Related papers: Arresting the collapse of a catenary arch

When a thin elastic sheet crumples, the elastic energy condenses into a network of folding lines and point vertices. These folds and vertices have elastic energy densities much greater than the surrounding areas, and most of the work…

Power grids normally operate at some stable operating condition where power supply and demand are balanced. In response to emergency situations, load shedding is a prevailing approach where local protective devices are activated to cut a…

Athermal models of disordered fibrous networks are highly useful for studying the mechanics of elastic networks composed of stiff biopolymers. The underlying network architecture is a key aspect that can affect the elastic properties of…

We introduce the concept of a control contraction metric, extending contraction analysis to constructive nonlinear control design. We derive sufficient conditions for exponential stabilizability of all trajectories of a nonlinear control…

This paper proposes a methodology for architecting microstructures with extremal stiffness, yield, and buckling strength using topology optimization. The optimized microstructures reveal an interesting transition from simple lattice like…

Isostasy explains why observed gravity anomalies are generally much weaker than what is expected from topography alone, and why planetary crusts can support high topography without breaking up. Classical isostasy, however, neglects internal…

Topologically interlocked material systems are two-dimensional assemblies of unit elements from which no element can be removed from the assembly without disassembly of the entire system. Consequently, such tile assemblies are able to carry…

The metallurgy and materials communities have long known and exploited fundamental links between chemical and structural ordering in metallic solids and their mechanical properties. The highest reported strength achievable through the…

We introduce a model of fracture which includes the out-of-plane degrees of freedom necessary to describe buckling in a thin-sheet material. The model is a regular square lattice of elastic beams, rigidly connected at the nodes so as to…

The instability of the interface between a dielectric and a conducting liquid, excited by a spatially homogeneous interface-normal time-periodic electric field, is studied based on experiments and theory. Special attention is paid to the…

The approach of nonequilibrium evolution thermodynamics earlier offered is developed. It helps to describe the processes of defect formation within the adiabatic approximation. The basic equations system depends on the initial defects…

We perform a detailed numerical study of modal and non-modal stability in oblique Couette-Poiseuille profiles, which are among the simplest examples of three-dimensional boundary layers. Through a comparison with the Orr-Sommerfeld operator…

Dynamical stability is a prerequisite for control and functioning of desired nano-machines. We utilize the Caldeira-Leggett master equation to investigate dynamical stability of molecular cogwheels modeled as a rigid, propeller-shaped…

Designing for rotational stability can dramatically affect the geometry of a space station. If improperly designed, the rotating station could end up catastrophically tumbling end-over-end. Active stabilization can address this problem;…

Motivated by recent experiments, we consider theoretically the compression of droplets pinned at the bottom on a surface of finite area. We show that if the droplet is sufficiently compressed at the top by a surface, it will always develop…

We study the aerodynamic response of a pre-stressed curved aileron. Whilst the fluid flow is standard (high Reynolds air flow undisturbed at infinity), the structure is designed to have a peculiar nonlinear behavior. Specifically, the…

We present a combined analytical approach and numerical study on the stability of a ring bound to an annular elastic substrate, which contains a circular cavity. The system is loaded by depressurizing the inner cavity. The ring is modeled…

Mechanical metamaterials can be designed to exhibit unique mechanical properties, including tunable auxetic behavior as well as multi-stability, which arise from the geometry and configuration of the constituent building blocks.…

Apart from not having crystallized, supercooled liquids can be considered as being properly equilibrated and thus can be described by a few thermodynamic control variables. In contrast, glasses and other amorphous solids can be arbitrarily…

This paper addresses formation control of reduced attitudes in which a continuous control protocol is proposed for achieving and stabilizing all regular polyhedra (also known as Platonic solids) under a unified framework. The protocol…