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Adam C. Powell IV
BS Materials
Science and Engineering, MIT
PhD Materials
Science and Engineering, MIT
hazelsct@mit.edu
Dr. Powell's Research
The theme of most of the Powell Group's research has been
the role of transport in materials structure formation at
the micron to millimeter scale. This has focused primarily
on extending the phase field methodology, which is a thermodynamics-based
diffuse interface approach to modeling phase transformations
involving moving interfaces with changing topologies. Phase
field extensions include fluid-structure interactions and
electrochemistry, with application to electrolysis and batteries,
semi-solid metals, and polymer membranes. Their primary tool
is the open-source multi-physics code RheoPlast.
A second project focuses on modeling effects of second-phase
defects such as voids and inclusions on thermomechanical behavior
using the boundary element method, implemented by their open-source
code Julian.
Performance of mechanical parts such as metal castings suffers
from such defects, and though such defects are unavoidable,
it is often possible to exert some control over their location
and shape. The boundary element method computes solutions
of linear partial differential equations on a body, while
only requiring discretization of the surface. It is thus straightforward
to introduce voids or inclusions into a geometry by discretizing
their interfaces with the host material, and matrix partition
techniques allow rapid solution of the equation for multiple
configurations of such defects.
Selected Publications
A. Powell, P. Minson, G. Trapaga and U. Pal, "Mathematical
Modeling of Vapor Plume Focusing in Electron Beam Evaporation,"
Metall. Mater. Trans. 32A, 1959–1966
(2001).
A. Powell and D. Dussault, "Scaling Laws and Instabilities
in Electric Field-Enhanced Smelting and Refining of Steel,"
Scand. J. Metall. 32, 33–36
(2003).
A. Powell and D. Dussault, "Floating Solids: Combining
Phase Field and Fluid-Structure Interactions," accepted
for publication in Appl. Numer. Anal. Comp. Math.
B. Zhou and A. Powell, "Phase Field Modeling of Liquid-Liquid
Demixing during Immersion Precipitation,'' accepted for publication
pending revisions in J. Membrane Sci.
Teaching Involvements
Spring 2006 3.21
Kinetic Processes of Materials
Spring 2006 3.044 Materials Processing
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