Current Challenges in Materials Design

Design means to analyse, compare, manage and connect a large amount of data, ideas, and information to develop, expand and materialize a starting idea, which was born to solve the initial problem. In this process, the engineer is the bridge between the creative moment and its real implementation. The evolutionary characteristic of the design procedure often requires an iterative approach. Different professionals together need to improve the solution step by step towards best results. Indeed, engineering design is never an individual task but a team effort in which collaboration is the most powerful key of success. In this complex reality, the potential of modern technology highlights the need of a strong background knowledge capable of supporting and developing the engineering sensibility to control the whole design procedure. 

In the last decades, the development of technology has revolutionized the design approach: Computational Models, Building Information Modelling, Performance Based Design, Smart Materials, Microstructures are the dominating trends of this field.

In this framework, the use of structural glass represents a key example. Despite it is a well-known brittle material with limited tensile resistance, several studies and design applications proved that, especially once combined with other materials, glass can offer very interesting structural performances. Laminates and meta-materials are other examples of modern engineered materials. Indeed, the global structural behavior of laminates depends on the lamination stacking sequence, while the microstructure or lattice of meta-materials can provide a tuned property on the macro-scale.

This special issue aims to collect high-quality articles presenting original research results, as well as review articles of exceptional merit dealing with new materials design.

In this regard, the special issue includes also a selection of research articles presented at the 6th International Workshop on Design for Civil and Environmental Engineering, Cagliari (Italy), November, 9-11, 2017 (DCEE 2017).

Potential topics of submitted papers include, but are not limited to the following:

1. New Engineered Materials:

- Composites, Laminates, Meta-materials, Hybrid materials

2. Design methodology:

-  Need of Integration and interdisciplinary

- Form finding/Parametric Design, Optimization

- Influence from other sciences (e.g. biology, neuroscience)

3. Interdisciplinary challenges in engineering design:

- Structure (Heritage structures, Civil/structural, new materials)

- Systems (Indoor climate/energy, District and urban scale, Resilience, Energy Harvesting)

- Life Cycle Assessment in engineering design

4. Design education in engineering design

- Computer aided design (numerical models for analysis)

- Education to integrated design

- Modern technologies for teaching