College of Engineering Biomedical Engineering Department

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David M. Pierce, Ph.D.

Professor
Mechanical Engineering/Biomedical Engineering/Mathematics
Research Interests:
Computational and experimental solid (bio)mechanics, constitutive modeling, finite element methods, applied mathematics, and corollary programming/software.
Address:
191 Auditorium Road, Unit 3139
University of Connecticut
Storrs, CT 06269-3247
Office Phone: (860) 486-4109
Office Fax: (860) 486-5088
Education:
B.S. University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
M.S. Stanford University, CA
Ph.D. Stanford University, CA
Ph.D.-Minor Stanford University, CA
Habilitation (Venia Legendi) Graz University of Technology, AT
Research Summary:

With the Interdisciplinary Mechanics Laboratory at UConn he studies the theory, development and application of pragmatic computational methods for physical problems of practical importance using computational and experimental solid (bio)mechanics, finite element methods, applied mathematics, and corollary programming/software. His recent work proposes several new 3-D, large strain constitutive models for articular cartilage, facilitating FE simulation of sample/patient-specific cartilage deformation, fiber network response and fluid permeation; he has also developed techniques to incorporate medical imaging data (e.g. from ultra-high field diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging and multiphoton microscopy). Applications include the mechanics of cartilage in health and disease, the mechanics of arteries, and fracture prediction methodologies for microelectromechanical systems in collaboration with A.M. Fitzgerald & Associates, LLC in CA.

Interdisciplinary Mechanics Laboratory

Honors and Awards:
  • Honorable Mention in the Poster Competition at the Frontiers in Bioengineering Symposium, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 9/14.
  • United States Patent: US 7,979,237 Fracture Prediction for Crystalline Microstructures, 2011.
  • United States Patent: US D479,474 S Design for Process Device, 2003
Selected Publications:

Google Scholar Citations Link

  1. Pierce, D.M., F.S. Maier, H. Weisbecker, C. Viertler, P. Verbrugghe, N. Famaey, I. Fourneau, P. Herijgers and G.A. Holzapfel, Human Thoracic and Abdominal Aortic Aneurysmal Tissues: Damage Experiments, Statistical Analysis and Constitutive Modeling, Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials, 41: 92–107, 2015.
  2. Weisbecker, H., D.M. Pierce and G.A. Holzapfel, A Generalized Prestressing Algorithm for Finite Element Simulation of Pre-Loaded Geometries with Application to the Aorta, International Journal for Numerical Methods in Biomedical Engineering, 30( 9):857–872, 2014.
  3. Pierce, D.M., T. Ricken and G.A. Holzapfel, Modeling Sample/Patient-Specific Structural and Diffusional Responses of Cartilage Using DT-MRI, International Journal for Numerical Methods in Biomedical Engineering, 29(8):807-821, 2013.
  4. Pierce, D.M., T. Ricken and G.A. Holzapfel, A Hyperelastic Biphasic Fiber-Reinforced Model of Articular Cartilage Considering Distributed Collagen Fiber Orientations: Continuum Basis, Computational Aspects and Applications, Computer Methods in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering, 16(12):1344-1361, 2013.
  5. Pierce, D.M., B. Zeyen, B.M. Huigens and A.M. Fitzgerald, Predicting the Failure Probability of Device Features in MEMS, IEEE Transactions on Device and Materials Reliability, 11(3):433-441, 2011.