Conference on Recent Developments in Continuum Mechanics and Partial Differential Equations

University Of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln NE

Investigators

Abstract

This award provides partial support for participants in the "Conference on Recent Developments in Continuum Mechanics and Partial Differential Equations" held at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL), April 18-19, 2015. The subject of continuum mechanics is concerned with modeling the mechanical behavior of materials as continua: solids (elasticity) and liquids (fluid dynamics). It underlies numerous engineering applications, including the behavior of architectural structures, tires and other vehicle parts, aerospace vehicles, and a wide range of other deformable substances. Partial differential equations provide a mathematical language for expressing relationships among quantities of interest, such as the distortion of an elastic body or the velocity in a fluid, and most mathematical models in engineering and science are expressed in terms of partial differential equations. This meeting will be held in conjunction with the Howard Rowlee Lecture, an endowed public lecture presented annually by the Department of Mathematics at UNL. This year's lecture will be given on April 17th, and the timing and coordination of the Lecture and the Conference should enhance the impact of both. The purpose of the Conference is to foster contacts between mathematicians (junior, senior, and all points in between) within a broad spectrum of applied mathematics. The Conference will comprise a series of presentations by established, prominent researchers, as well as recent Ph.D. recipients. The meeting brings together specialists who, owing to their respective fields of study, might not otherwise have occasion to meet and exchange ideas. The meeting will focus on recent advances in continuum mechanics, partial differential equations, and related fields in applied mathematics. The interests of the speakers cover areas such as numerical analysis, variational problems, mathematical modeling, singular integrals, pseudo-differential operators, dispersive equations, and nonlinear acoustics. The lectures will address some of the major problems in these fields, including modeling aspects, and analytic and numerical results. They will also present new techniques that have been recently developed, as well as open problems and possible venues for their investigation. Conference web site: http://www.math.unl.edu/~mfoss3/2015conference/