Flexibility and Form: Emergence of Shape in Thin Sheets

Department of Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science Seminar Series

Flexibility and Form: Emergence of Shape in Thin Sheets
Professor Narayanan Menon
Professor of Physics
University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Thin sheets assume a rich diversity of shapes in the natural world, ranging from folds on the earth's crust, to the wavy shapes of leaves and flowers, down to more microscopic biomembranes and synthetic thin films. The patterns include smooth architectural motifs such as wrinkles, as well as focused localized objects such as folds and ridges. Our experiments study the emergence of complex shapes in thin, fluid-supported polymer films starting from simple featureless initial conditions via successive elastic instabilities. Understanding these patterns required new notions of 'thinness' or bendability, which define regimes in which textbook theories of post-buckling fail. I will end by describing new opportunities for wrapping and encapsulation with highly-bendable materials.

Bio: Narayanan Menon is a professor of Physics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. His undergraduate work was done at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, and he received a PhD in experimental condensed matter physics from the University of Chicago. His research interests are in the statistical mechanics of nonequilibrium physical systems. Recent research in his group has been on the statics and dynamics of granular materials, and the mechanics and statistical physics of flexible sheets and filaments.

Wednesday, February 8, 2017
2:30 – 3:30 pm
Location – Mason 107
Host: Professor Madhu Venkadesan
Refreshments served at 2:15 pm