Life-Cycle Damage Mechanics (Fatigue / Corrosion / Fracture)

Infrastructure performance is shaped by cumulative deterioration and environmental exposure.
DM2L advances multi-scale, mechanics-based life-cycle models that quantify fatigue, corrosion,
and fracture processes and integrate these mechanisms into reliability and durability-informed planning.

Core Research Focus

  • Multi-scale fatigue and fracture modeling (micro/meso/macro)
  • Corrosion-induced degradation and durability assessment
  • Reliability-based life-cycle performance and uncertainty quantification
  • Variable-amplitude loading and microstructure-sensitive damage evolution
  • Maintenance, inspection, and rehabilitation strategy optimization

What Has Been Done

  • Developed multi-scale fatigue damage frameworks and microstructure-sensitive crack growth estimation
  • Advanced computational approaches for life-cycle damage quantification of infrastructure materials/details
  • Integrated durability and reliability concepts for long-term performance assessment

What We Are Doing Now

  • Coupling deterioration models with hazard-driven loading to assess performance under extreme events
  • Developing scalable (physics + data) approaches for durability-informed reliability
  • Linking life-cycle deterioration with system-level resilience planning

Strategic Plan

  1. Develop predictive life-cycle digital twin concepts for infrastructure durability
  2. Integrate deterioration with multi-hazard mechanics for realistic risk projections
  3. Enable reliability-based optimization for inspection and maintenance planning
  4. Connect component deterioration to network-level performance and resilience outcomes

How This Connects

Life-cycle damage mechanics provides the durability foundation for multi-hazard performance assessment and
strengthens reliability modeling for lifelines, interdependent networks, and community resilience planning.


Figure (TBA)