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The Slinky is a well-known example of a highly flexible helical spring, exhibiting large, geometrically nonlinear deformations from minimal applied forces. By considering it as a system of coils that act to resist axial, shearing, and…
Many organisms have an elastic skeleton that consists of a closed shell of epithelial cells that is filled with fluid, and can actively regulate both elastic forces in the shell and hydrostatic pressure inside it. In this work we introduce…
Biology is full of intricate molecular structures whose geometries are inextricably linked to their function. Many of these structures exhibit varying curvature, such as the helical structure of the bacterial flagellum, which is critical…
Dielectric elastomers (DEs) are a type of multifunctional materials with salient features that are very attractive in developing soft, lightweight, and small-scale transducers and robotics. This paper reviews the mechanics of soft DE…
Mechanical metamaterials leverage geometric design to achieve unconventional properties, such as high strength at low density, efficient wave guiding, and complex shape morphing. The ability to control shape changes builds on the complex…
A fascinating and open question challenging biochemistry, physics and even geometry is the presence of highly regular motifs such as alpha-helices in the folded state of biopolymers and proteins. Stimulating explanations ranging from…
Nanowires play a pivotal role across a spectrum of disciplines such as nanoelectromechanical systems, nanoelectronics, and energy applications. As nanowires continue to diminish in dimensions, their mechanical characteristics are…
Embedded vortices in turbulent wall-bounded flow over a flat plate, generated by a passive rectangular vane-type vortex generator with variable angle $\beta$ to the incoming flow in a low-Reynolds number flow ($Re=2600$ based on the inlet…
Anisotropy at the level of the inter-particle interaction provides the particles with specific instructions for the self-assembly of target structures. The ability to synthesize non-spherical colloids, together with the possibility of…
This work considers the application of the virtual element method to plane hyperelasticity problems with a novel approach to the selection of stabilization parameters. The method is applied to a range of numerical examples and well known…
Liquid crystal elastomers are rubbery solids that couple liquid crystalline order and deformation. This coupling leads to properties that are attractive for a number of applications in soft robotics and energy absorption. This paper is…
We apply physics-augmented neural network (PANN) constitutive models to experimental uniaxial tensile data of rubber-like materials whose behavior depends on manufacturing parameters. For this, we conduct experimental investigations on a 3D…
We investigate the spontaneous meandering of slender rivulets in Hele-Shaw cells and identify the physical mechanism that selects the most unstable wavenumber, a quantity that has remained elusive even since the identification of the…
We study the elasticity of a two-dimensional random network of rigid rods (``Mikado model''). The essential features incorporated into the model are the anisotropic elasticity of the rods and the random geometry of the network. We show that…
Interactions between active individuals in animal collectives lead to emergent responses that remain elusive in synthetic soft matter. Here, shape-morphing polymers are used to create bio-inspired transient solids that self-assemble with…
Invariance properties of physical systems govern their behavior: energy conservation in turbulence drives a wide distribution of energy among modes, observed in geophysical or astrophysical flows. In ideal hydrodynamics, the role of…
We have designed and tested experimentally a morphing structure consisting of a neutrally stable thin cylindrical shell driven by a multiparameter piezoelectric actuation. The shell is obtained by plastically deforming an initially flat…
Deformations that conserve the parallelism and the distances --between layers, in smectic phases; between columns, in columnar phases-- are commonplace in liquid crystals. The resulting deformed textures have the same mass density as in the…
Two classes of non-linear elastic materials are derived via two-dimensional homogenization. These materials are equivalent to a periodic grid of axially-deformable and axially-preloaded structural elements, subject to incremental…
In contrast with the diversity of materials found in nature, most robots are designed with some combination of aluminum, stainless steel, and 3D-printed filament. Additionally, robotic systems are typically assumed to follow basic…