Research

Prof. Hodges has been on the faculty of the School of Aerospace Engineering at Georgia Tech since the fall of 1986. His present research interests include analytical and computational structural mechanics, aeroelasticity, structural dynamics, asymptotic methods, dynamics and computational optimal control. He has presented papers and seminars at many technical conferences and universities across the United States, Western Europe, South America, and Asia. He has advised 34 PhD and 39 MS graduates. To his credit thus far he has four book chapters, five books, over 200 technical papers in refereed journals, and two U.S. Patents. In recent years his research group at Georgia Tech has been developing methods for accurate analysis and stress recovery in composite beams (including helicopter rotor blades), plates, and shells. The computer programs VABS (for composite beams) and VAPAS (for composite plates and shells) are in use around the world. These codes facilitate the accurate modeling and accurate stress recovery of internally complex structural members using generalized forms of standard reduced-order models for beams, plates, and shells. Also, the code NATASHA was developed for nonlinear aeroelasticity analysis of HALE aircraft and was selected by DARPA for use by contractors in its VULTURE program.