McCormick School Professor and Walter P. Murphy Professor of Civil Engineering and (by courtesy) Professor of Materials Science and Engineering

Structural Engineer, Civil Engineering, Czech Technical University, Prague 1960

Ph.D., Structural Mechanics, Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, Prague 1963

Postgraduate diploma in Physics, Charles University, Prague 1966

Docent habil., Czech Technical University, Prague 1967

Contact Info

Macro/micro-modeling of fracture, damage, scaling, damage, size effects material randomness, plasticity, creep and hygrothermal effects

Our research interest lies in the mechanics of solids and structures, with applications in structural and mechanical engineering. Our group works mainly on fracture mechanics, size effects, and scaling of failure, stability of structures, micromechanics of damage in materials, inelastic constitutive laws, viscoelasticity, and creep and hygrothermal effects in nanoporous materials (chiefly cements). We also conduct research on probabilistic mechanics, plasticity, finite strain theory, numerical methods, and materials testing. Our research, which emphasizes mathematical modeling, has mainly dealt with concrete, rock, sea ice, fiber composites and soils, and, recently, with braided composites for cars, hybrid joints for ships, rigid foams, shape memory alloys and dry snow slabs. Currently we focus on size effect, structural safety, probabilistic analysis of quasibrittle failure, including the tail distribution strength, and predictions of creep effects in concrete structures, with applications to fiber-polymer composites for aircraft and ships, metallic thin films, reinforced concrete structures and granular materials.

Associations and Awards

Member, National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Engineering, Washington, DC Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Rome; Austrian Academy of Sciences; Academy of Engrg. of Czech Rep.; Academia di Scienze e Lettere, Milan.

Six Honorary Doctorates (Boulder, Prague, Karlsruhe, Milan, Lyon and Vienna).

Prager Medal from Society of Engineering Science (SES); von Karman Medal, Newmark Medal, Croes Medal, Huber Prize, TY Lin Award, Honorary Membership, and Lifetime Achievement Award from ASCE; Warner Medal from ASME; L'Hermite Medal from RILEM; Roy Award from Am. Ceramic, Soc.; ICOSSAR Award; Humboldt Prize, Germany; Torroja Medal, Spain; Solin Medal, Prague; Stodola Medal, Slovakia; etc.

Former President of Society of Engrg. Science, and of  IA-FRAMCOS; Former Editor, Journal of Engineering Mechanics, ASCE; Regional Editor, Int. J. of Fracture

Selected Publications

(Selected publications below from among 490+ journal articles and 6 books)

Scaling of Structural Strength. London: Hermes-Penton (2002) (updated French translation 2004), 2^nd ed. Elsevier 2005.

Fracture and Size Effect [with J. Planas]. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press (1998).

Inelastic Analysis of Structures [with M. Jirasek]; J. Wiley (2002).

Stability of Structures: Elastic, Inelastic, Fracture and Damage Theories, 2nd. Ed., Dover, New York 2003.

Scaling theory for quasibrittle structural failure. Proc., National Academy of Sciences 101 (37), 13397—13399 (2002).

Probability distribution of energetic-statistical size effect in quasibrittle fracture. Probabilistic Engrg. Mechanics 19 (4), 307—319 (2004).

Temperature effect on concrete creep modeled by microprestress-solidification theory (with G. Cusatis and L. Cedolin), J. of Engrg. Mechanics ASCE 130 (6) 691—699 (2004).

Is the cause of size effect on structural strength fractal or energetic-statistical? [with A. Yavari] Engrg. Fracture Mechanics 72, 1—31 (2005).

Epitaxially influenced boundary layer model for size effect in thin metallic films [Z. Guo, H. Espinosa, Y. Zhu, B. Peng]. J. of Appl. Physics, 97, 073506-1 -- 073506-13 (2005).

Activation energy based extreme value statistics and size effect in brittle and quasibrittle fracture (with S.D. Pang). J. of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids} 55, 2007, 91 - 134.

Complete Publication and Book list (Adobe PDF document)