Related papers: Configurational Forces in Penetration Processes
Due to the potential applications in biomedical engineering, it becomes more and more important to understand the process of engulfment and internalization of nanoparticles (NPs) by cell membranes. Despite the fact that the interaction…
Photophoretic forces, several orders of magnitude stronger than radiation pressure, enable particle trapping at remarkably low optical intensities and have opened pathways to applications in aerosol science, free-space 3D volumetric…
Mechanical metamaterials are periodic lattice structures with complex unit cell architectures that can achieve extraordinary mechanical properties beyond the capability of bulk materials. A new class of metamaterials is proposed, whose…
Biological cells are able to generate intricate structures and respond to external stimuli, sculpting their membrane from within. Simplified biomimetic systems can aid in understanding the principles which govern these shape changes and…
We study the kinetics of infiltration in which contaminant particles, which are suspended in a flowing carrier fluid, penetrate a porous medium. The progress of the ``invader'' particles is impeded by their trapping on active ``defender''…
Entropic forces in colloidal suspensions and in polymer-colloid systems are of long-standing and continuing interest. Experiments show how entropic forces can be used to control the self-assembly of colloidal particles. Significant advances…
Biologically inspired pressure actuated cellular structures can alter their shape through pressure variations. Previous work introduced a computational framework for pressure actuated cellular structures which was limited to two cell rows…
The understanding of morphogenesis in living organisms has been renewed by tremendous progressin experimental techniques that provide access to cell-scale, quantitative information both on theshapes of cells within tissues and on the genes…
Cell walls define a cell shape in bacteria. They are rigid to resist large internal pressures, but remarkably plastic to adapt to a wide range of external forces and geometric constraints. Currently, it is unknown how bacteria maintain…
Nature hosts a wealth of materials showcasing intricate structures intertwining order, disorder, and hierarchy, delivering resilient multifunctionality surpassing perfect crystals or simplistic disordered materials. The engineering of such…
Flow-induced failure of granular materials is relevant to a broad range of geomechanical applications. Plasticity, which is the inherent failure mechanism of most granular materials, enables large deformations that can invalidate linearised…
Experiments have reached a monumental capacity for designing and synthesizing microscopic particles for self-assembly, making it possible to precisely control particle concentrations, shapes, and interactions. However, more physical insight…
We construct a micromechanical version of an early model for topologically constrained polymers -- a 2D chain amongst point-like uncrossable obstacles -- which allows us to explicitly elucidate the role of topological forces beyond…
We investigate the systematic design of compliant morphing structures composed of materials reacting to an external stimulus. We add a perimeter penalty term to ensure existence of solutions. We propose a phase-field approximation of this…
Protein binding often involves conformational changes. Important questions are whether a conformational change occurs prior to a binding event ('conformational selection') or after a binding event ('induced fit'), and how conformational…
Understanding how growth induces form is a longstanding biological question. Many studies concentrated on the shapes of plant cells, fungi or bacteria. Some others have shown the importance of the mechanical properties of bacterial walls…
The spontaneous organization of particles at the boundary between two fluids is a common occurrence. Scientists have extensively investigated various internal and external factors to manipulate and guide these self-assembly processes. This…
Systems with long-range interactions when quenced into a metastable state near the pseudo-spinodal exhibit nucleation processes that are quite different from the classical nucleation seen near the coexistence curve. In systems with…
Interference-fit joints are typically adopted to produce permanent assemblies among mechanical parts. The resulting contact pressure is generally used for element fixing or to allow load transmission. Nevertheless, some special designs take…
We present a unified variational treatment of evolving configurations in crystalline solids with microstructure. The crux of our treatment lies in the introduction of a vector configurational field. This field lies in the material, or…