Related papers: Rigidity of generic random tensegrity structures
In wire bearings the rolling process occurs on raceways machined on steel wires, and the rings are made of light materials such as aluminium. This particular architecture provides both weight and inertia savings, but also significantly…
We identify the restricted class of attainable effective deformations in a model of reinforced composites with parallel, long, and fully rigid fibers embedded in an elastic body. In mathematical terms, we characterize the weak limits of…
Materials with J-shaped stress-strain behavior under uniaxial stretching, where strength increases as deformation progresses, have been developed through various materials designs. On the other hand, polymer materials that progressively…
The rigidity of a network of elastic beams crucially depends on the specific details of its structure. We show both numerically and theoretically that there is a class of isotropic networks which are stiffer than any other isotropic network…
An elastic rod, straight in its undeformed state, has a mass attached at one end and a variable length, due to a constraint at the other end by a frictionless sliding sleeve. The constraint is arranged with the sliding direction parallel to…
As we enter the age of designer matter - where objects can morph and change shape on command - what tools do we need to create shape-shifting structures? At the heart of an elastic deformation is the combination of dilation and distortion,…
Cutting mechanics in soft solids have been a subject of study for several decades, an interest fuelled by the multitude of its applications, including material testing, manufacturing, and biomedical technology. Wire cutting is the simplest…
When discretizing symmetric stress tensors in variational problems arising in continuum mechanics, one has to choose how to enforce the symmetry of the stress tensor: (i) strongly by requiring the discrete tensors to be pointwise symmetric…
When a biological system robustly corrects component-level errors, the direct pressure on component performance declines. Components may become less reliable, maintain more genetic variability, or drift neutrally in design, creating the…
Biological membranes are host to proteins and molecules which may form domain-like structures resulting in spatially-varying material properties. Vesicles with such heterogeneous membranes can exhibit intricate shapes at equilibrium and…
By performing extensive simulations with unprecedentedly large system sizes, we unveil how rigidity influences the fracture of disordered materials. We observe the largest damage in networks with connectivity close to the isostatic point…
Twisted assemblies of filaments in ropes, cables and bundles are essential structural elements in wide use in macroscopic materials as well as within the cells and tissues of living organisms. We develop the unique, non-linear elastic…
The mechanics of disordered fibrous networks such as those that make up the extracellular matrix are strongly dependent on the local connectivity or coordination number. For biopolymer networks this coordination number is typically between…
In structural rigidity, one studies frameworks of bars and joints in Euclidean space. Such a framework is an articulated structure consisting of rigid bars, joined together at joints around which the bars may rotate. In this paper, we will…
This work explores a simple model of a slender, flexible structure in a uniform flow, providing analytical solutions for the translating, axially flowing equilibria of strings subjected to a uniform body force and drag forces linear in the…
In this article we provide a more detailed account of the geometry and topology of the composite bundle formalism introduced by Tresguerres in Phys. Rev. D 66 (2002) 064025 [1] to accommodate gravitation as a gauge theory. In the first half…
While static equilibria of flexible strings subject to various load types (gravity, hydrostatic pressure, Newtonian wind) is well understood textbook material, the combinations of the very same loads can give rise to complex spatial…
The paper presents a systematic approach for stiffness modeling of manipulators with complex and hybrid structures using matrix structural analysis. In contrast to previous results, it is suitable for mixed architectures containing…
We report on the geometry and mechanics of knotted stiff strings. We discuss both closed and open knots. Our two main results are: (i) Their equilibrium energy as well as the equilibrium tension for open knots depend on the type of knot as…
Cells actively probe and respond to the stiffness of their surroundings. Since mechanosensory cells in connective tissue are surrounded by a disordered network of biopolymers, their in vivo mechanical environment can be extremely…