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Bavand Keshavarz

Keshavarz

Assistant Professor in the Thomas Lord Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science

Research interests of Keshavarz’s group are at the intersection of fluid dynamics and soft matter mechanics. We are particularly interested in dynamics of complex fluids in complex flows. Inspired by the biofabrication process of natural hydrogels, we aim to harness hydrodynamic instabilities to fabricate responsive soft apparatuses that exhibit dynamic functionality over a wide range of deformation timescales. Our approach incorporates a number of interdisciplinary studies on properties of complex fluids with functional biomolecules, capillary phenomena of viscoelastic solutions, gelation of supramolecular networks and mechanical spectroscopy or rheology of gelling systems during linear and nonlinear deformations. These will enable us to both understand and mimic the hierarchical organization of dynamic properties that is often observed in elaborate biological soft structures.

Appointments and Affiliations

  • Assistant Professor in the Thomas Lord Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science

Contact Information

  • Email Address: bavand.k@duke.edu

Education

  • Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2017
  • M.S. University of British Columbia (Canada), 2011
  • B.S. Sharif University of Technology (Iran), 2008

Research Interests

Mechanics of Soft Materials, 

Bioinspired Hydrogels, 

Metal-Coordination Networks, 

Fluid Dynamics of Complex Fluids in Fragmentation and Capillary Phenomena, 

Mechanical Spectroscopy of Soft Materials During Gelation, 

Linear and Nonlinear Rheology of Supramolecular Networks, 

Courses Taught

  • ME 571: Aerodynamics
  • ME 555: Advanced Topics in Mechanical Engineering

Representative Publications

  • Bantawa, M; Keshavarz, B; Geri, M; Bouzid, M; Divoux, T; McKinley, GH; Del Gado, E, The hidden hierarchical nature of soft particulate gels, Nature Physics, vol 19 no. 8 (2023), pp. 1178-1184 [10.1038/s41567-023-01988-7] [abs].
  • Keshavarz, B; Rodrigues, DG; Champenois, J-B; Frith, MG; Ilavsky, J; Geri, M; Divoux, T; McKinley, GH; Poulesquen, A, Time-connectivity superposition and the gel/glass duality of weak colloidal gels., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol 118 no. 15 (2021) [10.1073/pnas.2022339118] [abs].
  • Keshavarz, B; Houze, EC; Moore, JR; Koerner, MR; McKinley, GH, Rotary atomization of newtonian and viscoelastic liquids, Physical Review Fluids, vol 5 no. 3 (2020) [10.1103/PhysRevFluids.5.033601] [abs].
  • Lai, E; Keshavarz, B; Holten-Andersen, N, Deciphering How the Viscoelastic Properties of Mussel-Inspired Metal-Coordinate Transiently Cross-Linked Gels Dictate Their Tack Behavior., Langmuir : the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids, vol 35 no. 48 (2019), pp. 15979-15984 [10.1021/acs.langmuir.9b02772] [abs].
  • Geri, M; Keshavarz, B; Divoux, T; Clasen, C; Curtis, DJ; McKinley, GH, Time-Resolved Mechanical Spectroscopy of Soft Materials via Optimally Windowed Chirps, Physical Review X, vol 8 no. 4 (2018) [10.1103/PhysRevX.8.041042] [abs].
  • Keshavarz, B; Houze, EC; Moore, JR; Koerner, MR; McKinley, GH, Ligament Mediated Fragmentation of Viscoelastic Liquids., Physical review letters, vol 117 no. 15 (2016) [10.1103/physrevlett.117.154502] [abs].