Alexander Chudnovsky is presently UIC Distinguished Professor Emeritus and Director of Fracture Mechanics & Materials Durability Laboratory at Civil and Materials Engineering Department of The University of Illinois at Chicago. He has worked at UIC since 1987. Professor Chudnovsky received his education in the former Soviet Union: M.S. degree in Civil Engineering in 1962 and Ph.D. in Technical Sciences (applied mathematics) in 1966. From 1980 until 1987 he was Professor of Civil Engineering and Macromolecular Science Departments at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH. Professor Chudnovsky is widely recognized for his novel contributions to experimental and theoretical developments of Fracture Mechanics, Materials Durability and accelerated testing for lifetime of engineering structures.
Area of Expertise
Fracture of Solids, Materials Science, Thermodynamics of Irreversible Processes, Probability and Statistics, Applied Mathematics and Stress Analysis.
Education
1962 - 1965 Leningrad Civil Engineering Institute, USSR; Ph.D in Technical Sciences. Thesis: "Mathematical Theory of Elasticity of Elastomers".
1958 - 1962 Odessa Civil Engineering Institute, M.S. in Civil Engineering.
Work Experience
2010 - present Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Civil and Materials Engineering Dep.,Director of Fracture Mechanics & Materials Durability Lab., The University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL.
Sept 2001 - Sept 2010 Distinguished Professor, Director of Fracture Mechanics and Materials Durability Laboratory, the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), Chicago, IL.
Sept. 1986 - Sept. 2001 Professor of Mechanics and Materials,
Director of Fracture Mechanics and Materials Durability Laboratory,
UIC, Chicago, IL.
July 1984 - Sept. 1986 Professor, Departments of Civil Engineering and Macromolecular Science, Case Western Reserve University (CWRU), Cleveland, OH.
Sept. 1980 - July 1984 Associate Professor, Departments of Civil Engineering and Macromolecular Science, CWRU, Cleveland, OH.
Aug. 1979 - Sept. 1980 Research Associate, Department of Macromolecular Science, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH.
July 1974 - Sept. 1978 Associate Professor and Head of Fracture Mechanics Laboratory, Department of Applied Mathematics, Novosibirsk Electrotechnical Institute, Novosibirsk, USSR.
Sept. 1966 - July 1974 Assistant and then Associate Professor, Department of Mechanics and Applied Mathematics, Leningrad Military Engineering Academy, Leningrad, USSR.
Important Consulting Experience
Fretting-corrosion of the bearings in electric power generators,
The patent N 620705 ELECTROSILA , Leningrad USSR.
Lifetime estimation for structures with microcracks under high temperature creep conditions,
Central Turbine Research Institute, Leningrad, USSR.
Estimation of the fatigue lifetime of aircraft structures,
Siberian Institute of Aviation, Novosibirsk, USSR.
Lunar Civil Engineering Program,
Special laboratory #1, Institute of Civil Engineering, Leningrad, USSR.
Fracture of Polymers,
Shell R and D., Houston, TX.
Fracture of Rubber Type Materials,
Firestone R and D., Akron, OH.
Application of Probability Theory and Statistics to Failure Analysis,
NASA Lewis Center, Cleveland, OH.
Micromechanics of Irreversible Deformation and Fracture of Polymers,
DOW Chemical, Midland, MI.
Micromechanics of Irreversible Deformation and Fracture of Metal, Alloys and Composites,
Aluminum Company of America, Pittsburgh, PA.
Durability of CC Composites,
Allied Signal, South Band, Indiana.
Structure–Properties Relationship for Engineering Thermoplastics,
DOW Chemical, Freeport, TX.
Strength, Toughness and Lifetime of Plastic Pipes in Natural Gas Distribution,
ATOFINA Chemical, King of Prussia, PA
PP/PE Durability in Medical Applications,
Baxter, Round Lake, IL
Characterization of PP Dynamic Impact Resistance,
Braskem, Pittsburgh, OH.
Durability of Turbine Blades,
Lucid Energy, Goshen, IN
Durability of Vibration Welding,
BASF Corporation, Wyandotte, MI
Recent Awards
May 2010, SPE/ANTEC 2000 Best Technical Paper,
“Ductile-Brittle Transition of Second Kind”.
May 2004, Outstanding Achievement Award, Society of Plastics Engineers.
Sept., 2001, UIC Distinguished Professor of Mechanics and Materials.
Best Technical Paper,
“Methodology for Durability Analysis of HDPE Pipe”,
ASME Pressure Vessel Conference, May 1999, Boston, MA;
Transaction of the ASME, Journal of Pressure Vessel Technology, Vol. 122, 2, September 2000.
SPE/ANTEC 2000 Best Technical Paper,
“An Anomaly in the Lifetime-Temperature Relation of A Polybutylene for Pipe Applications”,
Conference Proceedings SPE/ANTEC’ 2000, III, pp. 3162-3166, Orlando, FL, May 2000.
SPE/ANTEC 2000 Best Technical Paper,
“Ductile Failure and Delayed Necking in Polyethylene”,
Conference Proceedings SPE/ANTEC’ 2000, III, pp. 3148-3152, Orlando, FL, May 2000.
Macro Publications Award for Special Achievements in Research of Future Developments in the field of Polymers,
May 2000.
SPE/ANTEC 1994 Best Technical Paper,
“Dilute Hydrochloric Acid on Fatigue Fracture Behavior of Polyacetal Fittings”,
Conference Proceedings SPE/ANTEC’ 1994, III, pp. 3284-3289, San Francisco, CA, May 1994.
Current Research Interests
Materials Aging
Thermodynamics of aging, basic conservation laws, mathematical
modeling of aging process; time-stress-temperature
correspondence, fundamentals of accelerated testing.
Molecular Architecture/Manufacturing/Reliability Relationship
for Engineering Thermoplastics
Observation, characterization, modeling and numerical simulation
of the effect of molecular architecture and processing
conditions on material morphology, types and distribution of
defects and their evolution under service condition.
Statistical modeling of various scenarios of failure and evaluation
of structural reliability.
BIOGRAPHY