Doctoral Position in Contact Mechanics of Architected Interfaces

About the role

The Professorship of Solid Mechanics (SMEC) in the Institute for Building Materials at ETH Zurich seeks a doctoral student to study how local contact interactions in architected materials shape their macroscopic interface response. The project combines physics-based numerical modeling, theoretical reasoning and concepts from rough-surface and multiscale mechanics, and aims to develop design principles. The position is fixed-term, based in Zurich, with a flexible start date.

Key responsibilities

• Investigate how local contact interactions in architected materials collectively determine their macroscopic interface response.
• Connect cell-scale mechanics with multiscale/rough-surface contact mechanics to develop effective descriptions of architected interfaces.
• Develop and use numerical models of lattice materials to study the principles of contact behavior.
• Analyze how architectural features, material properties and length scales affect contact area, pressure distributions, interface stiffness and load transmission.
• Seek statistical or homogenized descriptions linking individual contacting cells to the effective behavior of large architected interfaces.

Required profile

• MSc degree in mechanics, physics, engineering, material science, computational science or a related field.
• Background in mechanics, applied physics, computational mechanics, scientific computing or a related field; a foundation in solid mechanics, contact mechanics or multiscale modeling is particularly relevant.
• Experience implementing scientific code and validating results against reference data.
• Fluent English (oral and written).
• Team player with good communication skills.

Required skills

• Prior programming experience in Python and use of version control.
• Advantageous: experience with architected materials, rough-surface contact mechanics, homogenization, statistical mechanics or multiscale methods (these can be learned during the studies).

What we offer

• A dynamic, international and supportive research group.
• Public transport season tickets and car sharing.
• Sports offered by the ASVZ, childcare and pension benefits.

Applications must be submitted online through the university's application portal, with a CV, academic transcript, a brief statement on the project idea and the names and contact details of two references.