Stanford professor Charbel Farhat will provide insights into his novel simulation method for complex materials in the Aurel Stodola Lecture 2025. The public lecture will take place on 19 September 2025 at 15.30 in Audi Max (HG F 30).
When spacecrafts land on Mars, their safety critically depends on the parachute. But how can we test on Earth whether a parachute will function reliably under the extreme conditions of the Martian atmosphere? Conventional simulations are reaching their limits when it comes to accurately modeling the behaviour of such complex, braided materials.
Charbel Farhat, Vivian Church Hoff Professor of Aircraft Structures at Stanford University (USA), demonstrates in his lecture how physics and machine learning together open up new paths in materials research. His method combines physics-based models with artificial neural networks to simulate parachute behaviour accurately and efficiently across multiple length scales. This approach promises not only progress in space exploration but could also be extended to other complex materials.
With this event, the Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering (D-MAVT) honours outstanding individuals in the engineering sciences. The selected speaker is awarded the ETH Stodola Medal.
The lecture series is named after ETH Professor Aurel Stodola (1859–1942), a pioneer of technical thermodynamics and developer of the first functional prosthetic arm.
Programme
- Welcome:
Professor Dennis Kochmann, Head of Department, D-MAVT
Professor George Haller, Head of the Institute for Mechanical Systems - Keynote lecture:
Professor Charbel Farhat, Stanford University - Reception for all guests:
In the foyer outside Audi Max
There is no registration required for the event.
Further Information
Aurel Stodola LectureNote on the translation
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