Research Program

Dr. Thomas Michelitsch

University of Sheffield
for application at CNRS

December 2006

Topic

Self Consistent Modelling of the dynamic effective properties of piezoelectric

composites.

General Area

Mathematical Physics, Mechanics of Materials, Applied Mathematics, Analytical

Dynamics
Summary

The modelling of the effective properties of composite materials leads in the dynamic
case to a multiple-scattering propblem. In this project piezoelectric composite
materials are considered due to their technological importance in smart structures and
materials. Self consistent methods were invented in Quantum Mechanics by Kohn and
Sham. The class of these methods have in common that they reduce untractable
multiple particle problems to much simpler effective one particle problems. Self
consistent approaches constitute superior techniques useful to deduce a powerful
approximate scheme to model the effective dynamic characteristics in piezoactive
materials such as mean field wave spead, effective wave vector and the electroelastic
effective moduli. The goal of the research program is to develop and extend the class
of self consistent approaches to model dynamic effective properties of piezoelectric
composite materials.

Background

I started working on the field of mathematical modelling of piezoelectric materials

since 1996, when I was a postdoc at the Max Planck Unit “Mechanics of
heterogeneous solids” in Dresden, Germany, and continued to do so when leading the
research group “Smart Materials” in the department “Theory of Mesocopic
Phenomena” at Max Planck Institute in Stuttgart, Germany in 2001 (details, see my
enlosed CV). At Max Planck Institute, I attracted sucessfully funding from the
German Research Council (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft – DFG) on behalf of
the head of department, Professor Huajian Gao for the project ” Mathematical
Modelling of the Dynamical Characteristics in Piezocomposites”, DFG project no.
GA 732/1-1 for part I of the project and DFG project no. GA 732/1-2 for part II of the
project (referenced in all publications performed within the framework of this project).
I managed to attract funding for the full length of a maximum of three years for the
project. The topic proposed for the present project is mainly based on the results
achieved in the DFG project. These achievements are reflected by 12 research papers
which were published in the framwork of this project [1-13]. In the present proposal
we want to tackle those questions which were not resolved in the DFG proposal.
The main issue which was not yet addressed in the DFG project was the development
of an appropriate self-consistent method which allows it to tackel the effective
dynamic homogeneisation problem in piezoelectric micro-inhomogeneous materials.
In this sense the present proposal can be conceived as a successing proposal to the
DFG proposal. The motivation to continue this work is that on the one hand essential
questions could not be answered in the time of three years given for the DFG project,
on the other hand we achieved remarkable results which should enable us to answer
many of these questions.

Possibly a research group devoted to the topic of the present suggested proposal is to
be established, as well as the collaboration with the DFG project team (Michelitsch,
Levin, Wang) is to be maintained.

Introduction

Piezoelectric composites are an important class of engineering materials with a high

potential for applications in so called Smart Structures. Piezoelectric composites are
being used to numerous only recently emerging technologies taking advantage of the
superior properties of this material class. Some of the most important applications
include: microphones, high frequency loudspeakers, acoustic modems; pressure
switches, impact detectors, flow meters and load cells. These recent new applications
especially focus on dynamic processes (wave propagation) effects having been key
subject of this project. Future sophistication of these new applications is expected to
raise an enormous market potential. The exploitation of these processes for the above
mentioned new applications is only in the beginning stage. A fundamental
understanding of the dynamics in piezoelectric (electro-elastic coupled) composite
materials is inevitable to improve this exploitation especially the lack of
understanding in the analytical description how the microstructure (inclusions) affects
the macroscopic dynamic response and observable quantities, among them effective
dynamic electroelastic moduli, the mean field wave speed and wave vector. The main
goal of the project is to establish analytical approaches which describe the effective
dynamic responses of piezoelectric composite materials and to create analytical
benchmark solutions. As a key problem to be resolved for the mathematical modeling
of the dynamic behavior of micro-inhomogeneous piezoelectric medium such as
piezo-composites we identified the Dyanmic Variant of Eshelby’s inclusion problem
in both, the purely isotropic, i.e. piezo-passive medium and in the piezoelectric
medium. In the analytical modelling considerable progress could be achieved in the
DFG project [1-9]. To this end the development of appropriate dynamic Green’s
functions were a crucial prerequisite in order to tackle dynamic Eshelby problems.
Thus the analytical development of dynamic Green’s functions was one of the central
issues in which the project will be based on.
In the present project, for the aim of analytical feasibility either a three-dimensional
elastic (piezo-passive) or a quasiplane two dimensional piezoelectric medium
(equivalent to a fiber reinforced piezo-composite material) is to be considered. By
using the solutions of the dynamic variant of Eshelby inclusion problem to be
developed together with the Green’s functions to be derived, the Scattering Problem
of a piezo-composite material was to be tackled and to be modeled as a piezoactive
matrix containing a random set of piezoelectric inclusions (of other material
characteristics as the matrix) subjected to an incoming electro-acoustic wave field.
The goal is to obtain analytical expressions describing the macroscopic (effective)
dynamic response of this model system such as the effective dynamic moduli, the
mean wave speed and the mean field wave vector. All these observables are to be
related to the characteristics (piezoelectric moduli of the constituents, concentration of
inclusions, geometric characteristics of inclusions such aspect ratios etc) of the
microstructure. For a real material system this problem is a highly complex multiple
scattering problem which cannot be solved in closed form due to the huge set of
unknowns. Instead, a powerful class of approximations, namely the self consistent
methods was to be utilized, strictly speaking the Kanaun-Levin variant of the Effective
Field Method (EFM) was identified to be highly promising to tackle this problem and
to yield expressions for the dynamic characteristics in a reasonable approximation.
This was indicated by the success of the EFM in the modeling effective properties in
the framework of statics.
As a first step the main focus in the project is to apply the analytical solutions for
the dynamic variants of Eshelby inclusion problem, and closely related to utilize
solutions Helmholtz equation which we call “Dynamic Potentials” (frequency domain
solutions) to establish a wave equation for the effective retarded potentials
representing the causal time domain solutions. This approach will take advantage by
the analytical results deduced in [8].
A second step will be focused on developing time domain solutions and to develop
numerical tools (codes) for the transformation between time domain and frequency
domain solutions by using approaches deveoped in [9]. Moreover it is intended to
develop further time domain solutions for Eshelby inclusion problems based on [7]
and retarded potentials [8].
The dynamic potential functions were identified to represent fundamental quantities
to generate the dynamic Eshelby tensor function. The wave and Helmholtz equations
were solved for source regions which represent the space occupied by the inclusions
in the DFG project [2-5]. We allready considered spatial homogeneous and
inhomogeneous source distributions with Dirac-delta type time profile [8]. In most
cases the inclusions were assumed to be ellipsoidal. As “spin off” results some
fundamental problems of Mathematical Physics were solved analytically in closed
form in [5] in terms of one-dimensional quadratures, similar to Elliptic Integrals,
namely the problem of determining the solution of the Helmholtz equation for
ellipsoidal shells. The static limiting cases recovered some classical Newtonian
Potentials due to Ferrers and Rahman. Moreover, by using a similar approach, the
dynamic variant of Eshelby’s inclusion problem for an isotropic three dimensional
infinite medium was considered containing a homogeneous ellipsoidal inclusion, i.e.
the complete analogue problem to the classical Eshelby problem [3].

With the approaches to be deveoped in the proposed project, various problems of

materials science (Dynamic Eshelby inclusion problem in the frequency and time
domain and their expression in terms of relatively simple scalar functions (“Dynamic
Potentials”) become accessible. The analytical approaches to be developed in this
project are generally applicable in a wide range of fields in engineering sciences,
mechanics of materials and physics.
Previous Work

In the following paragraph we describe the essence of the outcomes of previous

work relevant for the present project in more details. First of all, the propagation of
electroacoustic waves in a piezoelectric medium containing a statistical ensemble of
cylindrical fibers was considered. Both the matrix and the fibers consist of
piezoelectric transversely isotropic material with symmetry axis parallel to the fiber
axes. Special emphasis was given on the propagation of an electroacoustic axial shear
wave polarized parallel to the axis of symmetry propagating in the direction normal to
the fiber axis. The scattering problem of one isolated continuous (‘‘one-particle
scattering problem’’) was considered. By means of a Green’s function approach a
system of coupled integral equations for the electroelastic field in the medium
containing a single inhomogeneity was solved in closed form in the long-wave
approximation. The total scattering cross-section obtained in closed form is in
accordance with the electroacoustic analogue of the optical theorem. The solution of
the one-particle scattering problem was used to solve the homogenization problem for
a random set of fibers by means of the self-consistent scheme of effective field
method (EFM). Closed form expressions for the dynamic characteristics such as total
cross-section, effective wave velocity and attenuation factor were obtained in the
long-wave approximation [1].
The dynamic potentials of a two-dimensional (2D) quasi-plane piezoelectric infinite
medium of transversely isotropic symmetry containing an inclusion of arbitrary shape
was derived in terms of scalar solutions of the 2D Laplace and Helmholtz equations.
Closed-form expressions for the interior and exterior space were obtained for the case
when the spatial source distribution is characterized by a region occupied by a circular
inclusion embedded in a quasi-plane transversely isotropic matrix (see (5.18)-(5.23) in
paper [2]). The results are used to solve the dynamic Eshelby problem of a circular
inclusion (6.1)ff. in [2] (plane region with the same material characteristics as the
matrix) undergoing uniform eigenstrain and eigenelectric field. In contrast to the static
case, the dynamic electroelastic fields inside the circular inclusion are non-uniform in
the space-frequency representation. The derived dynamic piezoelectric potentials
represent basic quantities for the description of the dynamic properties of micro-
inhomogeneous quasi-plane piezoelectric material systems (e.g. fiber-reinforced
piezocomposites) [2].
In paper [5] the dynamic Eshelby inclusion problem for an ellipsoidal inclusion in a
three dimensional infinite elastic isotropic medium was considered. The dynamic
Eshelby tensor was expressed in terms of solution of the Helmholtz equation
(Helmholtz potentials) of the form of eq. (2.14) in that paper. A compact formulation
for the components of the dynamic Eshelby tensor was derived for the interior region
of the inclusion (eqs. (5.1)-(5.9) in [5]). The approach is straight-forward to be
extended to derive expressions of the dynamic Eshelby tensor also for the exterior
region (by employing in (5.1) the exterior dynamic potentials (3.24) instead of the
interior potentials (3.18)). For spheroidal inclusions, relations (5.16)-(5.25) together
with integrals (5.14) (5.15). We also recovered closed-form expressions in cases such
as spheres and continuous fibers in accordance with those given in 1990 by Mikata &
Nemat-Nasser.
The formulation (5.7)-(5.13) for the interior dynamic Eshelby tensor is in complete
analogy to Eshelby’s 1957 paper, only the integrals (5.14) (5.15) are not elliptic in the
dynamic case. This formulation is especially convenient to perform the static limit of
vanishing frequency (eqs. (5.26)ff.). The static limiting case recovered Eshelby’s
classical 1957 result (eqs. (5.31)-(5.33) in [5]).
A quasiplane piezoelectric medium of transversely isotropic symmetry with
continuous fiber inclusion parallel to the axis of symmetry was considered in [4,6,7].
The problem is equivalent to a two-dimensional quasi-plane piezoelectric medium
containing a 2D inclusion. The inclusion was assumed to undergo a spatially uniform
δ (t ) -type time domain transformation. The continuous fiber has elliptical, circular
and arbitrary cross-sections. The solutions of the inclusion problem were expressed by
scalar dynamic potentials. In the time domain two of these functions correspond to the
retarded potential integrals of the inclusion. Their frequency domain representation
which we shall call the dynamic potentials of the inclusion were also considered.
Integral formulae were derived for continuous fiber inclusions with elliptical cross-
sections. Known closed form solutions were reproduced for circular fibers as limiting
cases in [4,6,7] which confirmed our analytical approaches and closed form solutions.
For fibers with arbitrary cross-sections a numerical method based on Gauss
quadrature was applied in order to obtain their dynamic potentials in the frequency
and time domain. High accuracy and efficiency of the numerical method was
confirmed by comparing numerical solutions with analytical cases solutions for
dynamical potentials. Characteristic observable superposition and runtime effects for
the time domain wave fields generated by dynamically transforming inclusions were
found (see eqs. (17)ff. in paper [8]). Closed form solutions for retarded potentials of
spheres were obtained (eqs. (21)-(24) in [8]) and cubic and prismatic source regions
were treated numerically with above Gauss quadrature method (Sec. 3 of paper [8]).
The solutions of many dynamical problems as wave propagation in electrodynamics,
acoustics or elasticity very often require the solution of inhomogeneous Helmholtz
equations (determination of dynamic potentials) for ellipsoidal source regions. As in
the case of the static (Newtonian) potentials a compact representation of the dynamic
potentials in terms of one-dimensional integrals was highly desirable. Due to the
mathematical complexity of the problem for ellipsoids such a representation was not
reported in the literature so far. In paper [5] we close this gap for the dynamic
potential of an ellipsoidal shell for internal spacepoints. The solution derived (eqs.
(3.27) and alternatively (3.38) in [5]) is a 1D integral representation for the real part of
the dynamic potential of a homogeneous shell. The classical limit yields the well
classical result for a Newtonian potential due to Ferrers (eq (3.28)). The imaginary
part of the dynamic potential of a homogeneous shell was obtained in terms of an
infinite series (4.6) which is related to the imaginary part of the Helmholtz Green’s
function which is a homogeneous solution of the Helmholts equation. In the static
limiting case the imaginary part of the Helmholtz potential is vanishing. The derived
solution of the inside region can easily be used to find the solution for the outside
region by applying Ivory's theorem. In the static limit classical results of Ferrers and
Dyson for the Newtonian potential of inhomogeneous ellipsoids were reproduced.
In paper [8] analyzed the three-dimensional infinite space solutions of the three-
dimensional inhomogeneous wave equation (the ‘retarded potentials’ or ‘causal
propagators’) for ellipsoidal sources and for sources of arbitrary shapes. The ‘short-
time characteristics’ of the retarded potential for a spatially inhomogeneous source
density of δ-shaped time profile was considered. It was found that, the short-time
characteristics is governed by the spatial inhomogeneity of the source density in the
immediate vicinity of a spacepoint, more precisely the time expansion of the retarded
potential is governed by the derivatives of the source function. A spatial derivative of
order m of the source generated a retarded potential of order 2m+1 in the immediate
vicinity of the source-point (see eq. (44) in [8]).
 In paper [9] a simple formula for Laplace inverse transform was derived based on
the wavelet theory. The efficiency and robustness are demonstrated through numerical
examples. This numerical approach was successfully in the numerical computations
involved in the project. The high accuracy of the approach was confirmed by
comparing analytical results and reproducing them with the numerical method [9].
All results of the project were continuously presented at renowned international
conferences (see paragraph “Conference papers”) and have attracted considerable
interest by the audience.

Outlook and on future applications

A fundamental understanding of the dynamics in piezoelectric composite materials

is inevitable to improve the technological exploitation of piezo-compposites in smart
structures. To reduce the so far considerable gap in understanding, especially in the
modeling of the effective macroscopically observable dynamic characteristics of these
materials, is among the main goals of this project.
The results of the present project are to be contributed to basic research which is
inevitable for the progress in science and for the development of human society and
culture. More precisely, the developed mathematical techniques in this project are
useful for a wide range of fundamental problems in mathematical physics and
mechanics of materials.
The results deduced in in [2] have already attracted a wide attention in the
community and also are to be used in the present suggested project. The approach
developed in [2] already is extensively used and currently being extended to magnetic
materials by Chen and Shen (“Dynamic Potentials and Green’s Functions of a quasi-
plane magneto-electro-elastic medium with inclusion”, to appear in: International
Journal of Engineering Science.).
The basic research and the development of numerical codes are to be expected to
highly benefit from the analytical approaches further developed in this project.
Analytical Approaches and problems to be addressed in the present
project

The elastic and electric as well as geometrical characteristics of piezoelectric

composites are random function of coordinates. The problem of these fields
determination in such materials is not even tractable by using the most advanced
computer techniques. But in most practically important cases it is not necessary to
know these fields in details. Very often it is quite enough to have information about
the average response of the microinhomogeneous medium on the external actions. To
solve this problem it is only necessary to estimate the mean values of these fields
under the deterministic external loading. The solution of this problem would allow us
to find the effective (or overall) properties of the composite material and replace the
initial inhomogeneous medium by a homogeneous one with known deterministic
constitutive law and response on the external actions. The determination of the elastic
and electric fields in such inhomogeneous materials is a classical problem of the
coupled theory of electroelasticity. The construction of a mathematical model of a
homogeneous medium which behaves macroscopically equivalent to the real
composite material is the central problems of the mechanics and physics of the media
with microstructure, the so-called homogenization problem. The solution of the
homogenization problem allows not only to establish the macroscopic response of the
composite material on the external loading but also to connect its overall
characteristics with the details of the microstructure (the components properties, sizes
and shapes of inclusions and their spatial distribution in the matrix).
In the case of a stochastic microstructure as in composite materials, the
homogenization problem can be solved only approximately. The main difficulties are
how to account the many-particle-interactions between the randomly placed
inclusions. There is a group of methods in theoretical physics known as self-consistent
methods introduced by Kohn and Sham to model Multi-electron systems (density
functional theory), which allows solving the many-particle problem approximately.
As a rule self-consistent methods reduce the many-particle problem to an effective
one-particle problem and thus provide the opportunity for the effective solution of the
homogenization problem. The idea to apply self-consistent methods to problems in
Mechanics of Materials was due to Kanaun and Levin (the latter being involved in
this project as cooperation partner).
Most elementary dynamical problems of reralistic material systems are considered
not being analytically accessible due to these considerable mathematical difficulties.
In view of this situation, the main goal of this project is it to contribute to close the
existing gap in dynamical modelling and to provide appropriate analytical-
mathematical approaches. Especially the following problems were identified to be
addressed in the present project to make the dynamical modelling of the dynamic
characteristics of piezo-composites more tractable:

Solution of the one-particle diffraction problem for the coupled

electroelasticity (patically done in the DFG project);

Development of mathematical approaches for the dynamic variant of
Eshelby’s inclusion problem in both the frequency and time domain
(application of closed-form results achieved in the DFG project).

Application of this solution in the self-consistent scheme in the Kanaun-Levin
formulation which was already successfully applied to problems in statics
(EFM, first of all in the quasicrystaline approximation) for description of the
effective dynamic properties for different inclusion species for statistically
isotropic inclusion distributions;

Construction and analysis of the dynamic characteristics of the composite
material such as dispersion relation for the electroacoustic waves, attenuation
factor, mean field wave speed, total scattering cross section, and effective
electroelastic moduli (i.e. their frequency dependence).

Addressing corresponding causal time domain problems (a statistical ensemble
of inclusions is subjected to an incoming wave package)

Extension of the EFM beyond the quasi-crystalline approximation to tackle
statistically inhomogeneous inclusion distributions

Due to the extensive work on Eshelby inclusion problems and associated Dynamic
Potentials in two and three dimensions for purely elastic media and for quasiplane
piezoelectric materials, above tasks could not be resolved in the DFG project in the
given project time of three years. A further open question so far remains to extend the
EFM to cases beyond the long-wave approximation and the extension of the EFM
beyond the quasicrystalline approximation. However the derived approaches were
crucial cornerstones necessary to be resolved in the present project, and crucial for
proceeding towards the determination of the effective characteristics by using the EFM.
However, due to the considerbale experience gained in the DFG project which is
reflected last but not least by all in all 13 research papers including 9 journal papers
among them such renowned ones as the Proceedings of the Royal Society [2,3] and
Quarterly Journal of Mechanics and Applied Mathematics [5].
As the mathematical approaches developed in the DFG project are completely
general, it is to be expected that the present project highly benefits from them as well
as other scientists will adopt them to their fields. The dynamical Eshelby inclusion
problem is a problem occurring in any physical and material sciences in different
contexts, where the approaches developed in the DFG project will be directly
applicable. It will be also a central goal in the present project to develop elegant
mathematical-analytical approaches applicable in a wider range of physical and
engineering problems.

Interdiciplinary Approaches

The mathematical approach developed in [2] which focused on piezoelectric

materials is being extended to magnetic materials by other scientists (Chen P., and
Shen Y., “Dynamic Potentials and Green’s Functions of a quasi-plane magneto-
electro-elastic medium with inclusion”, to appear in: International Journal of
Engineering Science)
As the mathematical approaches developed in the project represent key solutions of
general problems of Mathematical Physics and the Mechanics of Materials, it is to be
expected that they will be widely utilized and further developed. Related problems are
to be continuously identified and if useful included into the present project. In this
sence the direction of impact of the present project is supposed to be far beyond only
the modelling of the dynamics of piezoelectric materials.
Own publications relevant to the above suggested project

 Journal Papers

1) Levin, V. M., Michelitsch, T.M. and Gao, H., 2002, Propagation of Electroacoustic
Waves in the Transversely Isotropic Piezoelectric Medium Reinforced by Randomly
Distributed Cylindrical Inhomogeneities.
International Journal of Solids and structures, 39, 5013-5051.

2) Michelitsch, T.M., Levin, V.M. and Gao, H., 2002. Dynamic Potentials and
Green's Functions of a Quasiplane Piezoelectric Medium with Inclusion.
Proceedings of the Royal Society of London A, 458, 2393-2415.

3) Michelitsch, T.M., Gao, H., Levin, V.M., 2003. Dynamic Eshelby Tensor and
Potentials for Ellipsoidal Inclusions,
Proceedings of the Royal Society of London A, 459, 863-890.

4) Wang, J., Michelitsch, T.M., Gao, H, 2003. Dynamic Fiber Inclusions with
Ellipsoidal and Arbitrary Cross-Sections and Related Retarded Potentials in a Quasi-
Plane Piezoelectric Medium. (Special Volume, M. Kachanov guest Ed.)
International Journal of Solids and Structures, 40, 6307-6333.

5) Michelitsch, T.M., Gao, H. Levin, V.M., 2003, On the Dynamic Potentials of

Ellipsoidal Shells. Quarterly Journal of Mechanics and Applied Mathematics, 56 (4),
629-648.

6) Michelitsch, T. M., Gao, H., 2003, Dynamic Eshelby Inclusion Problem of a

Quasiplane Transversely Isotropic Piezoelectric Medium,
Chinese Journal of Mechanics-Series A, 19 (1), 113-118.

7) Wang, J., Michelitsch, T.M., Gao, H., Levin, V.M., 2005, On the solution of the
dynamic Eshelby problem for inclusions with ellipsoidal and arbitrary shapes.
International Journal of Solids and Structures, 42, 353-363.
8) Michelitsch, T.M., Wang, J., Gao, H., Levin, V.M., 2005, On the retarded
potentials of inhomogeneous ellipsoids and sources of arbitrary shapes in the three-
dimensional infinite space.
International Journal of Solids and Structures, 42, 51-67.

9) Wang, J. and Gao, H., 2005, A simplified formula of Laplace inversion based on
wavelet theory.
Communications in Numerical methods in Engineering, 21, 527-530.

 Conference papers

Refereed:

10) Levin, V. M., Michelitsch, T.M. and Gao, H., 2002. Modeling of the Effective
Dynamic Characteristics of Fiber Reinforced Transversely Isotropic Piezoelectric
Materials. Proceedings of the SPIE, 4699, 103-113.

11) Michelitsch, T. M., Wang, J., Gao, H. and Levin, V.M., 2004. On the Solution of
the Inhomogeneous Helmholtz Wave Equation for Ellipsoidal Sources, in:
Continuum Models and Discrete Systems, eds. D. Bergman et al.,
Kluwer Academic Publishers, The Netherlands, 115-122.

Non-refereed:

12) Michelitsch, T. M., Gao, H. Levin, V.M., 2003. Solution of the inhomogeneous
Helmholtz equation for an ellipsoidal source region. International Conference on the
Mechanical Behaviour of Materials (ICM9), Geneva May 25-29, 2003.

13) Wang, J. , Michelitsch, T.M. Gao., 2003. Numerical Solution of the Dynamic
Eshelby Problem for Inclusions with Arbitrary Shapes. International Conference on
the Mechanical Behaviour of Materials (ICM9), Geneva May 25-29, 2003.
Further new research interests and future research vision: Lattice
Dynamics and statistical mechanics in self-similar (fractal) gaskets.

A new field which one might call ``fractal analysis'' or ``physics on self similar
material systems'' has been developing. This new field requires a new kind of
mathematics which has been emerging recently based on a pioneering work of Kigami
[J. Kigami, Japan J. Appl. Math. 8 (1989), 259-290.}]. Basic equations of physics
need to be defined and solved on a fractal gasket (such as for instance the Laplace
equation).

Beside the above introduced research program I have the goal to devote future
research efforts in this new challenging direction, i.e. investigating aspects of self-
similarity and its influence on dynamical characteristics such as vibration spectra of
self-similar lattices. Once having defined these quantities on a fractal, concepts of
statistical physics yield physical observables including the partition function with the
complete statistical information about the fractal system. My experience in lattics
dynamics and group theory which I collected during my Diploma thesis is useful to
tackle this class of problems.

An interesting question I intend to investigate is the following: Is there a Noether's

theorem for self-similarity, i.e. does the symmetry of self-similarity implicate a new
so far unknown conservation law? If so what quantity is conserved in a physical
system with self-similar symmetry?

Recently I started an attempt to deduce the dynamic lattice Green's function on the
Sierpinski gasket. I believe there is an enormous interdisciplinary research- and
application potential of the fractal approach. My vision is, beside the above described
research program, to establish a strong interdiciplinary research group which is
devoted to investigate related aspects of the theory of self-similar (fractal) systems.