Shahlaa Al Wakeel, Ph.D., E.I.T, A.M.EMI

Background

I am an accomplished and enthusiastic professional, servant leader and collaborative team member and committed to making a difference in the community, committed to the support and creation of new student opportunities and increasing student success.

My goal in all of the courses I teach is that each student develops a picture of the world at the microstructure level and couples that picture to the structural analysis by which we explain the mechanical behavior of the material.

Research interest and motivation:

Motivated by recent advances in material design methods that allow for the controlled engineering of microstructure, I studied the impact of microstructure on the mechanical behavior of composite material. I research ways to control the amount of crack development and to possibly improve the material’s reliability by controlling the spatial statistics of the particle microstructure in the matrix of a composite material. Recent developments in microscale fracture testing methods have revealed a greater sensitivity to the presence of particles as seen in random heterogeneous materials such as rock and ceramics.

Research areas:

• Fracture mechanics
• Material modeling and experimental testing
• Mechanics of anisotropic materials

Courses taught:

Saint Martin's University

• ME 495-MME 595 A1-11 Principles of Fracture Mechanics
• ME 495-MME 595 A1-10 Advanced Mechanics of Materials
• ME 95 C2 ST: FE Prep Course
• ME 466-MME 566 Multibody Dynamics Systems
• ME 451-MME 551 Intermediate Fluid Mechanics
• ME 340 Thermodynamics
• ME 316 Measurements and Mechatronics Laboratory
• ME 309 Fluid Mechanics Laboratory
• ME 308 Fluid Mechanics
• ME 303 Materials Science
• ME 302 Machine Design
• GE 205 Dynamics
• GE 206 Mechanics of Materials
• GE 207 Materials Laboratory

NCIAE-Saint Martin’s University Joint Degree Program

• G001A260 Fluid Mechanics
• G001A220 Applied Mechanics-Dynamics
• G001A210 Statics
• Hydraulics and Lab

Thesis and dissertation:

Shahlaa Al Wakeel, [Ph.D. Dissertation], Theoretical and experimental investigation of matrix inclusions on the fracture toughness of composite material. University of Colorado-Boulder. 

Read dissertation

Latest publications:

• Hubler M. , Al Wakeel S.,  and Boning Wang. 2020. “Improving Concrete Toughness by Aggregate Arrangement” RILEM Technical Letters. 5: 8-15. https://doi.org/10.21809/rilemtechlett.2020.109
• Al Wakeel S., Nemecek J., Linfei L., Xi Y., and Hubler M.  2019. “The effect of introducing nanoparticles on the fracture toughness of well cement.” International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijggc.2019.03.009, 84, 147-153
• Al Wakeel S. & Hubler M. 2018. “Introducing heterogeneity into the micro-scratch test fracture toughness relation.” Experimental Mechanics Journal-Society for Experimental Mechanics. Volume 58: 1237-1247, Number 8. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11340-018-0408-1
• Al Wakeel S., Ghanbari F & Hubler M. 2018. “Particle arrangement effects on the stress intensity in composite material.” Engineering Fracture Mechanics. Volume 202, Pages 33-46. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engfracmech.2018.09.014
• Al Wakeel S. & Hubler M. 2016. “Experimental and Theoretical Investigation of the Impact of the Spatial Distribution of Inclusions and Flaws on Fracture Toughness.” The 9th International Conference on Fracture Mechanics of Concrete and Concrete Structures. http://framcos.org/FraMCoS-9/Full-Papers/15.pdf

Conferences:  

ACerS Engineering Ceramics Division
I attended the 44th International Conference and Exposition on Advanced Ceramics and Composites that was held in Orlando, Florida from Jan. 26-31, 2020.

MIT-EMI Conference 2018
I presented the results of one of my recent work: Effect of introducing nanoparticles to the cracked concrete on its fracture toughness. The MIT-EMI Conference was held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge from May 29-Jun. 1, 2018.

Rocky Mountain SAMPE 2017
I attended the Rocky Mountain SAMPE Advanced Materials and Process Engineering conference at the Colorado School of Mines, Golden on Oct. 5, 2017.

FraMCos-9 Conference 2016
I presented the results of my work: Experimental and theoretical investigation of the fracture behavior of glass beads/epoxy compositions using micro-scratching. The ninth International Conference on Fracture Mechanics of Concrete and Concrete Structures was held at the University of California, Berkeley from May 29-June 1, 2016.

American Concrete Institute 2015 
I attended the American Concrete Institute convention that was held at the Sheraton Denver, CO from Nov. 8-12, 2015.

American Concrete Institute 2013
I attended the American Concrete Institute convention in Spring 2013 that was held at the Hilton & Minneapolis Convention Center, Minneapolis from April 14-18, 2013.