research

In differential geometry, rigidity theory investigates whether a surface can deform by pure bending without stretching. The central problem is to find or disprove the existence of isometric deformations.

Classical examples in the "discrete" category include:

• The finite rigidity of convex polyhedra by Cauchy
• The infinitesimal rigidity of convex polyhedra by Dehn
• The existence of flexible (non-convex) polyhedra by Connelly

In the "smooth" category, we have:

by Oscar Lopez-Pamies, John E. Dolbow, Gilles A. Francfort, and Chris J. Larsen

Abstract

Our latest paper is accessible freely for 50 days from this link: https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1jiSx7NHxQiuj

Dear colleagues,

We invite you to see the preprint of our new paper Lagrangian approach to origami vertex analysis: Kinematics that will appear in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A. Here we show how the Lagrangian approach to origami facilitates the exploitation of symmetry, formulate reduced order compatibility conditions for some symmetric foldings, and obtain analytical expressions for the kinematics of some degree 6 and degree 8 origami vertices.

In this work, we show that the combination of material quenched disorder (of finite strength/amplitude and correlation length) and a 2D tip-splitting instability (that gives rise to extra fracture surfaces) is at the heart of the spatiotemporal dynamics of cracks in 3D. Specifically, it is shown to account for the widely observed limiting (terminal) velocity of cracks, mirror-mist-hackle sequence of morphological transitions, crack macro-branching and a 3D-to-2D transition, out-of-plane crack front waves and the properties of micro-branches.  

https://www.sciengine.com/AMS/doi/10.1007/s10409-024-24010-x

Our analysis based on a simple model shows how adhesive friction breaks the size limit dictated by the fracture theory, which can offer insights into understanding the phenomena associated with adhesive friction in various fields, including gecko adhesion, cell adhesion, earthquake, etc.

https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2403.05283

With funding from the Haythornthwaite Foundation, the Executive Committee (EC) of the Applied Mechanics Division (AMD) of ASME is pleased to announce the establishment of the Haythornthwaite Research Initiation Grant Program, targeting university faculty engaged in research in theoretical and applied mechanics that are at the beginning of their academic careers.

Dear Colleagues,

We wanted to alert you for the call for nominations of the awards of the Applied Mechanics Division (AMD) of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), which are due on September 15th, 2024.