Dirk Mohr

We develop experimentally-validated computational models to enable the optimal design and manufacturing of lightweight materials and structures that are subject to extreme loading conditions in real-life applications
We are passionate about mechanical problems that involve very large deformations and catastrophic failure. This includes the full spectrum from quasi-static to extreme dynamic loading conditions. Once we have understood how structures fail, we leverage this know-how to design new architected materials and structures with exceptional resistance to failure. The development of computational models in our group is always accompanied by carefully designed experiments that provide insight into the underlying physics and serve as basis for model validation. The development of suitable material manufacturing processes and the production of prototype materials is an integral part of our experimental activities.

Professor Dirk Mohr currently holds the Chair of Artificial Intelligence in Mechanics and Manufacturing (AIMM) at ETH’s Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering (MAVT). He joined the faculty of ETH in 2015 after conducting research at the Experimental Dynamics Group at the Solid Mechanics Laboratory at Ecole Polytechnique (France) and MIT’s Impact and Crashworthiness Lab. He was educated in Structural and Computational Mechanics at the University of Karlsruhe (Germany) and the Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées (France) with a fellowship from the German National Academic Foundation. He continued his graduate studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA) where he received his PhD in Applied Mechanics in 2003. Over the past fifteen years, he has spent about twelve months at the R&D departments of Daimler in Stuttgart and BMW in Munich. Professor Mohr's research activities include crashworthiness, thermo-mechanical behavior of materials at high strain rates and the mechanics of constructed cellular materials. He is the recepient of the Hetenyi Award (2007) from the Society of Experimental Mechanics and the IJP Young Investigator Award (2016) for his outstanding contributions to the field of plasticity. He is Associate Editor of the International Journal of Impact Engineering and the International Journal of Solids and Structures. He also serves on the editorial board of the journals Strain and the International Journal of Plasticity.