Nathan Shauer

Research Interests

• Computational Mechanics
• Numerical Methods
• Generalized/eXtended Finite Element Method (G/XFEM)
• Fracture Mechanics and Crack Propagation Simulation
• Fluid-filled Fractures
• Mixed Finite Element Methodologies
• High Performance Computing
• Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence in Engineering

Awards and Honors

• ABMEC Invited Lecture (2025): Invited lecture on advanced FEM techniques for problems involving fractures. Watch the lecture on YouTube
• ABMEC Award for Young Scientists (2024): Conferred by the Brazilian Association of Computational Mechanics to young researchers with significant contributions in the field of Computational Mechanics
• Winner of the 2021 EMI Computational Mechanics Committee Student Presentation Competition
• Winner of the 2021 USNCCM Computational Fluid Mechanics Student Poster Competition
• TechnipFMC Educational Fund Fellowship: (Awarded 3 times: 2017-2018, 2018-2019 and 2019-2020): Fellowship awarded to students based on academic performance and field of research
• First in Class (2012): Prize from the Regional Council of Engineering, Architecture and Agronomy (CREA) of São Paulo for graduating with honors as student with the highest academic performance

Education

Ph.D. in Civil Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2015--2020

Dissertation: Simulating and Diagnosing Three-dimensional Multistage Hydraulic Fracturing with the Generalized Finite Element Method
Advisor: Carlos Armando Duarte
Department of Structures
Champaign-Urbana, IL, USA

M.Sc. in Civil Engineering at the State University of Campinas (Unicamp), 2012--2015

Thesis: Numerical Simulation of Hydraulic Fracture Propagation in Two-dimensional domain with Elastoplasticity
Advisor: Philippe Remy Bernard Devloo
Department of Structures
Campinas, SP, Brazil

B.Sc. in Civil Engineering at the State University of Campinas (Unicamp), 2007--2011

Campinas, SP, Brazil

Funding

• ExxonMobil: Principal investigator in a multidisciplinary research project focused on four key simulation areas: wellbore-reservoir coupling, hydraulic fracturing, fault reactivation, and CO2 injection
• Petronas: Lead researcher on an applied research project simulating CO2 injectivity loss in CCUS applications
• TotalEnergies: Collaborator in research project to develop numerical tools to analyze filtration losses during fluid injection in unconsolidated media
• Equinor: Collaborator in a project focused on developing a multiscale finite element method for simulating flow in fractured porous media
• Fapesp (São Paulo State Research Foundation): Principal investigator in a research project analyzing different methodologies for modeling fracture propagation in orthotropic heterogeneous media.

Teaching

• Solid Mechanics I: Euler-Bernoulli beam theory, cross-section properties, stresses in beams, deflection of beams
• Watch my video explaining the derivation of the governing equation for the elastic curve in Euler-Bernoulli beams: View on YouTube
• Solid Mechanics II: Torsion of beams, linear elasticity theory, failure criteria, buckling
• Introduction to the Finite Element Method: Weak formulation, Galerkin Method, boundary conditions, 1D and 2D elements, mesh generation, post-processing
• I teach the course using a Python object-oriented finite element code called PyFET. Check it out on GitHub!
• I encourage students to use open-source free software such as Gmsh for mesh generation and Paraview for post-processing
• Artificial Neural Networks Applied to Engineering Problems: Neural networks, training, backpropagation, data-driven models, and physics-informed neural networks (PINNs)
• In this course, students learn to build a neural network from scratch and use established libraries like PyTorch to solve engineering problems.
• Wood Structures: Mechanical properties of wood as an orthotropic material, structural behavior under various loading conditions, and principles for the analysis and design of timber members and connections.