CAMLAB — Computational & Applied Mechanics Laboratory
Lab

Alejandro Ortiz-Bernardin, Ph.D.

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Curriculum Vitae:
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Associate Professor / Lab Head
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Universidad de Chile
Av. Beauchef 851, Santiago 8370456, Chile
+56 2 2978 4664 · aortizb@uchile.cl

I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Universidad de Chile, where I conduct research on computational solid mechanics and teach courses on statics, machine elements, finite elements, and advanced methods in computational solid mechanics. I am a Mechanical Engineer and hold a Ph.D. in Civil (Structural) Engineering. I possess 20+ years of experience in mechanical design, structural analysis, finite element analysis and design of large mining equipment, including structural and mechanical design of solid-liquid separation equipment. I serve as a Consulting Engineer in these fields at national and international engineering and mining companies.

Education

YearDegreeDetails
2011Ph.D.Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Davis (USA). Major: Structural Engineering & Structural Mechanics. Minor: Scientific Computing
2006M.Eng.Numerical Methods, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (Spain)
2002B.Sc.Mechanical Engineering, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María (Chile)

Professional Appointments

YearsPosition
2020 – presentAssociate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Chile
2023 – presentVice President, Member of the Board of Directors, Chilean Society of Computational Mechanics
2021 – 2023Vocal, Member of the Board of Directors, Chilean Society of Computational Mechanics
2019 – 2021Vice President, Member of the Board of Directors, Chilean Society of Computational Mechanics
2011 – 2019Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Chile
2011 – presentConsultant, Mechanical and structural engineering for various companies (Kinross Mining Chile Ltda., Minera Centinela S.A., Minera Spence S.A., Tenova, Outotec (Chile) S.A., Metso, CEC Mining Systems, Fonroche Lighting, among others.)
2007 – 2010Research Assistant, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of California, Davis
2006 – presentEngineering Director/Owner, COMECSA Ltda.; private engineering sector
2005 – 2007Chief Engineer, Engineering and Drawing Office, Tenova-Delkor, Chile Office; private engineering/mining sector
2003 – 2005Structural Engineer, Department of Engineering, Tersainox S.A.; private manufacturing/engineering sector

Honors and Awards

YearsAward
2016, 2018, 2021Reconocimiento a la investigación, innovación y creación artística, University of Chile.
2010Finalist, 22nd Annual Robert J. Melosh Medal Competition for the Best Student Paper on Finite Element Analysis, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
2009Travel fellowship, 10th U.S. National Congress on Computational Mechanics, Columbus, Ohio, USA.
2007 – 2010Graduate Research Assistantship, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Davis, USA.

Research Interests

My primary research interests are related to the formulation of numerical methods and their implementation for computational modeling and simulation of engineering solids and structures and for applications in real-time structural health monitoring. Current research work is on:

  • Low-order discretization methods for large deformation problems in solid mechanics
  • Implicit theory of elasticity
  • Nonlinear continuum theory of dislocations
  • Supervised learning methods for real-time structural health monitoring
  • Meshfree and Finite Element Methods
  • Virtual Element Methods

Research Grants

YearsGrant
2022 – 2025Principal Investigator, FONDECYT Nº 1221325, “Development and assessment of a combined nodal integration and virtual element method for small and large deformation solid mechanics simulations”
2021 – 2024Co-Investigator, FONDECYT Nº 1210002, “Mathematical modelling of the mechanical behaviour of rock and concrete using implicit constitutive relations and their subclasses”
2021 – 2025Co-Investigator, FONDECYT Nº 1211314, “Toward zeolite and zeolite-like osteoinductive materials for bone tissue engineering”
2018 – 2021Principal Investigator, FONDECYT Nº 1181192, “Enhancing the robustness of meshfree Galerkin methods for solid mechanics simulations using the virtual element decomposition”
2018 – 2021Co-Investigator, FONDECYT Nº 1181506, “Improving algorithms for the generation of polygonal and polyhedral meshes”
2018 – 2020Investigador Asociado, FONDEF Nº ID17I10018, “Gestión de Inspecciones en Puentes de Acero basado en Monitoreo y Pronóstico de Daño Mediante Integración de Sensores y Procesamiento de Imágenes”
2016 – 2020Co-Investigator, FONDECYT Nº 1160030, “On the use of implicit constitutive relations to model the behaviour of elastic and inelastic deformations in continua: Applications to the mathematical modelling of rock”
2012 – 2015Co-Investigator, FONDECYT Nº 1120011, “Study of Some New Constitutive Laws for Elastic Bodies”
2011 – 2014Principal Investigator, FONDECYT Nº 11110389, “Development and Assessment of An Efficient Numerical Method for Simulation of Nearly Incompressible Large Deformations Problems in Solid Mechanics”

Teaching

Machine Elements (ME5500)
Mechanics Statics (ME3130)
Finite Element Procedures in Applied Mechanics (ME-708)
Advanced Methods in Computational Solid Mechanics (ME-7800)

Publications & Presentations

Publications
Presentations

Professional Society Affiliations

Member, American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
NAFEMS, The International Association for Engineering Modelling, Analysis & Simulation Community
Member, International Association for Computational Mechanics
Member, Chilean Association for Computational Mechanics