Irene Arias


Associate professor

LaCàN

Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya

Phone: (+34) 93 405 4181

email:

Campus Nord, C2

Jordi Girona 1-3

E-08034 Barcelona

Spain

 
 
  1. Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, February 2003. Advisor: Jan D. Achenbach [thesis]

  2. Ingeniero de Caminos, Canales y Puertos (B.S., M.S. minor in Structural Engineering), UPC, Barcelona, June 1998.

 

Education

Academic experience

  1. Associate Professor, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (08 - now).

  2. Assistant Professor, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (04 - 08).

  3. Postdoctoral Scholar, Computational Solid Mechanics Group (Prof. Michael Ortiz), Graduate Aeronautical Laboratories, California Institute of Technology (03 - 04).

  1. modeling and simulation of active materials

  2. fracture in electromechanical materials

  3. phase-field models of fracture

  4. ferroelectric materials



Recently, I have focused on modeling flexoelectricity in solids. Flexoelectricity is an electromechanical coupling different from piezoelectricity, by which electric polarization is generated by strain gradients, or strain is caused by electric field gradients. Flexoelectricity is significant only at small length-scales, but could significantly broaden the class of materials used in electromechanical transduction. However, exploiting this effect requires a new conceptual framework to harness field gradients.


See my publications here.

Selected recent publications

Research Interests