Recent advances in nonlinear modeling and numerical methods for smart materials and structures.

Smart structures employ multi-functional materials, which take advantage of a wide spectrum of constitutive couplings ranging from thermo-mechanical to electro-magneto-mechanical to chemo-mechanical material behavior. Such smart multi-functional materials, which make use of the coupled constitutive equations, are typically embodied into load bearing structures as sensors or actuators. Diverse non-linear effects, including physical and geometrical ones, are employed for both, smart materials and structures. These non-linearities range from non-linear material response and hysteresis phenomena, e.g., of piezo-electric materials and shape memory alloys to thin-walled structures subjected to large deformations to the combination of both as, e.g., in nite strain problems of electro-active polymers. The mini-symposium focuses on the modeling of smart materials and structures within the framework of continuum theories of thermo-electro-magneto-chemo-mechanics and structural mechanics as well as on advanced numerical methods used for the analysis of smart structures and/or their underlying coupled material behavior. We welcome contribution including (but not limited to):

• Constitutive modeling of smart materials: piezoelectric materials, shape memory alloys, electro-
  active polymers, ferroelectric materials, multi-ferroics, etc.
• Theories for beam, plate or shell type smart structures
• Smart composites with embodied smart materials: Macro ber composites, functionally graded
  materials, etc.
• Advanced numerical methods for smart materials and structures
• Engineering applications of smart materials and structures