Related papers: Tuning load redistribution and damage near heterog…
Collagen forms the structural scaffold of connective tissues in all mammals. Tissues are remarkably resistant against mechanical deformations because collagen molecules hierarchically self-assemble in fibrous networks that stiffen with…
In this contribution, a variational diffuse modeling framework for cracks in heterogeneous media is presented. A static order parameter smoothly bridges the discontinuity at material interfaces, while an evolving phase-field captures the…
Emergent design failures are ubiquitous in complex systems, and often arise when system elements cluster. Approaches to systematically reduce clustering could improve a design's resilience, but reducing clustering is difficult if it is…
In the electrical grid, the distribution system is themost vulnerable to severe weather events. Well-placed and coordinatedupgrades, such as the combination of microgrids, systemhardening and additional line redundancy, can greatly reduce…
Using an elastostatic description of crack growth based on the Griffith criterion and the principle of local symmetry, we present a stochastic model describing the propagation of a crack tip in a 2D heterogeneous brittle material. The model…
While cracks in isotropic homogeneous materials propagate straight, perpendicularly to the tensile axis, cracks in natural and synthetic composites deflect from a straight path, often increasing the toughness of the material. Here we…
A new theoretical framework for the nonequilibrium Green's function (NEGF) scheme is presented to account for the discrete nature of impurities doped in semiconductor nanostructures. The short-range part of impurity potential is included as…
Porous media, while ubiquitous across many engineering disciplines, is inherently difficult to characterize due to their innate stochasticity and heterogeneity. The key for predicting porous material behavior comes down to the structuring…
The topology of the network of load transmitting connections plays an essential role in the cascading failure dynamics of complex systems driven by the redistribution of load after local breakdown events. In particular, as the network…
Disordered spring networks are a useful paradigm to examine macroscopic mechanical properties of amorphous materials. Here, we study the elastic behavior of under-constrained spring networks, i.e.\ networks with more degrees of freedom than…
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…
Understanding failure in nanomaterials is critical for the design of reliable structural materials and small-scale devices that have components or microstructural elements at the nanometer length scale. No consensus exists on the effect of…
We investigate the weakening of elastic materials through randomly distributed circles and cracks numerically and compare the results to predictions from homogenization theories. We find a good agreement for the case of randomly oriented…
We investigate the roughening of shear cracks running along the interface between a thin film and a rigid substrate. We demonstrate that short-range correlated fluctuations of the interface strength lead to self-affine roughening of the…
The interaction of an interfacial crack with small impurities is analysed on the basis of an asymptotic formula derived by the authors. The interaction between the main crack and the defects (e.g. small cracks or inclusions) is described…
The paper addresses the problem of a Mode III interfacial crack advancing quasi-statically in a heterogeneous composite material, that is a two-phase material containing elastic inclusions, both soft and stiff, and defects, such as…
The shear strength of cohesionless granular materials is generally attributed to the compactness or anisotropy of their microstructure. An open issue is how such compact or anisotropic microstructures, and thus the shear strength, depend on…
The stochastic variations in the structural properties of thin fiber networks govern to a great extent their mechanical performance. To assess the influence of local structural variability on the local strain and mechanical response of the…
Filamentous bio-materials such as fibrin or collagen networks exhibit an enormous stiffening of their elastic moduli upon large deformations. This pronounced nonlinear behavior stems from a significant separation between the stiffnesses…
We consider a model for the evolution of an interface in a heterogeneous environment governed by a parabolic equation. The heterogeneity is introduced as obstacles exerting a localized dry friction. Our main result establishes the emergence…