Localized Structures: Formation and Evolution - Northeastern Engineering Research

Localized Structures: Formation and Evolution

Many phenomenological aspects of shell structures are far from being understood and pose fundamental challenges for applications of mechanics in new areas such as nanostructures and biology. One such peculiar and unexplored phenomenon, which is driven by highly-nonlinear mechanisms, is the existence and evolution of stable localized structures in compressed shells. The main goal of this proposed study is to shed light into existence, formation and evolution of stable localized structures in elastic shells. The work entails developing a theoretical model to explore the qualitative aspects of this phenomenon and constructing detailed computational models to numerically simulate the response of compressed elastic shells subject to lateral perturbation with high fidelity. Furthermore, experimentation on thin shells will be conducted to unravel the physical mechanisms of formation and evolution of these interacting localized structures.

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