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Robert L. Lowe

Associate Professor

Full-Time Faculty

School of Engineering: Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Contact

Email: Robert Lowe
Phone: 937-229-5334
Kettering Laboratories Room 365 G
Website: Visit Site

Bio

Professor Lowe’s research and teaching interests lie at the intersection of mechanics, materials, structures, and computational modeling. A particular focus of his research group is the large-deformation, multi-physics constitutive modeling of advanced materials — including soft piezoelectrics, dielectric elastomers, and additively manufactured (3D-printed) elastomers and metals. His group's constitutive models are typically implemented within analytical and/or in-house/commercial computational tools to enable predictive simulations of component/structural-level deformation and failure. These novel predictive tools, and the basic scientific advancements that underpin them, are ultimately brought to bear in emerging applications and technologies. Professor Lowe is the author of numerous technical publications and co-author of the textbook Fundamentals of Continuum Mechanics.

Selected Publications

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles
  • Cooley, C. G., & Lowe, R. L. (2022). Unusual nonlinear frequency response in circular dielectric elastomer membranes excited by fluctuating through-thickness voltages. Accepted for publication in Mechanics Research Communications; forthcoming.
  • Seidt, J. D., Park, C.-K., Buyuk, M., Lowe, R. L., Wang, L., Carney, K. S., Du Bois, P., Gilat, A., & Kan, C.-D. (2022).  An experimental investigation of the influence of the state of stress on the ductile fracture of 2024-T351 aluminum. Accepted for publication in the ASME Journal of Engineering Materials and Technology; forthcoming.
  • Cooley, C. G., & Lowe, R. L. (2022). In-plane nonlinear vibration of circular dielectric elastomer membranes with extreme stretchability. Accepted for publication in the European Journal of Mechanics – A/Solids; to appear. 
  • Yang, L. X., Yang, L. B., & Lowe, R. L. (2021). A viscoelasticity model for polymers: Time, temperature, and hydrostatic pressure dependent Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio across transition temperatures and pressures. Mechanics of Materials, 157, 103839.
  • Spulak, N., Lowe, R. L., Seidt, J. D., Gilat, A., Park, C. K., & Carney, K. S. (2020). Ductile fracture under in-plane biaxial tension and out-of-plane compression. International Journal of Solids and Structures, 202, 234-242.
Peer-Reviewed Conference Articles
  • Bielefeldt, B., Beblo, R., Lawson, K., & Lowe, R. (2022). Development of material property feasibility constraints for a multiscale topology optimization framework using radial basis function interpolations. Accepted for publication in the Proceedings of the ASME 2022 Conference on Smart Materials, Adaptive Structures, and Intelligent Systems; forthcoming.
  • Bielefeldt, B., Beblo, R., Deaton, J., Lawson, K., & Lowe, R. (2022). Exploring a multiscale topology optimization design space using a parametric L-system approach. AIAA SciTech 2022 Forum, AIAA 2022-2524.
  • Lowe, R. L., Beckett, J. G., Cooley, C. G., Bai, Z., & Kladitis, P. E. (2021). Soft piezoelectric composites: Synthesis, electro-elastic property characterization, and non-linear constitutive modeling. In Proceedings of the ASME 2021 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, Vol. 12: Mechanics of Solids, Structures, and Fluids, paper ID: IMECE2021-71197, V012T12A038.
  • Cooley, C. G., & Lowe, R. L. (2021). Dynamic stiffness of dielectric elastomer isolators. In Proceedings of the ASME 2021 Conference on Smart Materials, Adaptive Structures, and Intelligent Systems, paper ID: SMASIS2021-68371, V001T07A016.
  • Ul Hosna Meem, A., Rudolph, K., Cox, A., Andwan, A., Osborn, T., & Lowe, R. (2021). Impact of process parameters on the tensile properties of DLP additively manufactured ELAST-BLK 10 UV-Curable Elastomer. In Proceedings of the ASME 2021 International Manufacturing Science and Engineering Conference, 85079, paper ID: MSEC2021-64002, V002T06A031.
  • Whitney, T. J., Elsbrock, A. R., & Lowe, R. L. (2020). High speed puncture properties of additively manufactured ULTEM 9085 exposed to hot/wet conditions. In Proceedings of the American Society for Composites – Thirty-Fifth Technical Conference on Composite Materials, DEStech Publications, Inc., 121-134.
  • Lowe, R. L., & Cooley, C. G. (2020). Nonlinear dynamics of a dielectric elastomer membrane under compressive loading. In Proceedings of the ASME 2020 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, Vol. 12: Mechanics of Solids, Structures, and Fluids, paper ID: IMECE2020-24275, V012T12A032.
  • Cooley, C. G., & Lowe, R. L. (2020). Non-linear vibration of thick dielectric membrane disks with radial loads. In Proceedings of the ASME 2020 Conference on Smart Materials, Adaptive Structures, and Intelligent Systems, paper ID: SMASIS2020-2326, V001T02A007.

Selected Honors and Awards

  • New Materials Educator Award, ASEE Materials Division, 2022
  • AFRL Summer Faculty Fellowship, AFRL/RQTI Turbine Engine Integrity Branch, Aerospace Systems Directorate, 2021 & 2019 (two-time recipient)
  • UD-UDRI Summer Research Fellowship, UDRI Structures and Materials Evaluation Group, 2018

Courses Taught

  • EGR 201 – Mechanics I (Statics)
  • MEE 312 – Engineering Materials
  • MEE 312L – Materials Laboratory
  • MEE 460 – Engineering Analysis
  • EGM 503 – Introduction to Continuum Mechanics
  • MEE 590 – Mechanics of Soft Materials

Degrees

  • Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, Ohio State University, 2015
  • M.S., Mechanical Engineering, Ohio State University, 2005
  • B.S., Mechanical Engineering, Ohio Northern University, 2003

Professional Activities

  • American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
  • Society of Engineering Science (SES)
  • United States Association for Computational Mechanics (USACM)
  • American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE)
  • Sigma Xi (scientific research) honor society

Research Interests

  • Mechanics of soft functional materials
  • Mechanics of additively manufactured materials, from metals to hydrogels
  • Plastic deformation and ductile fracture of aerospace metals
  • Multi-scale, multi-physics topology optimization
  • Constitutive modeling
  • Computational mechanics and the finite-element method
  • Structural analysis and vibrations/wave propagation