Related papers: Prescribed pattern transformation in swelling gel …
Liquid crystal elastomer films that morph into cones are strikingly capable lifters. Thus motivated, we combine theory, numerics, and experiments to reexamine the load-bearing capacity of conical shells. We show that a cone squashed between…
Two equal and opposite distributed dead loads are applied orthogonally to the axis of an elastic rod in its rectilinear reference configuration, one at the extrados and the other at the intrados, such that the resultant applied force per…
Mechanical instabilities can be exploited to design innovative structures, able to change their shape in the presence of external stimuli. In this work, we derive a mathematical model of an elastic beam subjected to an axial force and…
An exactly solvable family of models describing the wrinkling of substrate-supported inextensible elastic rings under compression is identified. The resulting wrinkle profiles are shown to be related to the buckled states of an unsupported…
Spontaneous growth of long-wavelength deformations is a defining feature of active fluids with orientational order. We investigate the effect of biaxial rectangular confinement on the instability of initially shear-aligned 3D isotropic…
In this study we use non-equilibrium thermodynamics to systematically derive a phase-field model of a polyelectrolyte gel coupled to a hydrodynamic model for a salt solution surrounding the gel. The governing equations for the gel account…
Thin sheets that are forced at their boundaries develop a variety of shapes aimed at minimising elastic energy by curving spontaneously in ways that break the symmetry of the sheet and the forcing. Characterising such buckling generally…
The emergence of hydrodynamic bend instabilities in ordered suspensions of active particles is widely observed across diverse living and synthetic systems, and is considered to be governed by dipolar active stresses generated by the…
We investigate the collective behavior of suspended thermoresponsive microgels, that expel solvent and subsequently decrease in size upon heating. Using a binary mixture of differently thermoresponsive microgels, we demonstrate how…
We demonstrate the instability of the free surface of a soft elastic solid facing downwards. Experiments are carried out using a gel of constant density $\rho$, shear modulus $\mu$, put in a rigid cylindrical dish of depth $h$. When turned…
A model predicting the structure of repulsive, spherically symmetric, monodisperse particles confined between two walls is presented. We study the buckling transition of a single flat layer as the double layer state develops. Experimental…
Hydrostatically pressurized circular rings confined to two dimensions (or cylinders constrained to have only z-independent deformations) undergo Euler type buckling when the outside pressure exceeds a critical value. We perform a stability…
A block of rubber eventually buckles under severe flexure, and several axial wrinkles appear on the inner curved face of the bent block. Experimental measurements reveal that the buckling occurs earlier ---at lower compressive strains---…
This work investigates the morphological stability of a soft body composed of two heavy elastic layers, attached to a rigid surface and subjected only to the bulk gravity force. Using theoretical and computational tools, we characterize the…
We study the modulational dynamics of striped patterns formed in the wake of a planar directional quench. Such quenches, which move across a medium and nucleate pattern-forming instabilities in their wake, have been shown in numerous…
When stretched in one direction, most solids shrink in the transverse directions. In soft silicone gels, however, we observe that small-scale topographical features grow upon stretching. A quantitative analysis of the topography shows that…
We investigate the swelling and shrinking of L_beta lamellar gel phases composed of surfactant and fatty alcohol after contact with aqueous poly(ethylene-glycol) solutions. The height change $\Delta h(t)$ is diffusion-like with a swelling…
Active gels are a class of biologically-relevant material containing embedded agents that spontaneously generate forces acting on a sparse filament network. In vitro experiments of protein filaments and molecular motors have revealed a…
Understanding thin sheets, ranging from the macro to the nanoscale, can allow control of mechanical properties such as deformability. Out-of-plane buckling due to in-plane compression can be a key feature in designing new materials. While…
Helical ribbons arise in many biological and engineered systems, often driven by anisotropic surface stress, residual strain, and geometric or elastic mismatch between layers of a laminated composite. A full mathematical analysis is…