Institute of Mechanics

Position: Associate professor

Department:Solid Mechanics

Room №: 406

Phone: (02) 979 6466

E-mail: sv.nikolov@imbm.bas.bg

Scientific degrees, institution, year:

2001 PhD in Applied Sciences, Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium

Dissertation: “Multi-Scale Constitutive Modeling of Semi-Crystalline Polymers”

Supervisor: Prof. Issam Doghri

1995 MSc in Applied Sciences, Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium

1994 MSE in Mechanical Engineering, Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium

1987 MEng in Mechanical Engineering, Technical University of Sofia, Bulgaria

Fields of Research:

Multiscale modeling, homogenization of heterogeneous materials, structure/property relations in polymers, composites and biomaterials, constitutive equations for elasto-viscoplastic materials, size effects, soft robotics

Recent Publications:

1. Roters, F., Diehl, M., Shanthraj, P., Eisenlohr, P., Reuber, C., Wong, S.L., Maiti, T., Ebrahimi, A., Hochrainer, T., Fabritius, H.-O., Nikolov, S., Friák, M., Fujita, N., Grilli, N., Janssens, K.G.F., Jia, N., Kok, P.J.J., Ma, D., Meier, F., Werner, E., Stricker, M., Weygand, D., Raabe, D. DAMASK – The Düsseldorf Advanced Material Simulation Kit for modeling multi-physics crystal plasticity, thermal, and damage phenomena from the single crystal up to the component scale. Computational Materials Science, in press: 2018, ISSN:0927-0256, DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.commatsci.2018.04.030
2. Nikolov, S., V. Kotev, K. Kostadinov, F. Wang, C. Liang, Y. Tian. A. Model-based design optimization of soft fiber-reinforced bending actuators. In: Proceedings of the 6^th IEEE International Conference on Manipulation, Manufacturing and Measurement on the Nanoscale (3M-NANO 2016), Chongqing, China,2017, pp. 136-140.
3. Fabritius, H.-O., A. Ziegler, M. Friák, S. Nikolov, J. Huber, B.H.M. Seidl, S. Ruangchai, F.I. Alagboso, S. Karsten, J. Lu, A.M. Janus, M. Petrov, L.-F. Zhu, P. Hemzalová, S. Hild, D. Raabe, J. Neugebauer. Functional adaptation of crustacean exoskeletal elements through structural and compositional diversity: A combined experimental and theoretical study. Bioinspiration and Biomimetics, 11 (5), 2016, Article # 055006.
4. Nikolov S., H. Fabritius, M. Friák, D. Raabe. Integrated multiscale modeling approach for hierarchical biological nanocomposites applied to lobster cuticle. Bulgarian Chemical communications, 47, 2015, 424-433.
5. Friák, M., L.-F. Zhu, L. Lymperakis, H. Titrian, U. Aydin, A.M. Janus, H.-O. Fabritius, A. Ziegler, S. Nikolov, P. Hemzalová, D. Raabe, J. Neugebauer. Quantum-mechanical study of single-crystalline and polycrystalline elastic properties of Mg-substituted calcite crystals. Key Engineering Materials, 592-593, 2014, 335-341.

Selected publications:

1. Lhadi, S., S. Ahzi, Y. Rémond, S. Nikolov, H. Fabritius. Effects of homogenization technique and introduction of interfaces in a multiscale approach to predict the elastic properties of arthropod cuticle. Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials, 23, 2013, 103-116.
2. Zhu, L.F., M. Friák, L. Lymperakis, H. Titrian, U. Aydin, A.M. Janus, H.O. Fabritius, A. Ziegler, S. Nikolov, P. Hemzalová, D. Raabe, J. Neugebauer. Ab initio study of single-crystalline and polycrystalline elastic properties of Mg-substituted calcite crystals. Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials, 20, 2013, 296-304.
3. Nikolov, S., H. Fabritius, M. Petrov, M. Friák, L. Lymperakis, C. Sachs, D. Raabe, J. Neugebauer. Robustness and optimal use of design principles of arthropod exoskeletons studied by ab initio-based multiscale simulations. Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials, 4 (2), 2011, 129-145.
4. Nikolov, S., Petrov, M., Lymperakis, L., Friák, M., Sachs, C., Fabritius, H. O., Raabe, D., Neugebauer, J. Revealing the Design Principles of High-Performance Biological Composites Using Ab initio and Multiscale Simulations: The Example of Lobster. Advanced Materials, 22 (4), 2010, 519-526.
5. Elstnerová, P., M. Friák, H.-O. Fabritius, L. Lymperakis, T. Hickel, M. Petrov, S. Nikolov, D. Raabe, A. Ziegler, S. Hild, J. Neugebauer. Ab initio study of thermodynamic, structural, and elastic properties of Mg-substituted crystalline calcite. Acta Biomaterialia, 6 (12), 2010, 4506-4512.
6. Nikolov S., Raabe, D. Hierarchical modeling of the elastic properties of bone at submicron scales: The role of extrafibrillar mineralization. Biophysical Journal, 94 (11), 2008, 4220-4232.
7. Tatiraju R. V. S., Han, C.-S., Nikolov, S. Size dependent hardness of polyamide/imide. Open Mechanics Journal, 1, 2008, 89-92.
8. Nikolov S., Han, C.-S., Raabe, D. On the origin of size effects in small-strain elasticity of solid polymers. International Journal of Solids and Structures, 44 (5), 2007, 1582-1592.
9. Han, C.-S., Nikolov, S. Indentation size effects in polymers and related rotation gradients. Journal of Materials Research, 22 (6), 2007, 1662-1672.
10. Nikolov S., Lebensohn, R. A., Raabe, D. Self-consistent modeling of large plastic deformation, texture and morphology evolution in semi-crystalline polymers. Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids, 54 (7), 2006, 1350-1375.
11. Nikolov S., Raabe, D. Yielding of polyethylene through propagation of chain twist defects: Temperature, stem length and strain-rate dependence. Polymer, 47 (5), 2006, 1696–1703.
12. Nikolov, S. Modelling and simulation of particle breakage in impact crushers. International Journal of Mineral Processing, 74 (SI), 2004, S219–S225.
13. Nikolov, S., I. Doghri, O. Pierard, L. Zealouk, A. Goldberg. Multi-scale constitutive modeling of the small deformations of semi-crystalline polymers. Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids, 50 (11), 2002, 2275-2302.
14. Nikolov, S. A performance model for impact crushers. Minerals Engineering, 15 (10), 2002, 715-721.
15. Nikolov, S., I. Doghri. A micro/macro constitutive model for the small-deformation behavior of polyethylene. Polymer, 41 (5), 2000, 1883-1891.

Book chapters:

1. Friák, M., H.-O. Fabritius, S. Nikolov, M. Petrov, L. Lymperakis, C. Sachs, P. Elstnerová, J. Neugebauer, D. Raabe. Multi-scale Modelling of a Biological Material: The Arthropod Exoskeleton. In: Materials Design Inspired by Nature: Function through Inner Architecture, (Eds. Fratzl, P., Dunlop, J. W. C., Weinkamer, R.), pp. 197-218, The Royal Society of Chemistry, 2013.
2. Nikolov, S., Fabritius, H., Friák, M., Raabe, D. Hierarchical modeling of biological nanocomposites, In: Mechanics of Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology, Series in Applied Mathematics and Mechanics, 3, (Eds. Kаvardzhikov, V., Parashkevova, L., Baltov, A.), pp. 199-224, Institute of Mechanics – BAS, Sofia, 2012.
3. Fabritius, H., C. Sachs, D. Raabe, S. Nikolov, M. Friák, J. Neugebauer. Chitin in the exoskeletons of Arthropoda: From ancient design to novel materials science. In: Chitin: Formation and Diagenesis, (Ed. Gupta, N.S.), pp. 35-60. Springer, 2011.

Recent Projects:

• Digital laboratory for multiscale modelling and characterization of porous materials: a multidisciplinary approach, National Science Fund, 2018-2020
• Micro/Nano Robotics for Single Cancer Cells (MNR4SCell), Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions-RISE, 2018-2020

• Biomedical Robotics and Applications (BioRA), Marie Curie Actions-IRSES, 2015-2017.
• SPP1420: Crustacean skeletal elements: variations in the constructional morphology at different hierarchical levels, DFG Priority program, 2009-2013, http://spp1420.mpikg.mpg.de

Institute of Mechanics tel.: +359 2 973 31 40; e-mail: office@imbm.bas.bg