low magnetic signatures and are low maintenance. They are extremely useful in aerospace, marine, automotive and civil engineering structures. The Boeing 787, the F-35 (Joint Strike Fighter) and the Airbus 380 use composite materials in load-bearing parts of their structures.

However, some composites are prone to catastrophic failure because of brittleness and an inability to stretch. A bistable structure, on the other hand, has the capacity to absorb energy from impacts and carry heavier loads as it stretches while withstanding damage before a sudden failure occurs. Some metals have such ductility, but are heavier than composites. The benefits of better composite materials could revolutionize the construction of a wide variety of vehicles and structures.

La Saponara and her students will also study ways to monitor composite materials for damage, using optic fiber sensors that are imbedded during the manufacturing process and monitored using Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) based equipment. MEMS technology uses micro-fabrication to integrate mechanical elements, sensors, actuators and electronics on a small silicon wafer.

The educational component of the research plan is a national student competition in which college students design crashworthy structures and middle school students compete on the design of a section for the test structure.