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Architected materials that exploit buckling instabilities to reversibly trap energy have been shown to be effective for impact protection. The energy-absorbing capabilities of these architected materials can be enhanced further by…
The buckling of thin elastic sheets is a classic mechanical instability that occurs over a wide range of scales. In the extreme limit of atomically thin membranes like graphene, thermal fluctuations can dramatically modify such mechanical…
Topology optimization (TO) has experienced a dramatic development over the last decades aided by the arising of metamaterials and additive manufacturing (AM) techniques, and it is intended to achieve the current and future challenges. In…
Robotic systems driven by conventional motors often suffer from challenges such as large mass, complex control algorithms, and the need for additional braking mechanisms, which limit their applications in lightweight and compact robotic…
Particle dampers represent a simple yet effective means to reduce unwanted oscillations when attached to structural components. Powder bed fusion additive manufacturing of metals allows to integrate particle inclusions of arbitrary shape,…
Plasticity is inherent to many engineering materials such as metals. While it can degrade the load-carrying capacity of structures via material yielding, it can also protect structures through plastic energy dissipation. To fully harness…
The elastic response is studied of a single flexible chain grafted on a rigid plane and an ensemble of non-interacting tethered chains. It is demonstrated that the entropic theory of rubber elasticity leads to conclusions that disagree with…
The cell cortex is a thin layer beneath the plasma membrane that gives animal cells mechanical resistance and drives most of their shape changes, from migration, division to multicellular morphogenesis. It is mainly composed of actin…
Understanding how polymer topology influences melt extrudability is critical for advancing material design in extrusion-based additive manufacturing. In this work, we develop a bottom-up, cross-scale modeling framework that integrates…
This paper is devoted to the exploration of rectangular finite elements' ability to model the stress-strain state of isotropic and orthotropic materials with a negative Poisson's ratio, known as auxetic materials. By employing linear…
The predictions of the polymer mode coupling theory for the finite size corrections to the transport coefficients of entangled polymeric systems are tested in comparisons with various experimental data. It is found that quantitative…
We investigate the dynamics of plasma-based acceleration processes with collisionless particle dynamics and non negligible thermal effects. We aim at assessing the applicability of fluid-like models, obtained by suitable closure assumptions…
Block copolymer (BCP) melts play a critical role in the design of thermoplastics, owing in large part to the creation of alternating nano-scale domains of soft and stiff components. Considerable attention has been given to the…
In this paper we report, clarify and broaden various recent efforts to complement the chemistry-centered models of force generation in muscles by mechanics-centered models. The physical mechanisms of interest can be grouped into two…
The cytoskeletal component actomyosin is a canonical example of active matter since the powerstroke cycle locally converts chemical energy in the form of adenoside triphosphate (ATP) into mechanical work for remodelling. Observing myosin II…
We investigate the structure and mechanical behavior of assemblies of frictionless, nearly rigid equal-sized beads, in the quasistatic limit, by numerical simulation. Three different loading paths are explored: triaxial compression,…
Continuum and soft robots can leverage complex actuator shapes to take on useful shapes while actuating only a few of their many degrees of freedom. Continuum robots that also grow increase the range of potential shapes that can be actuated…
An approach to the mechanical behaviour of textile composites at the scale of their constituting fibres, using an implicit finite element simulation code, is proposed in this chapter. The approach is based on efficient methods and…
The McKibben pneumatic artificial muscle is a commonly studied soft robotic actuator, and its quasistatic force-length properties have been well characterized and modeled. However, its damping and force-velocity properties are less well…
We propose and analyse the properties of a new class of models for the electromechanics of cardiac tissue. The set of governing equations consists of nonlinear elasticity using a viscoelastic and orthotropic exponential constitutive law…