Related papers: Soft Electromechanical Elastomers Impervious to In…
We compute effective energies of thin bilayer structures composed by soft nematic elastic-liquid crystals in various geometrical regimes and functional configurations. Our focus is on order-strain interaction in elastic foundations composed…
Over the last half-century, linear viscoelastic models for crack growth in soft solids have flourished but their predictions have rarely been compared to experiments. In fact, most available models are either very approximate or cast in…
Soft robots are notoriously hard to control. This is partly due to the scarcity of models able to capture their complex continuum mechanics, resulting in a lack of control methodologies that take full advantage of body compliance. Currently…
This paper presents a macroscopic theory, alongside its numerical implementation, aimed at describing, explaining, and predicting the nucleation and propagation of fracture in viscoelastic materials subjected to quasistatic loading…
We revisit the classic stability problem of the buckling of an inextensible, axially compressed beam on a nonlinear elastic foundation with a semi-analytical approach to understand how spatially localized deformation solutions emerge in…
We study a thermo-poroelasticity model which describes the interaction between the deformation of an elastic porous material and fluid flow under non-isothermal conditions. The model involves several parameters that can vary significantly…
Instabilities in thin elastic sheets, such as wrinkles, are of broad interest both from a fundamental viewpoint and also because of their potential for engineering applications. Nematic liquid crystal elastomers offer a new form of control…
Topologically secure spin configurations, such as skyrmions and bimerons, offer a compelling alternative to conventional magnetic domains, potentially enabling high-density, low-power spintronic devices. These pseudo-particles,…
Flexoelectricity is characterised by the coupling of the gradient of the deformation and the electrical polarization in a dielectric material. A novel micromorphic approach is presented to accommodate the resulting higher-order gradient…
The design and control of soft robots operating in fluid environments requires a careful understanding of the interplay between large elastic body deformations and hydrodynamic forces. Here we show that this interplay leads to novel…
Mechanical and elastic properties of materials are among the most fundamental quantities for many engineering and industrial applications. Here, we present a formulation that is efficient and accurate for calculating the elastic and bending…
Two dimensional simulations of non-cohesive granular matter in a biaxial shear tester are discussed. The effect of particle elasticity on the mechanical behavior is investigated using two complementary distinct element methods (DEM): Soft…
The lack of deviations from the Standard Model at the current level of experimental precision can be explained systematically in suitable models of dynamical electro-weak symmetry breaking. The key ingredient is dynamics which produces a…
Ideal (monodomain) smectic-$A$ elastomers crosslinked in the smectic-$A$ phase are simply uniaxial rubbers, provided deformations are small. From these materials smectic-$C$ elastomers are produced by a cooling through the smectic-$A$ to…
Electronic nematicity is widely observed in quantum materials with varying degrees of electronic correlation, manifesting through charge, spin, orbital, or superconducting degrees of freedom. A phenomenological model capable of describing…
A slender-thread model is derived to explore the Rayleigh-Plateau instability of a filament of elasto-viscoplastic fluid. Without elasticity, a finite yield stress suppresses any linear instability for a filament of constant radius.…
Smectic-C elastomers can be prepared by crosslinking, e.g., liquid crystal polymers, in the smectic-A phase followed by a cooling through the smectic-A to smectic-C phase transition. This transition from $D_{\infty h}$ to $C_{2h}$ symmetry…
Nematic elastomers are programmable soft materials that display large, reversible and predictable deformation under an external stimulus such as a change in temperature or light. While much of the work in the field has focused on actuation…
A transient analysis to quantify droplet deformation under DC electric fields is presented. The full Taylor-Melcher leaky dielectric model is employed where the charge relaxation time is considered to be finite. The droplet is assumed to be…
We theoretically explore the effect of a transverse electric field on the frictional response of a bi-layer of packed zwitterionic molecules. The dipole-moment reorientation promoted by the electric field can lead to either stick-slip or…