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Contact Info Anderson Hall Tufts University Medford, MA 02155 Tel: 617-627- 6137 Fax: 617-627-3994 Email Professor View > Publications > Research

Luis Dorfmann
Associate Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering

Education
Ph.D., 1992, Structural Mechanics, University of California, Los Angeles
M.Sc., 1989, Structural Mechanics, University of California, Los Angeles
Laurea, 1987, Structural Engineering, University of Padova, Italy

Registrations
Registered Professional Engineer, CA, License Number: 60775

Teaching

• Strength of Materials
• Mechanical Behavior of Materials
• Biomechanics of Soft Tissue
• Nonlinear Finite Element Methods

Research Interests

• Nonlinear Magneto-and Electroelastic Deformations
• Mechanics of Rubberlike Solids
• Fiber-Reinforced Composites
• Mechanics of Biological Tissues
• Mechanics of Biocompatible Materials

Visit the Mechanics of Soft Materials Laboratory web site to learn more about Professor Dorfmann's research.

	The primary aim of this multidisciplinary research is to develop an integrated approach to analyze abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) biomechanics, wall stress development and rupture risk for single patients. The transformative impact is that all steps of the analysis will be fully based on information exclusively derived from that patient, including lesion shape, wall material properties, experimentally measured flow field characteristics and wall pressure, and wall stress computation. Read more.
	Magneto-sensitive (MS) elastomers are materials that change their mechanical behavior in response to the application of magnetic fields. They have attracted considerable interest recently because of their potential for providing relatively simple and quiet variable-stiffness devices for use as rapid-response interfaces between electronic controls and mechanical systems. Read more.
	Biocompatible and biodegradable polymer hydrogels are useful carriers to deliver bioactive molecules and cells for biomedical applications, such as in tissue engineering and controlled drug release. Hydrogels used in these types of applications have mechanical and structural properties similar to some tissues and extracellular matrices and can be implanted for tissue restoration or for local release of therapeutic factors. Read more.
	In this project we examine the mechanical properties of muscles in a soft-bodied arthropod under both passive and stimulated conditions. In particular, we examine the ventral interior lateral muscle of the tobacco hornworm caterpillar, Manduca sexta, and show that its response is qualitatively similar to the behavior of particle reinforced rubber. Read more.

Selected Professional Activities

• Co-organizer with Roger Bustamante: Nonlinear elasticity, 8th EUROMECH Solid Mechanics Conference (ESMC2012), University of Graz, Austria, July 9-13, 2012.
   
• Co-Organizer with Markus Buehler, Roberto Ballarini, Christian Hellmich and Dinesh Katti: 11th Symposium on Biological and Biologically inspired materials, Engineering Mechanics Institute 2012 (EMI 2012), University of Notre Dame, June 17-20, 2012.
   
• Co-Organizer with Roberto Ballarini and Markus Buehler: Biomaterials and biomechanics, Engineering Mechanics Institute 2011 (EMI 2011), Northeastern University, June 2-4, 2011.
   
• Organizer and Co-Chair with Prof. Jose Merodio: Symposium in Recognition of the Contributions of Ray Ogden, 47^th Annual Meeting of the Society of Engineering Science, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, October 3-6, 2010.
   
• Organizer and Co-Chair with Prof. Jim Kelly: The Nonlinear Behavior of Rubberlike Solids: Experimental Characterization and Modeling, Engineering Mechanics Conference (EMI2010), University of Southern California, Los Angeles, August 8-11, 2010.
   
• Organizer and Co-Chair with Prof. Markus Buehler: Biological Materials and Constituents from Nano to Macro, 16^th US National Conference of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (USNCTAM2010), Pennsylvania State University, June 27-July 2, 2010.
   
• Organizer and Co-Chair with Prof. Ray W. Ogden: Nonlinear Electroelastic and Magnetoelastic Deformations, 7^th EUROMECH Solid Mechanics Conference (ESMC2009), Lisbon, Portugal, September 7-11, 2009.
   
• Organizer and Co-Chair with Prof. Ray W. Ogden: Electro-and Magneto-Mechanical Interactions in Solids, 3^rd Canadian Conference on Nonlinear Solid Mechanics (CanCNSM), Toronto, Canada, June 18-22, 2008.
   
• Organizer and Co-Chair with Prof. Ray W. Ogden and Prof. Alan Wineman: New Directions in Large Deformation Solid Mechanics, 44^th Annual Meeting of the Society of Engineering Science, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, October 21-24, 2007.
   
• Organizer: Workshop on Physical Aspects of Multiscale Modeling. Bled, Slovenia, September 2004.
   
• Organizer and Co-Chair with Prof. Aleksey D. Drozdov: Advanced Course on Mechanics of Solid Polymers: The Kinetics of Irreversible Processes. International Center for Mechanical Sciences (CISM), Udine, Italy, 2003.
   
• Organizer and Co-Chair with Prof. Aleksey D. Drozdov and Prof. Ray W. Ogden: Workshop: Inelasticity and Viscoelasticity of Rubber: From Theory to Application, Vienna 2002.
   
• Organizer and Co-Chair with Prof. Aleksey D. Drozdov and Prof. Ray W. Ogden: EUROMECH Colloquium 438: Constitutive Equations for Polymer Microcomposites: On the Border of Mechanics and Chemistry, Vienna 2002.
   
• Organizer and Co-Chair with Dr. Alan Muhr: European Conference on Constitutive Models for Rubber, ECCMR, Vienna, 1999.