Related papers: Generic Stress Rectification in Nonlinear Elastic …
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…
We systematically investigate the incremental response of various equilibrium states of dense 2D model granular materials, along the biaxial compression path (\sigma 11 < \sigma 22, \sigma 12 = 0). Stress increments are applied in arbitrary…
Many biological materials consist of sparse networks of disordered fibres, embedded in a soft elastic matrix. The interplay between rigid and soft elements in such composite networks leads to mechanical properties that can go far beyond the…
We analyse the general solutions for the stress field in planar annuli of isostatic media, a model often used for marginally rigid granular materials in Couette cells. We demonstrate that these solutions are much richer than in rectangular…
Morphogenesis depends crucially on the complex rheological properties of cell tissues and on their ability to maintain mechanical integrity while rearranging at long times. In this paper, we study the rheology of polygonal cellular networks…
We study the crushing strength of brittle materials whose internal structure (e.g., mineral particles or graining) presents a layered arrangement reminiscent of sedimentary and metamorphic rocks. Taking a discrete-element approach, we probe…
Nonlinear stiffening is a ubiquitous property of major types of biopolymers that make up the extracellular matrices (ECM) including collagen, fibrin and basement membrane. Within the ECM, many types of cells such as fibroblasts and cancer…
We introduce a mathematical model for the mechanical behaviour of the eukaryotic cell cytoskeleton. This discrete model involves a regular array of pre-stressed protein filaments that exhibit resistance to enthalpic stretching, joined at…
The quest for wave channeling and manipulation has driven a strong research effort on topological and architected materials, capable of propagating localized electromagnetical or mechanical signals. With reference to an elastic structural…
This paper presents a macroscopic theory, alongside its numerical implementation, aimed at describing, explaining, and predicting the nucleation and propagation of fracture in viscoelastic materials subjected to quasistatic loading…
Locally broken symmetries are used across fields to transport matter, particles and information in preferential directions. Beyond local mechanisms, spatially distributed nonlinearities in crystalline media have enabled non-reciprocal…
Disordered fibrous matrices, formed by the random assembly of fibers, provide the structural framework for many biological systems and biomaterials. Applied deformation modifies the alignment and stress states of constituent fibers, tuning…
In this paper we present a large-deformation formulation of the mechanics of remodeling. Remodeling is anelasticity with an internal constraint -- material evolutions that are mass and volume preserving. In this special class of material…
The deformation of brittle material is primarily accompanied by micro-cracking and faulting. However, it has often been found that continuum fluid models, usually based on a non-Newtonian viscosity, are applicable. To explain this rheology,…
In this letter, we experimentally investigate the directional characteristics of propagating, finite-amplitude wave packets in lattice materials, with an emphasis on the functionality enhancement due to the nonlinearly-generated higher…
Biological cells in soft materials can be modeled as anisotropic force contraction dipoles. The corresponding elastic interaction potentials are long-ranged ($\sim 1/r^3$ with distance $r$) and depend sensitively on elastic constants,…
Crack propagation in viscoelastic materials has been understood with the use of Barenblatt cohesive models by many authors since the 1970's. In polymers and metal creep, it is customary to assume that the relaxed modulus is zero, so that we…
The balance between stretching and bending deformations characterizes shape transitions of thin elastic sheets. While stretching dominates the mechanical response in tension, bending dominates in compression after an abrupt buckling…
This paper describes a modification of Ehlers' model for the inelastic behavior of granular media. The modified model can be applied for describing the inelastic behavior of porous media. The key feature is a subtle change of the yield…
We review continuum elastic models for the transmission of both external forces and internal active cellular forces in biopolymer gels, and relate them to recent experiments. Rather than being exhaustive, we focus on continuum elastic…