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Matthew Brake headshot

Matthew Brake

Assistant Professor

Department of Mechanical Engineering

CONTACT

brake@rice.edu

WEBSITE(S)| https://mech.rice.edu/users/brake

SURF Mentoring

Potential projects/topics: We have multiple projects in the area of nonlinear dynamics and tribology, both experimental and numerical depending on the students' interests and capabilities.

Potential skills gained: Projects are generally tailored to a student's interest. So the skills gained can vary quite dramatically from one project to the next. For instance - nonlinear dynamics testing, system identification, signal processing, finite element analysis, Matlab/Python experience, etc.

Required qualifications: None. Familiarity with programming is helpful.

Direct mentor: Faculty/P.I., Post-doctorate, Graduate Student

Student Project Titles List

Modeling and Experimental Characterization of a Low-Profile Mass-Spring-Damper System for Minimizing Vibrations

The Effects of Dip Coatings on the Contact Surfaces between Brake-Reuss Beams

Is the molecular structure of a material the main contributing factor behind its vibrational damping ratio?

Research Areas

The central question of Dr. Brake’s research is how can we design and predict the response of an assembled structure that contains strong nonlinearities. This research is strongly motivated by the aerospace, defense, and automotive industries. To this end, the focus of Dr. Brake’s recent research has been constitutive modeling for impact dynamics, joint mechanics, the application of additive manufacturing for designing system level assemblies, and the application of a branch of complex number theory (termed hyper dual numbers) to developing parameterized models. Presently, there are multiple positions available in Dr. Brake’s Mechadynamics Laboratory, including (but not limited to) interfacial mechanics, application of complex number theory to mechanical engineering, and additive manufacturing.