Nickolas Vlahopoulos

Professor and Graduate Program Chair

Location

237 NAME

Phone

(734) 764-8341

Biography

Additional Title(s)

  • Graduate Program Chair

Education

  • Diploma National Technical University of Athens, 1985; Naval Architecture, Marine and Mechanical Engineering
  • M.S.E. University of Michigan, 1987; Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering
  • M.S.E. University of Michigan, 1988, Applied Mechanics
  • Ph.D. University of Michigan, 1989; Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering

Research Interests

Computational methods in structural acoustics, multi-discipline ship design, making design decisions under uncertainty, blast event simulations. Areas of expertise are in finite element and boundary element methods, energy finite element analysis, hybrid finite element analysis, blast and shock simulations, and in developing optimization algorithms for complex system design.


Research areas:
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Teaching

  • NA310, Marine Structures I
  • NA470, Foundations of Ship Design
  • NA 270, Marine Design
  • NA 340 Marine Dynamics I
  • NA321, Marine Hydrodynamics II
  • NA 644 Numerical Methods for Vibro
  • Acoustic Modeling of Complex Systems, graduate-level course.
  • Auto 599 Automotive Noise Vibration and Harshness, graduate-level course

Ph.D. Committees Chaired

  • 1. Xi Zhao, (chair), NAME, “A Basic Development of a Hybrid Finite Element Method for Mid-frequency Computations of Structural Vibrations,” 2000; recipient of NAME Outstanding Graduate Student Award 2000; recipient of McIvor Award in Applied Mechanics 2000.
  • 2. Ricardo Sbragio, (chair). NAME, “A Three-Dimensional Formulation for Deriving the Acoustic Sensitivity using the Boundary Element Method,” 2001.
  • 3. Mike Allen, (chair), NAME, “Stochastic Analysis of Structural/Acoustic Systems,” 2001.
  • 4. Kexin Hu, (chair), NAME, “A Finite Element Formulation for Coupled Rigid and Flexible Dynamic Analysis of an Internal Combustion Engine Crankshaft System,” 2002.
  • 5. Zhidong Zhang, (chair), NAME, “Formulations for Acoustic Inverse Analysis Based on the Indirect Boundary Element Method,” 2002; recipient of NA&ME Outstanding Graduate Student Award 2001 & 2002; recipient of McIvor award in Applied Mechanics 2002.
  • 6. Omid Ebrad, (chair), ME, “Detailed Main Bearing Hydrodynamic Characteristics for Crankshaft-Block Interaction in Internal Combustion Engines,” 2002.
  • 7. Jin Wang, (chair), NAME, “Probabilistic and Sensitivity Analyses for the Performance Characteristics of Engine Bearings due to Variability in Bearing Properties,” 2003.
  • 8. Weiguo Zhang, (chair), NAME, “Energy Finite Element Method for Vibration Analysis of Stiffened Plates Under Fluid Loading,” 2003; recipient of NAME Outstanding Graduate Student Award 2003.
  • 9. Sang-Bum Hong, (chair), NAME, “Hybrid Finite Element Developments For Vibroacoustic Analysis of Vehicle Systems in the Mid-Frequency Range,” 2004.
  • 10. Jiulong Sun, (chair), NAME, “Probabilistic Model Updating and Variability Assessment in Blast Event Simulations,” 2005.
  • 11. Javid Moraveji, (chair), ME, “Modeling of Trim Panels in the Energy Finite Element Analysis,” 2008.
  • 12. Xiaoyan Yan, (chair), NAME, “Energy Finite Element Analysis Developments for High-Frequency Vibration Analysis of Composite Structures,” recipient of 2008 NA&ME Outstanding Graduate Student Award.
  • 13. Park, Keychun, (co-chair with Matthew Castanier), ME, “Component-Based Vibration Modeling Methods for Fast Re-Analysis and Design of Complex Structures,” 2008.
  • 14. Sungmin Lee (chair), ME, “Energy Finite Element Method for High-Frequency Vibration Analysis of Composite Rotorcraft Structures,” 2009.
  • 15. Christopher Hart (chair), NAME, “Multidisciplinary Design Optimization of Complex Engineering Systems for Cost Assessment under Uncertainty,” 2010 (Outstanding Graduate Student Award 2010), May 2010.
  • 16. Shari Hannapel, (chair), NAME “, “Development of Multidisciplinary Design Optimization Algorithms under Uncertainty,” (outstanding graduate student award 2012), May 2012.
  • 17. John Kim, (chair), ME, “Multi-Scale Modeling with an Inverse Mapping Capability for Designing Blast Resistant Composite Panel for Light Weight Vehicles,” December 2012.
  • 18. Nicholas Stowe, (chair), NAME, “Focusing Energy Underwater Through Optimization of a Spherical Source Array,” May 2013.
  • 19. Hong-Yoon, Kim, (chair), NAME, “A bi-level multi-objective optimization algorithm with a bounded multi-variate conjugate gradient method,” May 2015
  • 20. Weiran Jiang (chair), NAME, “Lightweight Vehicle Structures that Absorb and Direct Destructive Energy Away from the Occupants,” October 2016.
  • 21. Alyssa Bennett (chair), NAME, “Modeling the Dynamic Response Of Multilayer Plates with Shear Thickening Fluids,” May 2019.
  • 22. Carly Mayhood (co-chair), NA&ME, “Fatigue-Focused Manufacturing Optimization for Welded Structures”, June 2021.
  • 23. Daniel Sinnott (co-chair), NA&ME, “An Experimental and Finite Element Study of Fatigue Behaviors of Welded Armor Plate Joints”, April 2022.
  • 24. Odilon Rodrigues (chair), NA&ME, “Use of Hybrid Surrogate in Sampling Process for Design and Analysis of Computer Experiments (DACE) applied on Multivariable Problems”, June 2022.

Publications