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In a variety of biological processes, eukaryotic cells use cilia to transport flow. Although cilia have a remarkably conserved internal molecular structure, experimental observations report very diverse kinematics. To address this…
Collagen fibrils, when subjected to cyclic loading, are known to exhibit hysteretic behaviour with energy dissipation that is partially recovered on relaxation. In this paper, we develop a kinetic model for a collagen fibril incorporating…
Floating offshore wind turbines are a novel technology, which has reached, with the first wind farm in operation, an advanced state of development. The question of how floating wind systems can be optimized to operate smoothly in harsh wind…
We present an approach to overcoming challenges in dynamical dexterity for robots through tunable origami structures. Our work leverages a one-parameter family of flat sheet crease patterns that folds into origami bellows, whose axial…
Many plankton species undergo daily vertical migration to large depths in the turbulent ocean. To do this efficiently, the plankton can use a gyrotactic mechanism, aligning them with gravity to swim downwards, or against gravity to swim…
The passive rotation of rigid helical filaments is the propulsion strategy used by flagellated bacteria and some artificial microswimmers to navigate at low Reynolds numbers. In a classical 1976 paper, Lighthill calculated the `optimal'…
Several experiments have demonstrated the existence of an electro-mechanical effect in many biological tissues and hydrogels, and its actual influence on growth, migration, and pattern formation. Here, to model these interactions and…
Minimising the energy consumption associated with periodic motion is a priority common to a wide range of technologies and organisms - among them, many species of flying insect, for which flapping-wing flight is a life-essential mode of…
Hyperelastic transformation method provides a promising approach to manipulate elastic waves by utilizing soft materials. However, no existing constitutive model can rigorously achieve the requirement of such method. In this Letter, a…
Wind farms can increase annual energy production (AEP) with advanced control algorithms by coordinating the set points of individual turbine controllers across the farm. However, it remains a significant challenge to achieve performance…
It is well known that tuna fish in the ocean can dynamically morph their median fins to achieve optimal hydrodynamic performance, e.g. linear acceleration and maneuverability. In this study, based on the previous studies about the median…
Colloidal magnetic particles embedded in an elastic polymer matrix constitute a smart material called ferrogel. It responds to an applied external magnetic field by changes in elastic properties, which can be exploited for various…
Unlike their biological cousins, the majority of existing quadrupedal robots are constructed with rigid chassis. This results in motion that is either beetle-like or distinctly robotic, lacking the natural fluidity characteristic of…
Active gels are a class of biologically-relevant material containing embedded agents that spontaneously generate forces acting on a sparse filament network. In vitro experiments of protein filaments and molecular motors have revealed a…
Gyrokinetic and kinetic-MHD simulations are performed for the fishbone instability in the DIII-D discharge #178631, chosen for validation of first-principles simulations to predict the energetic particle (EP) transport in an ITER prefusion…
We consider a dynamic system of nonlinear partial differential equations modeling the motions of a suspension bridge. This fish-bone model captures the flexural displacements of the bridge deck's mid-line, and each chordal filament's…
Living objects are able to consume chemical energy and process information independently from others. However, living objects can coordinate to form ordered groups such as schools of fish. This work considers these complex groups as living…
Cross-flow turbines, also known as vertical-axis turbines, have numerous features that make them attractive for wind and marine renewable energy. To maximize power output, the turbine blade kinematics may be controlled during the course of…
Bionic underwater robots have demonstrated their superiority in many applications. Yet, training their intelligence for a variety of tasks that mimic the behavior of underwater creatures poses a number of challenges in practice, mainly due…
Non-adiabatic contribution of environmental degrees of freedom yields effective inertia of spin in effective spin dynamics. In this paper, we study several aspects of the inertia of spin in metallic ferromagnets. (i) a concrete expression…