Related papers: Configurational forces and nonlinear structural dy…
As a stiff polymer tumbles in shear flow, it experiences compressive viscous forces that can cause it to buckle and undergo a sequence of morphological transitions with increasing flow strength. We use numerical simulations to uncover the…
In this work, we study the mechanics of metamaterial sheets inspired by the pellicle of Euglenids. They are composed of interlocking elastic rods which can freely slide along their edges. We characterize the kinematics and the mechanics of…
Curved beams are basic structural components of Nano-Electro-Mechanical-Sistems (NEMS) whose design requires appropriate modelling of scale effects. In the present paper, the size-dependent static behaviour of curved elastic nano-beams is…
Treatises on vibrations devote large space to study the dynamical behavior of an elastic system subject to known external tractions. In fact, usually a "system" is not an isolated body but it is part of a chain of mechanisms which disturb…
The concept of 'deformable arm scale' (completely different from a traditional rigid arm balance) is theoretically introduced and experimentally validated. The idea is not intuitive, but is the result of nonlinear equilibrium kinematics of…
A large variety of materials, widely encountered both in engineering applications and in the biological realm, are characterised by a non-vanishing internal stress distribution, even in the absence of external deformations or applied…
Dynamic buckling may occur when a load is rapidly applied to, or removed from, an elastic object at rest. In contrast to its static counterpart, dynamic buckling offers a wide range of accessible patterns depending on the parameters of the…
Deformations of conventional solids are described via elasticity, a classical field theory whose form is constrained by translational and rotational symmetries. However, flexible metamaterials often contain an additional approximate…
Helical structures, almost ubiquitous in biological systems, have inspired the design and manufacturing of helical devices with applications in nanoelecromechanical systems (NEMS), morphing structures, optoelectronics, micro-robotics and…
A cylindrical rubber fibre subject to twist will also elongate: a manifestation of Poynting's effect in large strain elasticity. Here, we construct an analogous treatment for an active rubber fibre actuated via an axisymmetric pattern of…
Elastic strips provide a canonical system for studying the mechanisms governing elastic shape transitions. Buckling, linear snap-through, and nonlinear snap-through have been observed in boundary-actuated strips and linked to the type of…
The paper is devoted to the elastostatic calibration of industrial robots, which is used for precise machining of large-dimensional parts made of composite materials. In this technological process, the interaction between the robot and the…
For monodomain nematic elastomers, we construct generalised elastic-nematic constitutive models combining purely elastic and neoclassical-type strain-energy densities. Inspired by recent developments in stochastic elasticity, we extend…
This paper is devoted to describe the asymptotic behavior of a structure made by a thin plate and a thin rod in the framework of nonlinear elasticity. We scale the applied forces in such a way that the level of the total elastic energy…
A rectangular plate of dielectric elastomer exhibiting gradients of material properties through its thickness will deform inhomogeneously when a potential difference is applied to compliant electrodes on its major surfaces, because each…
The dynamics of rapid brittle cracks is commonly studied in the framework of linear elastic fracture mechanics where nonlinearities are neglected. However, recent experimental and theoretical work demonstrated explicitly the importance of…
The behaviour of elastic structures undergoing large deformations is the result of the competition between confining conditions, self-avoidance and elasticity. This combination of multiple phenomena creates a geometrical frustration that…
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…
A rope laid on the ground with one end subjected to time-dependent forcing is proposed as a prototypical elastic dynamical contact problem, which we study analytically, numerically, and experimentally. The dynamics is governed by an…
Dynamics of flexible non-Brownian fibers in shear flow at low-Reynolds-number are analyzed numerically for a wide range of the ratios A of the fiber bending force to the viscous drag force. Initially, the fibers are aligned with the flow,…