ECTS Credits: 3
Matteo Ciccotti (ESPCI), Benoit Roman (ESPCI)
This class is motivated by a current interest in research for
non-linear mechanics for several reasons: i) instabilities are not
anymore seen as failure of the structure, but as challenging
phenomena that can be harnessed and useful; ii) the current
development and better understanding of very soft materials (gels,
polymers). The aim of the class is dealing with some selected
instabilities in the deformation of soft elastic solids, such as
wrinkling and stringing. The teaching will be organized as working
in pairs on selected projects that regard instabilities which are
still debated in the scientific community. The teaching will be in
the form of a weekly guidance to acquire the relevant necessary
concepts from continuum mechanics, energetic methods, dynamics,
surface physics and nonlinear phenomena and to apply them into the
personal investigation of the selected topic by combining several
parallel approaches form mechanical physics research strategies
such as 1) developing simple mechanical models by scaling methods,
2) realizing simple experiments at home and 3) identifying and
critically analyzing the relevant existing papers.
The course will be given on Wednesday afternoons from 2:00 to 6:00 pm at
Campus Pierre et Marie Curie - Sorbonne University, from January 18, in room 'MECAWET', 'barre CASSAN', PMMH Lab.