About Me
I currently hold a joint position as a PhD candidate in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois and a visiting researcher at California Institute of Technology. I received my B.S. from Sharif University of Technology in 2014 and my M.Sc. from UIUC in 2016.
My PhD work focuses on studying mechanical metamaterials for wave mitigation and control. In particular, I’m interested in developing new designs that could be exploited for wave modulation, filtering, and isolation in the fields of structural/earthquake engineering.
As a Master’s student, my research mainly focused on developing an efficient numerical method for fault rupture simulations. The numerical method designed is capable of modeling earthquake ruptures on faults with near-field nonlinearities/heterogeneities efficiently and lays the foundation for earthquake cycle simulations.
Projects
Mechanical Metamaterials for Wave Mitigation and Control (Aug. 2017 – Present)
This ongoing project, which is the core of my PhD work, focuses on studying mechanical metamaterials and design of periodic media to control, modulate or mitigate wave propagation in structures. I’m particularly interested in developing new designs that could be exploited for wave filtering and isolation in the fields of structural and earthquake engineering.
Frame-Spine System with Force-Limiting Connections for Low-Damage Seismic Resilient Buildings (Oct. 2018 – Present)
This ongoing project is an international (US-Japan) research effort to develop a novel, transformative frame-spine system with practical force-limiting connections to comprehensively control multi-modal response and protect a building from both lateral story drift concentrations and large accelerations.
Mechanics of Earthquakes and Granular Matter (Aug. 2014 – Aug. 2017)
This project was focused on developing efficient numerical methods for fault rupture simulations on faults with near-field heterogeneities/nonlinearities or complex geometries. The numerical method we have developed is capable of tackling these challenges and lays the foundation for earthquake cycle simulations with unprecedented resolution.
Publications
[1] Hajarolasvadi, S. & Elbanna, A. (2020). Dispersion properties and dynamics of ladder-like meta-chains (under review). pdf
[2] Hajarolasvadi, S., & Elbanna, A. (2019). Dynamics of metamaterial beams consisting of periodically-coupled parallel flexural elements: A theoretical study. Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics. pdf
[3] Ma, X., Hajarolasvadi, S., Albertini, G., Kammer, D., & Elbanna, A. (2018). A hybrid finite element‐spectral boundary integral approach: Applications to dynamic rupture modeling in unbounded domains. Int J Numer Anal Methods Geomech. 2018;1‐22. pdf
[4] Hajarolasvadi, S., & Elbanna, A. E. (2017). A new hybrid numerical scheme for modelling elastodynamics in unbounded media with near-source heterogeneities. Geophysical Journal International, 211(2), 851–864. pdf
[5] Hajarolasvadi, S. (2016). A new hybrid numerical scheme for simulating fault ruptures with near-fault bulk inhomogeneities (Master’s thesis), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL. pdf
Presentations
[1] Hajarolasvadi, S., and Elbanna, A. Dynamics of Metamaterial Beams Consisting of Periodically-Coupled, Parallel Flexural Elements, Engineering Mechanics Institute Conference (EMI) 2019, Pasadena, CA (2019). pdf
[2] Hajarolasvadi, S., and Elbanna, A new hybrid numerical scheme for modelling elastodynamics in unbounded media with near-source heterogeneities, US National Congress for Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (USNC/TAM) 2018, Chicago, IL (2018). pdf
[3] Hajarolasvadi, S. and Elbanna, A., A New Hybrid Numerical Scheme for Simulating Fault Ruptures with Near-Fault Bulk Inhomogeneities, Engineering Mechanics Institute Conference (EMI) 2017, San Diego, CA (2017). pdf
[4] Hajarolasvadi, S., and Elbanna, A., A new hybrid numerical scheme for modelling elastodynamics in unbounded media with near-source heterogeneities, invited talk for the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute student chapter in Georgia Tech, Atlanta, GA (2017). pdf
Poster Presentations
[1] Hajarolasvadi, S., and Elbanna, A., A New Hybrid Numerical Scheme for Simulating Fault Ruptures with Near Fault Bulk Inhomogeneities, American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting 2017, New Orleans, LA (2017). pdf
[2] Hajarolasvadi, S., and Elbanna, A., A New Hybrid Numerical Scheme for Simulating Fault Ruptures
with Near-Fault Bulk Inhomogeneities, Center for Geologic Storage of CO2 (GSCO2) 2017 Meeting, Urbana, IL (2017). pdf
[3] Hajarolasvadi, S., and Elbanna, A., How We Learned to Stop Worrying and Start Loving Bulk
Nonlinearities, 2nd Midwest Workshop on Mechanics of Materials and Structures (Mid. Mech. Mat.), Chicago, IL (2016). pdf
[4] Hajarolasvadi, S., and Elbanna, A., A New Hybrid Numerical Scheme for Simulating Fault Ruptures with Near-Fault Bulk Inhomogeneities, Society of Engineering Science (SES) 53rd Annual Technical Meeting, College Park, MD (2016). pdf
Teaching Experience
I have been a Graduate Teaching Assistant for the following courses:
- Earthquake Engineering (CEE 572) Spring 2019, 2020
- Steel Structures II (CEE 462) Spring 2016 – 2018
- Numerical Analysis (CS 450) Fall 2017
- Seismic Steel Design (CEE 598) Fall 2016
- Steel Structures I (CEE 460) Fall 2015, 2019
- Reinforced Concrete I (CEE 461) Spring 2015
Awards and Honors
- Rising Stars in CEE – Carnegie Mellon University 2020
- UIUC Graduate College – Dissertation Completion Fellowship 2020 – 2021
- Top Downloaded Paper 2018-2019 May 2020
- UIUC Graduate College – Dissertation Travel Grant Fall 2019
- Teachers Ranked as Excellent Spring 2016, 17, 18
- AGU Outstanding Student Presentation Award (OSPA) Dec. 2017
- Teachers Ranked as Outstanding Fall 2016
- Structural Engineering Departmental Fellowship 2014 – 2015