Dr. Ahmad Varvani-Farahani
Areas of Academic Interest
Fatigue fracture analysis
Cyclic plasticity and ratcheting
Materials testing and analysis
Stress analysis
Finite element analysis
Elasticity and plasticity
Composite materials
Biomaterials, artificial tissues and implants
Spotlight
Over 70 per cent of machinery parts and load-bearing components undergo premature failure. With so many lives on the line daily – people in cars, in aircrafts and in hospitals – reliability of mechanical devices is of the utmost importance. For Ahmad Varvani-Farahani, failure is not an option. Following the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986, Varvani was motivated to advance the reliability of machines and space vehicles through his education in mechanical engineering.
Today, he is ambitious to upgrade quality of life in society through design of risk-free and durable devices. Varvani’s focus is to broadly develop models and theories on damage assessment and failure of materials. This ensures performance and structural integrity of vehicles, airplanes and diagnostic health-care equipment, making society safer today than it was yesterday. Research outcomes and innovative ideas developed within his group have helped to solve several challenging engineering problems and benefited society and industry with durable parts and structures. “We assess the magnitude of damage caused by dynamic loads in automotive, aviation and medical fields. That’s how we protect lives.”
“Over the next century, researchers and engineers will solve challenging mechanical problems by further innovating the foundations of physics and mechanics.”
- Ahmadzadeh, G.R., and Varvani-Farahani, A. “Energy-Based Damage Descriptions to Assess Fatigue Life of Steel Alloys Undergoing Various Loading Spectra.” International Journal of Damage Mechanics, vol. 28, no. 1, 2019, pp. 35-57.
- Karvan, P., and Varvani-Farahani, A. “Ratcheting Assessment of Visco-Plastic Alloys at Ambient Temperature by Means of the A-V and O-W Hardening Rule Frameworks.” Mechanics of Materials, vol. 130, 2019, pp. 95-104.
- Shekarian, A., and Varvani-Farahani, A. “Concurrent Ratcheting and Stress Relaxation at the Notch Root of Steel Samples undergoing Asymmetric Loading Cycles.” Fatigue Fracture of Engineering Materials and Structures, vol. 42, 2019, pp. 1402-1413.
- Varvani-Farahani, A., and Nayebi, A. “Ratcheting in Pressurized Equipment and Pipes: Review on Fundamental Analysis, Modeling, Design and Safety Challenges.” Fatigue and Fracture of Engineering Materials and Structures, vol. 41, no. 3, 2018, pp. 503-538.
- Varvani-Farahani, A. “A New Energy-Critical Plane Parameter for Fatigue Life Assessment of Various Metallic Materials Subjected to In-phase and Out-of-phase Multiaxial Fatigue Loading Conditions.” International Journal of Fatigue, vol. 22, 2000, 295-305.
- Multiaxial Fatigue Research Facilities