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Composites with high strength and high fracture resistance are desirable for structural and protective applications. Most composites, however, suffer from poor damage tolerance and are prone to unpredictable fractures. Understanding the…
We investigate the role of microstructural bridging on the fracture toughness of composite materials. To achieve this, a new computational framework is presented that integrates phase field fracture and cohesive zone models to simulate…
Stiffness degradation and progressive failure of composite laminates are complex processes involving evolution and multi-mode interactions among fiber fractures, intra-ply matrix cracks and inter-ply delaminations. This paper presents a…
Networks of elastic beams can deform either by stretching or bending of their members. The primary mode of deformation (bending or stretching) crucially depends on the specific details of the network architecture. In order to shed light on…
Mechanical metamaterials with engineered failure properties typically rely on periodic unit cell geometries or bespoke microstructures to achieve their unique properties. We demonstrate that intelligent use of disorder in metamaterials…
Understanding the role played by the microstructure of materials on their macroscopic failure properties is an important challenge in solid mechanics. Indeed, when a crack propagates at a heterogeneous brittle interface, the front is…
Polylactic acid (PLA) nanofibrous networks have gained substantial interest across various engineering and scientific disciplines, such as tissue engineering, drug delivery, and filtration, due to their unique and multifunctional…
We explore the Mode I fracture toughness of a polymer gel containing a semi-infinite, growing crack. First, an expression is derived for the energy release rate within the linearized, small-strain setting. This expression reveals a crack…
Graph neural networks (GNNs) for link prediction can loosely be divided into two broad categories. First, \emph{node-wise} architectures pre-compute individual embeddings for each node that are later combined by a simple decoder to make…
Federated Learning deviates from the norm of "send data to model" to "send model to data". When used in an edge ecosystem, numerous heterogeneous edge devices collecting data through different means and connected through different network…
Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics (LEFM) provides a consistent framework to evaluate quantitatively the energy flux released to the tip of a growing crack. Still, the way in which the crack selects its velocity in response to this energy…
Topological states can be used to control the mechanical properties of a material along an edge or around a localized defect. The surface rigidity of elastic networks is characterized by a bulk topological invariant called the polarization;…
In this study, we introduce a novel stretch-based gradient-enhanced damage (GED) model that allows the fracture to localize and also captures the development of a physically diffuse damage zone. This capability contrasts with the paradigm…
The combination of Finite Element Method (FEM) simulation and experimental photo-elasticity provides both qualitative and quantitative information about the stress field in a polymer composite and particularly along the fibre-matrix…
In this study, a versatile methodology for initiating polymerization from monomers in highly cross-linked materials is investigated. As polymerization progresses, force-field parameters undergo continuous modification due to the formation…
Disordered mechanical systems can deform along a network of pathways that branch and recombine at special configurations called bifurcation points. Multiple pathways are accessible from these bifurcation points; consequently, computer-aided…
Hydrogels have had a profound impact in the fields of tissue engineering, drug delivery, and materials science as a whole. Due to the network architecture of these materials, imbibement with water often results in uniform swelling and…
Inspired by how certain proteins "sense" knots and entanglements in DNA molecules, here we ask if there exist local geometric features that may be used as a read-out of the underlying topology of generic polymers. We perform molecular…
Numerical modeling of polycrystal plasticity is computationally intensive. We employ Graph Neural Networks (GNN) to predict stresses on complex geometries for polycrystal plasticity from Finite Element Method (FEM) simulations. We present a…
The mechanics of cohesive or cemented granular materials is complex, combining the heterogeneous responses of granular media, like force chains, with clearly defined material properties. Here, we use a discrete element model (DEM)…