John Montesano

John Montesano is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering at the University of Waterloo and the Director of the Composites Research Group (CRG). His research interests lie in the field of mechanics of fiber-reinforced composite materials and structures.

Prior to joining the University of Waterloo, Prof. Montesano was an NSERC Postdoctoral Researcher in Materials Science and Engineering Department at the University of Toronto where he developed multiscale computational models to predict failure of lightweight composite structures. He received his PhD in Aerospace Engineering at Ryerson University in 2012 where he studied the long-term durability of advanced composite materials at elevated temperatures. He has more than five years of industrial experience working as a Mechanical Designer and Structural Analyst in the aerospace sector.

• Mechanics of composite materials; multi-scale modeling; constitutive characterization and modeling; finite element analysis; damage mechanics; fatigue and fracture; impact and crashworthiness;

The overarching theme of my research program is to develop and implement advanced experimental techniques and numerical tools to investigate and model the highly intricate multiscale failure processes of emerging composite materials and structures, including high-performance fiber-reinforced plastics (FRP). Various loading conditions are considered, ranging from cyclic loading where long-term durability is relevant to dynamic loading for impact and crashworthiness applications. The underlying importance of manufacturing processes and manufacturing-induced defects on the evolution of multiscale damage mechanisms and mechanical performance of FRP composites remains a key focus. Both fundamental and applied research are central to my research program, which targets various sectors including automotive, aerospace and wind energy.

• 2012, Doctorate Aerospace Engineering, Ryerson University, Canada
• 2003, Bachelor in Aerospace Engineering, Ryerson University, Canada

• ME 219 - Mechanics of Deformable Solids 1
  • Taught in 2024
• ME 380 - Mechanical Engineering Design Workshop
  • Taught in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2024
• ME 598 - Special Topics in Mechanical Engineering
  • Taught in 2019, 2021, 2022
• ME 628 - Fracture Mechanics
  • Taught in 2021, 2023
• ME 734 - Mechanics of Composite Materials
  • Taught in 2019, 2020

* Only courses taught in the past 5 years are displayed.

• Montesano, John and Singh, Chandra Veer, Critical stiffness damage envelopes for multidirectional laminated structures under multiaxial loading conditions, Materials \\& Design, 218, 2016
• Montesano, John and Chu, Hao and Singh, Chandra Veer, Development of a physics-based multi-scale progressive damage model for assessing the durability of wind turbine blades, Composite Structures, 50, 2016
• Berton, Thomas and Montesano, John and Singh, Chandra Veer, Development of a synergistic damage mechanics model to predict evolution of ply cracking and stiffness changes in multidirectional composite laminates under creep, International Journal of Damage Mechanics, 105678951, 2015
• Montesano, John and Fawaz, Zouheir and Bougherara, Habiba, Non-destructive assessment of the fatigue strength and damage progression of satin woven fiber reinforced polymer matrix composites, Composites Part B: Engineering, 122, 2015
• Montesano, John and Selezneva, Marina and Levesque, Martin and Fawaz, Zouheir, Modeling fatigue damage evolution in polymer matrix composite structures and validation using in-situ digital image correlation, Composite Structures, 354, 2015