A research program based on numerical and theoretical methods will be established for the study of deformations involving changes of phase, mainly in elastic solids. Research will focus on the following aspects and applications: (1) effects of discontinuities in the strain fields surrounding crack tips in transformation-toughened ceramics; (2) kinetics of quasi-static equilibrium phase boundaries in elastic materials; (3) numerical methods for the modeling of progressive failure in solids; (4) the role of chaos in the mixing of phases in solids.
