Nonlinear dynamics 1. The analysis, design and manufacture of advanced materials is an interdisciplinary area in which the mathematical sciences make a large contribution.
Smart materials are the functional ingredients of actuators, sensors and transducers.
Such materials may undergo a phase transformation when some mechanical, thermal, electrical or magnetic factor changes and vice versa. Advanced composites are challenging to analyze and design because of the presence of many interacting length scales. Smart materials and advanced composites are typically highly nonlinear. In seeking to understand the relationship between the microscopic and macroscopic length scales of these materials, fundamental issues in nonlinear analysis and simulation arise. In addition, work on the fundamental level of basic equations and constitutive laws is required.