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1. Mechanical behavior of cross-linked random fiber networks with inter-fiber adhesion

   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmps.2018.09.027  

   Negi, V (September 2018, Journal of the mechanics and physics of solids)

   We study the effect of inter-fiber adhesion on the mechanical behavior of cross-linked ran- dom fiber networks in two dimensions. To this end, we consider networks with connectiv- ity number, z , below, at, and above the isostaticity limit of the structure without adhesion, z c . Fibers store energy in the axial and bending deformation mode and the cross-links are of freely rotating type. Adhesive forces lead to fiber bundling and to a reduction of the total volume of the network. The degree of shrinkage is determined as a function of the strength of adhesion and network parameters. The mechanical response of these struc- tures is further studied in uniaxial tension and compression. The stress-strain curves of networks without inter-fiber adhesion exhibit an initial linear regime, followed by strain stiffening in tension and strain softening and strain localization in compression. In pres- ence of adhesion, the response becomes more complex. The initial linear regime persists, with the effective modulus decreasing and increasing with increasing adhesion in cases with z > z c and z < z c , respectively. The strain range of the linear regime increases signif- icantly with increasing adhesion. Networks with z > z c subjected to tension strain-stiffen at rates that depend on the adhesion strength, but eventually enter a large strain/stress regime in which the response is independent of this parameter. Networks with z < z c are stabilized by adhesion in the unloaded state. Beyond the initial linear regime their tangent modulus gradually decreases, only to increase again at large strains. Adhesive interactions lead to similar effects in compression. Specifically, in the z > z c case, increasing the adhe- sion strength reduces the linear elastic modulus and significantly increases the range of the linear regime, delaying strain localization. This first investigation of the mechanics of cross-linked random networks with inter-fiber adhesion opens the door to the design of soft materials with novel properties. 

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2. Model calibration of locally nonlinear dynamical systems: Extended constitutive relation error with multi-harmonic coefficients

   https://doi.org/10.1108/EC-10-2017-0419  

   Hu, Xiaoyu; Chodora, Evan; Prabhu, Saurabh; Gupte, Akshay; Atamturktur, Sez (March 2019, Engineering Computations)

   Purpose This paper aims to present an approach for calibrating the numerical models of dynamical systems that have spatially localized nonlinear components. The approach implements the extended constitutive relation error (ECRE) method using multi-harmonic coefficients and is conceived to separate the errors in the representation of the global, linear and local, nonlinear components of the dynamical system through a two-step process. Design/methodology/approach The first step focuses on the system’s predominantly linear dynamic response under a low magnitude periodic excitation. In this step, the discrepancy between measured and predicted multi-harmonic coefficients is calculated in terms of residual energy. This residual energy is in turn used to spatially locate errors in the model, through which one can identify the erroneous model inputs which govern the linear behavior that need to be calibrated. The second step involves measuring the system’s nonlinear dynamic response under a high magnitude periodic excitation. In this step, the response measurements under both low and high magnitude excitation are used to iteratively calibrate the identified linear and nonlinear input parameters. Findings When model error is present in both linear and nonlinear components, the proposed iterative combined multi-harmonic balance method (MHB)-ECRE calibration approach has shown superiority to the conventional MHB-ECRE method, while providing more reliable calibration results of the nonlinear parameter with less dependency on a priori knowledge of the associated linear system. Originality/value This two-step process is advantageous as it reduces the confounding effects of the uncertain model parameters associated with the linear and locally nonlinear components of the system. 

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3. Chirality in topologically interlocked material systems

   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mechmat.2024.104956  

   Kim, Dong Young; Siegmund, Thomas (April 2024, Mechanics of Materials)

   The present study focuses on the mechanical chirality in plate-type topologically interlocked material systems. Topologically interlocked material (TIM) systems are a class of dense architectured materials for which the mechanical response emerges from the elastic behavior of the building blocks and the contact-frictions interactions between the blocks. The resulting mechanical behavior is strongly non-linear due to the stability-instability characteristics of the internal load transfer pattern. Two tessellations are considered (square and hexagonal) and patches from each are used as templates. While individual building blocks are achiral, chirality emerges from the assembly pattern. The measure of \textit{microstructure circulation} is introduced to identify the geometric chirality of TIM systems. TIM systems identified as geometrically chiral are demonstrated to possess mechanical chiral response with a force-torque coupling under transverse mechanical loading of the TIM plate. The chiral length is found to be constant during the elastic response, yet size-dependent. During nonlinear deformation, the chiral length scale increases significantly and again exhibits a strong size dependence. The principle of dissection is introduced to transform non-chiral TIM systems into chiral ones. In the linear deformation regime, the framework of chiral elasticity is shown to be applicable. In the non-linear deformation regime, chirality is found to strongly affect the mechanical behavior more significantly than in the linear regime. Experiments on selected TIM systems validate key findings of the main computational study with the finite element method. 

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4. Ultra-Tuning of nonlinear drumhead MEMS resonators by Electro-Thermoelastic buckling

   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ymssp.2023.110331  

   Kanj, Ali; Ferrari, Paolo; van der Zande, Arend M.; Vakakis, Alexander F.; Tawfick, Sameh (April 2023, Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing)

   Nonlinear micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) resonators open new opportunities in sensing and signal manipulation compared to their linear counterparts by enabling frequency tuning and increased bandwidth. Here, we design, fabricate and study drumhead resonators exhibiting strongly nonlinear dynamics and develop a reduced order model (ROM) to capture their response accurately. The resonators undergo electrostatically-mediated thermoelastic buckling, which tunes their natural frequency from 4.7 to 11.3 MHz, a factor of 2.4× tunability. Moreover, the imposed buckling switches the nonlinearity of the resonators between purely stiffening, purely softening, and even softening-to-stiffening. Accessing these exotic dynamics requires precise control of the temperature and the DC electrostatic forces near the resonator’s critical-buckling point. To explain the observed tunability, we develop a one-dimensional physics-based ROM that predicts the linear and nonlinear response of the fundamental bending mode of these drumhead resonators. The ROM captures the dynamic effects of the internal stresses resulting from three sources: The residual stresses from the fabrication process, the mismatch in thermal expansion between the constituent layers, and lastly, the applied electrostatic forces. The novel ROM developed in this article not only replicates the observed tunability of linear (within 5.5 % error) and nonlinear responses even near the states of critical buckling but also provides insightful intuition on the interplay among the softening and stiffening, which is invaluable for the precise design of similar devices. This remarkable nonlinear and large tunability of the natural frequency are valuable features for on-chip acoustic devices in broad applications such as signal manipulation, filtering, and MEMS waveguides. 

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5. Mutual Information as a Function of Matrix SNR for Linear Gaussian Channels

   Reeves, Galen; Pfister, Henry D.; Dytso, Alex (July 2018, IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory)

   This paper focuses on the mutual information and minimum mean-squared error (MMSE) as a function a matrix- valued signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for a linear Gaussian channel with arbitrary input distribution. As shown by Lamarca, the mutual-information is a concave function of a positive semi- definite matrix, which we call the matrix SNR. This implies that the mapping from the matrix SNR to the MMSE matrix is decreasing monotone. Building upon these functional properties, we start to construct a unifying framework that provides a bridge between classical information-theoretic inequalities, such as the entropy power inequality, and interpolation techniques used in statistical physics and random matrix theory. This framework provides new insight into the structure of phase transitions in coding theory and compressed sensing. In particular, it is shown that the parallel combination of linear channels with freely-independent matrices can be characterized succinctly via free convolution. 

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