Student Projects & Theses
Projects Offers
The Shape of Growth: Simulating Stress and Form in Living Matter
Are you interested in exploring the exciting intersection of solid mechanics, transport phenomena, and soft matter physics? In this project, you will model how internal stresses and material patterns emerge when a soft, living-like material grows while being fed by a diffusing nutrient. You will build a simple but powerful 2D multiphysics model—from the physics all the way to the simulation—using modern differentiable tools. You’ll treat growth as an anisotropic eigenstrain driven by a nutrient field around a circular “biofilm-like” inclusion. By coupling diffusion with mechanical constraint, you will discover how even modest, non-uniform growth can generate complex stress fields, directional patterns, and the first signs of damage. This hands-on project offers an accessible introduction to multiphysics modeling while revealing how growth and mechanics compete to shape living and soft materials.
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Master Thesis , ETH Zurich (ETHZ)
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Published since: 2026-05-15 , Earliest start: 2026-08-01 , Latest end: 2027-03-01
Organization Solid Mechanics (Prof. Kammer)
Hosts van Jan
Topics Engineering and Technology , Biology , Physics
Mix and match: hybrid materials for tunable mechanical response
Architected materials leverage their topology to deliver customized properties unattainable with monolithic materials. Their global mechanical behavior, including stiffness, strength, and failure, depends on both the topology and the properties of the constituent material. This project investigates the fracture and deformation behavior of polymer, fiber composites, and hybrid architected materials, using additive manufacturing and mechanical testing. The goal is to understand the influence of the reinforcement and local material stretchability on the network response and whether different phases could produce unconventional mechanical responses, such as enhanced toughness, delayed failure, or tunable energy dissipation. The project is multi-faceted, combining additive manufacturing, mechanical testing, and data analysis, and can be adapted to the expertise and interests of the student.
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Master Thesis , ETH Zurich (ETHZ)
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Published since: 2026-05-15 , Earliest start: 2026-08-01 , Latest end: 2027-03-01
Organization Solid Mechanics (Prof. Kammer)
Hosts van Jan
Topics Engineering and Technology , Physics
From Pixels to Models: Bridging Optical Measurements and Fi nite Element Simulations of Lattice Failure
Architected materials derive unique mechanical properties from their engineered internal geometry. However, understanding how these materials fail is challenging because their failure is a complex, multiscale process, yet essential for designing materials with targeted failure behavior. Optical techniques such as digital image correlation (DIC) offer a promising way to link the deformation of individual beams within a lattice to the overall failure of the structure. The goal of this project is to evaluate whether finite element simulations can accurately reproduce the deformations measured by DIC and whether the numerically predicted failure strains result in a crack path consistent with experimental observations. Depending on the student’s interests, the project can focus solely on numerical simulations or include experimental testing of 3D-printed lattice specimens combined with optical imaging.
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Master Thesis , ETH Zurich (ETHZ)
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Published since: 2026-05-15 , Earliest start: 2026-08-01 , Latest end: 2027-03-01
Organization Solid Mechanics (Prof. Kammer)
Hosts van Jan
Topics Engineering and Technology , Physics
Fundamental understanding of the mechanics of fresh cement paste
The properties of fresh cement paste have become a big research topic since the advent of concrete 3D printing a decade ago. While we are able to print large-scale structures, we surprisingly lack fundamental understanding of the processes governing fresh cement paste stiffening. This is because when cement paste is in its fresh state, there are complex physical and chemical reactions taking place simultaneously. A recent experimental protocol coupled measurements of chemical reactions to the stiffening of the paste, allowing to gain deep fundamental understanding of the origins of fresh cement paste stiffening (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0008884624002461, https://ceramics.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jace.70271). The idea of the present project isto apply the same state-of-the-art protocol to “clean” systems (tricalcium silicate paste rather than cement paste), which will allow to settle current debates in the cement community.
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Master Thesis , ETH Zurich (ETHZ)
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Published since: 2026-05-15 , Earliest start: 2026-08-01 , Latest end: 2027-03-01
Organization Solid Mechanics (Prof. Kammer)
Hosts van Jan
Topics Engineering and Technology , Architecture, Urban Environment and Building , Physics
Investigation and optimization of the experimental setup of rammed earth test specimens
The influence of the experimental setup of rammed earth specimens on their compressive strength is poorly understood. The common technique to prepare rammed earth samples for compression tests is to float their surfaces with a thin gypsum layer. However, to which extend is this method affecting the clamping of the sample and therefore the compressive strength? Can a uniaxial stress state be guaranteed? The idea of this project work is to (1) conduct research about the experimental setup for cubic samples and wall elements used in masonry, serving as a comparison to rammed earth; (2) Produce rammed earth samples and perform compression tests applying different test setups; (3) Propose more precise and time-efficient methods to float rammed earth samples.
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Master Thesis , ETH Zurich (ETHZ)
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Published since: 2026-05-15 , Earliest start: 2026-08-01 , Latest end: 2027-03-01
Organization Solid Mechanics (Prof. Kammer)
Hosts van Jan
Topics Earth Sciences , Architecture, Urban Environment and Building , Physics
Contact mechanics of lattices with engineered surfaces
Architected lattice materials offer vast opportunities for tailoring mechanical response through geometry. While most studies emphasize bulk behavior, the mechanics of contact of architected lattices with engineered surface topographies remain largely unexplored. This project investigates how variations in surface profile geometries influence frictionless contact behavior. How do changes in topography shape affect the evolution of real contact area, pressure distribution, and load-displacement response? Can these effects be systematically captured through numerical simulations? The student will first generate lattice geometries with controlled surface descriptions and then simulate their contact with rigid surfaces to reveal the underlying mechanisms governing their macroscopic response.
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Master Thesis , ETH Zurich (ETHZ)
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Published since: 2026-05-15 , Earliest start: 2026-08-01 , Latest end: 2027-03-01
Organization Solid Mechanics (Prof. Kammer)
Hosts van Jan
Topics Engineering and Technology , Physics
Time Changes Everything, Including the Fracture of Soft Materials
Soft materials are fascinatingly stretchable and resistant — just think about your skin, muscles, and brain, or other artificial materials like the rubber band in a slingshot and the hydrogels used for drug delivery. Why are they able to undergo such extreme deformations? What exactly happens when they finally break? If you hold soft materials under a constant load or in a stretched position, or apply force at varying rates, their mechanical response changes over time—a property known as viscoelasticity. You may have heard of creep (a slow, continuous deformation under load), typically observed in materials like concrete. Now, imagine this process happening faster, and in a highly stretched material like a rubber band. How do these viscoelastic phenomena influence the fracture mechanism? In this project, you will learn about vis- coelasticity, soft materials, perform advanced FEM simulations using ETH supercomputers, and analyze your results to understand this process from a fundamental level.
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Master Thesis , ETH Zurich (ETHZ)
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Published since: 2026-05-15 , Earliest start: 2026-08-01 , Latest end: 2027-03-01
Organization Solid Mechanics (Prof. Kammer)
Hosts van Jan
Topics Engineering and Technology , Physics
An Atomistic Understanding of Cracks in Soft Materials
Soft materials are fascinatingly stretchable and resistant — just think about your skin, muscles, and brain, or other artificial materials like the rubber band in a slingshot and the hydrogels used for drug delivery. Why are they able to undergo such extreme deformations? What exactly happens when they finally break? At the atomistic scale, soft materials are far from smooth. They are chaotic, tangled webs of polymer chains joined by cross-links. Imagine a microscopic bowl of spaghetti where every strand is fighting against tension. We want to study these soft networks to get insights into their local behavior and understand precisely how these microscopic events lead to macroscopic fracture. Do you want to uncover the secrets behind the toughness of soft networks? In this project, you will learn about soft materials, perform advanced atomistic simulations using ETH supercomputers and analyze your results to understand the physics of the problem from a fundamental level.
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Master Thesis , ETH Zurich (ETHZ)
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Published since: 2026-05-15 , Earliest start: 2026-08-01 , Latest end: 2027-03-01
Organization Solid Mechanics (Prof. Kammer)
Hosts van Jan
Topics Engineering and Technology , Physics
The Great Encyclopedia of Cracks in Soft Materials
Soft materials are fascinatingly stretchable and resistant — just think about your skin, muscles, and brain, or other artificial materials like the rubber band in a slingshot and the hydrogels used for drug delivery. Why are they able to undergo such extreme deformations? What exactly happens when they finally break? Soft materials exhibit a broad range of complex, highly nonlinear behaviors that require specialized constitutive laws. Think of these as the advanced evolution of Hooke’s Law — equations capable of describing materials that stretch far beyond the linear limit. Consequently, unlike traditional materials such as glass or concrete, there is no ’textbook’ explaining how soft materials break. The aim of this project is to bridge this fundamental gap in our understanding. You will learn about soft materials, perform advanced FEM simulations using ETH supercomputers and analyze different nonlinear elastic constitutive laws generating valuable information that does not exist yet.
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Master Thesis , ETH Zurich (ETHZ)
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Published since: 2026-05-15 , Earliest start: 2026-08-01 , Latest end: 2027-03-01
Organization Solid Mechanics (Prof. Kammer)
Hosts van Jan
Topics Engineering and Technology , Physics
Numerical modeling of fracture
This project focuses on the numerical investigation and computational implementation of a phase-field formulation for brittle fracture in deformable solids. Phase-field models provide a diffuse-interface representation of crack evolution, enabling the simulation of crack initiation, propagation, branching, and coalescence without explicit crack tracking. The primary objective is to develop a robust and efficient finite element–based implementation of a coupled displacement–damage phase-field system derived from variational fracture mechanics. The governing equations, consisting of a mechanical equilibrium equation and a phase-field evolution equation, will be discretized using appropriate spatial and temporal schemes, with particular attention to numerical stability, mesh resolution requirements, and irreversibility constraints on damage evolution.
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Master Thesis , ETH Zurich (ETHZ)
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Published since: 2026-05-15 , Earliest start: 2026-08-01 , Latest end: 2027-03-01
Organization Solid Mechanics (Prof. Kammer)
Hosts van Jan
Topics Engineering and Technology , Physics
Testing the Limits of Seismic Inversions
How reliable are the methods used to infer fracture energy from real earthquakes? Fracture energy, the energy dissipated on a fault during rupture, plays a key role in determining earthquake dynamics and scaling laws. Yet, its actual value and scaling behavior remain controversial: some studies suggest it increases with earthquake magnitude, while others argue it is a material constant. In this project, you will evaluate one widely used approach that estimates fracture energy from kinematic inversions of seismic data. The idea is to test how well this method performs when the ground truth is known. You will simulate earthquake ruptures, extract the resulting displacement fields, and then downsample them to match the limited resolution of real seismic observations. By applying the same inversion techniques that seismologists use, you will assess how much information about fracture energy can truly be recovered and where the current methods fail. This project offers a unique opportunity to combine earthquake mechanics, numerical modeling, and data analysis to challenge a long-standing assumption in seismology and gain deep insight into the physics of fault rupture.
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Master Thesis , ETH Zurich (ETHZ)
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Published since: 2026-05-15 , Earliest start: 2026-08-01 , Latest end: 2027-03-01
Organization Solid Mechanics (Prof. Kammer)
Hosts van Jan
Topics Engineering and Technology , Earth Sciences , Physics
From Re-Cycling to Re-Use: Discovery of new Kirigami-inspired Magneto-Elastic materials
Can mechanical properties change after material synthesis? Engineering materials are commonly optimized to perform one task extremely well. But what when instead of recycling, one can change material properties on the fly? Then, without increasing the embodied energy by mechano-chemical processing, materials will be re-usable after minimal external work! In this project, we exploit Magneto-Elastica (magnets moving in their own field) and Kirigami (manufacturing by cutting). Specifically, we discover a design strategy to control material stability without remote control. You will use and build upon existing numerical models to explore the design space of magnets embedded in elastic bodies. You will make a real-world model by additive manufacturing. This proof-of-concept model will display at least two material responses that are reachable with minimal external manipulation.
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Master Thesis , ETH Zurich (ETHZ)
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Published since: 2026-05-15 , Earliest start: 2026-08-01 , Latest end: 2027-03-01
Organization Solid Mechanics (Prof. Kammer)
Hosts van Jan
Topics Engineering and Technology , Physics
MESHA Material: Magneto Elastic Self-Healing Architectured Material
Fabrication of architected materials through self-assembly of elementary units offers advantages over monolithic solids including recyclability and miniaturization. While self-assembly is prevalent in atomic synthesis, it is sparse at the macroscale. Recent success in the assembly of rigid lattices with sticky magnetic vertices showcase fracture toughening and self-healing. However, the discovery of lattice topologies of minimum embodied energy remains a challenge. The aim of this project is to numerically synthesize space-filling semi-, demi- and regular topologies for magneto-elastic lattices. You will use open-source, Monte Carlo-based, self-assembly code of rigid units with diverse shapes and magnetic orientations. Secondly, you will asses the mechanical stability of the most promising, synthesized magneto-elastic lattices. The magneto-elastic architectured material will combine high strength and fracture toughness, properties that are usually mutually exclusive.
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Master Thesis , ETH Zurich (ETHZ)
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Published since: 2026-05-15 , Earliest start: 2026-08-01 , Latest end: 2027-03-01
Organization Solid Mechanics (Prof. Kammer)
Hosts van Jan
Topics Engineering and Technology , Physics
Rolling, Gliding, Tumbling and Jumping: Transient Instabilities of Packaged Mail on Conveyor Belts
Self-Excited vibration and lift-off (loss of contact) present big concerns in engineering applications of conveyor belts. However, the friction law between the object and the conveyor belt one uses is simplified for tractability sake; the transient response of the belt is neglected. In this project, we investigate the initial conditions and system characteristics that lead to self-excited vibrations, lift-off and chaotic motion of the mass-on-moving-belt system. The goal is to couple a two-degrees-of-freedom harmonic oscillator and an existing boundary element method. You will implement a time-marching scheme, optimise and transfer existing code, to compare numerical results with existing theory. The outcomes of this project include the effect of initial conditions, changes in loading rate and characteristic material time on the mass-on-moving-belt response.
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Master Thesis , ETH Zurich (ETHZ)
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Published since: 2026-05-15 , Earliest start: 2026-08-01 , Latest end: 2027-03-01
Organization Solid Mechanics (Prof. Kammer)
Hosts van Jan
Topics Engineering and Technology , Physics
Can an AI Rediscover the Laws of Physics? A Machine Learning Approach to Beam Theory
Are you interested in exploring the exciting intersection of solid mechanics and artificial intelligence? In this project, you will investigate whether a machine learning model can autonomously rediscover the fundamental principles of classical beam theory. You will use a Variational Autoencoder (VAE), a powerful generative model from the world of AI, to analyze high-fidelity Finite Element (FE) simulations of a cantilever beam. By generating data for both slender beams and thick beams, you will challenge the VAE to compress each beam’s complex deformation field into a simple, low-dimensional ”latent space.” The core of the project is to decode this space and test the hypothesis that the AI has learned the correct physical degrees of freedom—such as curvature, axial strain, and shear. This project is a unique hands-on introduction to the field of scientific machine learning. You will develop a deep intuition for how AI can be used not as a ”blackbox,” but as a powerful tool to generate physical hypotheses and bridge the gap between classical engineering principles and modern data science.
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Master Thesis , ETH Zurich (ETHZ)
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Published since: 2026-05-15 , Earliest start: 2026-08-01 , Latest end: 2027-03-01
Organization Solid Mechanics (Prof. Kammer)
Hosts van Jan
Topics Mathematical Sciences , Information, Computing and Communication Sciences , Engineering and Technology , Physics
Please do not hesitate to contact the responsible person (see link to PDF above) with questions or directly Prof. David Kammer at .
We are always happy to meet and discuss the project topic as well as our expectations.
We also welcome spontaneous proposals and personal ideas for projects.
Past Projects
Leveraging avant-garde computational techniques for deciphering crack nucleation
David Arroyave Madrigal (Fall 2025)
This project studies crack nucleation in slender elastic solids, where fracture initiation is governed by confined two-dimensional defects embedded within a plane. Using three-dimensional finite element simulations, it investigates the influence of crack geometry through circular and elliptical nucleation patches. The work is framed within confined-geometry fracture theory and focuses on the relationship between defect shape, elastic energy storage, and stress fields. The study aims to provide a numerical framework for analyzing crack nucleation in confined elastic bodies with non-circular defects.
Accelerating Thermodynamic Modeling with GPUs and Automatic Differentiation
Luca Marei Endell (Spring 2025)
This project explores the use of GPU acceleration and automatic
differentiation to improve the performance of thermodynamic solvers for
modeling chemical equilibria in multiphase systems, such as those
involved in steel corrosion in concrete. The solver is based on the
minimization of Gibbs free energy, formulated as a constrained nonlinear
optimization problem using interior point methods and Newton's method.
It features a modular design, flexible constraint handling, and
integration with the PourPy package for generating Pourbaix diagrams.
Leveraging Automatic Differentiation for Large-Deformation Analysis in Structural Mechanics
Mateo Luzuriaga Merlo (Spring 2025)
This project develops a differentiable finite element framework for the
structural analysis of systems made of Euler–Bernoulli beams, leveraging
automatic differentiation (AD) in structural mechanics. The method is
based on potential energy minimization using Hermite shape functions and
a co-rotational formulation to handle large deformations. Implemented
with the JAX framework, the approach uses AD and just-in-time (JIT)
compilation to compute Jacobians efficiently and accelerate the updated
Lagrangian solution process.