Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences最新文献

Over the last half-century, linear viscoelastic models for crack growth in soft solids have flourished but their predictions have rarely been compared to experiments. In fact, most available models are either very approximate or cast in forms which are not quite suitable for the analysis of actual data. Here, we propose a linear viscoelastic approach which consistently exploits the dynamic mechanical analysis data. We apply this method to four sets of results documenting fracture or adhesion rupture in soft solids with various degrees of viscoelasticity. For elastomers, the results reproduce the well-known inconsistency of the process zone size. In more viscoelastic systems, however, the present approach is able to match the measured velocity dependence of the rupture energy with physically acceptable process zone sizes. Moreover, our predictions agree with the damage zone sizes measured by mechanoluminescence. Building on these results, we discuss various issues arising when evaluating the linear viscoelastic contribution to the rupture/adhesion energy in soft solids: data quality, physical interpretation of the parameters, validity of simpler approximations and limitations of the present approach.

The Wigner’s friend thought experiment has gained a resurgence of interest in recent years thanks to no-go theorems that extend it to Bell-like scenarios. One of these, by us and co-workers, showcased the contradiction that arises between quantum theory and a set of assumptions, weaker than those in Bell’s theorem, which we named ‘Local Friendliness’. Using these assumptions, it is possible to arrive at a set of inequalities for a given scenario, and, in general, some of these inequalities will be harder to violate than the Bell inequalities for the same scenario. A crucial feature of the extended Wigner’s friend scenario in our aforementioned work was the ability of a superobserver to reverse the unitary evolution that gives rise to their friend’s measurement. Here, we present a new scenario where the superobserver can interact with the friend repeatedly in a single experimental instance, either by asking them directly for their result, thus ending that instance, or by reversing their measurement and instructing them to perform a new one. We show that, in these scenarios, the Local Friendliness inequalities will always be the same as Bell inequalities.

Origami foldcores, especially the blockfold cores, have emerged as promising components of high-performance sandwich composites. Inspired by the blockfold origami, we propose the axisymmetric blockfold origami (ABO), which is composed of both rectangular and trapezoidal panels. The ABO inherits the non-flat-foldability of the blockfold origami, and furthermore, displays self-locking mechanisms and enhanced stiffness. The geometry and folding kinematics of the ABO are formulated with respect to the geometric parameters and the folding angle of the assembly. The mathematical conditions are derived for the existence of self-locking mechanisms. We perform compression test simulations to demonstrate enhanced stiffness and increased load-bearing capacity. We find that the existence of rectangular panels not only dominates the non-flat-foldability of the ABO, but also contributes to the enhancement of the stiffness. Our results suggest the potential applications of the ABO for building load-bearing structures with rotational symmetry. Moreover, we discuss the prospects of designing tightly assembled multi-layered origami structures with prestress induced by the mismatch of successive layers to enlighten future research.

A dynamic trap well model is developed to describe the complex relaxations of functional segments, and explore the working principles behind the hydrothermal coupling effect in shape memory polymers (SMPs). A constitutive relationship among shape fixity strain, shape recovery strain and relaxation time has been formulated to characterize the hydrothermal coupling effect using geometrical parameters (i.e. width and height) of trap wells. Moreover, effects of temperature and solvent absorption on dynamic relaxation behaviours of SMPs have been formulated based on the Flory-Huggins theory and Fokker-Plank probability equation. The trap well model effectively analyzes the shape fixity ratio and shape recovery ratio within ranges of 50–100% and 0–100%, respectively. Finally, an extended Maxwell model is proposed to formulate the dynamic mechanical behaviours of SMPs with hydrothermal shape-memory effect (SME), and the analytical results have been verified using the experimental results reported in literature. A good agreement between the analytical results obtained from the proposed model and the experimental data is present, where the correlation coefficient (R²) is 95%. The present study firstly introduces the dynamic trap well model for shape memory behaviours and intricate relaxations, and then accurately predicts the dynamic shape recovery of SMP in response to hydrothermal stimulus.

This paper proposes a novel framework for modelling the spread of financial crises in complex networks, combining financial data, Extreme Value Theory and an epidemiological transmission model. We accommodate two key aspects of contagion modelling: fundamentals-based contagion, where the transmission is due to direct financial linkages, and pure contagion, where a crisis might trigger additional crises due to global effects. We use stock price, geographical location and economic sector data for a set of 398 companies to construct multiplex networks of four layers, on which a susceptible-infected-recovered transmission model is defined, in order to model the spread of financial shocks between companies by accounting for their interconnected nature. By utilizing stock price data for the 2008 and 2020 financial crises, we investigate and assess the effectiveness of our model in forecasting the propagation of financial shocks through the network, where a shock is detected by measuring stock price volatility. The results suggest that the proposed framework is effective in predicting the spread of financial crises. Our findings demonstrate the significance of each layer of the multiplex network structure, which differentiates between various transmission pathways, for predicting the number of affected companies, as well as for company-, sector- or location-specific predictions.

In this work, we examine the topological phases of the spring-mass lattices when the spatial inversion symmetry of the system is broken and prove the existence of edge modes when two lattices with different topological phases are glued together. In particular, for the one-dimensional lattice consisting of an infinite array of masses connected by springs, we show that the Zak phase of the lattice is quantized, only taking the value 0 or $\pi$. We also prove the existence of an edge mode when two semi-infinite lattices with distinct Zak phases are connected. For the two-dimensional honeycomb lattice, we characterize the valley Chern numbers of the lattice when the masses on the lattice vertices are uneven. The existence of edge modes is proved for a joint honeycomb lattice formed by gluing two semi-infinite lattices with opposite valley Chern numbers together.

The aim of this paper is to investigate the onset of penetrative convection in a Darcy–Brinkman porous medium under the hypothesis of local thermal non-equilibrium. For the problem at stake, the strong form of the principle of exchange of stabilities has been proved, i.e. convective motions can occur only through secondary stationary motions. We perform linear and nonlinear stability analyses of the basic state, with particular regard to the behaviour of stability thresholds with respect to the relevant physical parameters characterizing the problem. The Chebyshev-$\tau$ method and the shooting method are employed and accurately implemented to solve the differential eigenvalue problems arising from linear and nonlinear analyses to determine critical Rayleigh numbers. Via numerical simulations, the stabilizing effect of the upper bounding plane temperature, of the Darcy number and of the interaction coefficient for the heat exchange, is demonstrated.

This paper deals with the free propagation problem of resonant and close-to-resonance waves in one-dimensional lattice metamaterials endowed with nonlinearly viscoelastic resonators. The resonators' constitutive and geometric nonlinearities imply a cubic coupling with the lattice. The analytical treatment of the nonlinear wave propagation equations is carried out via a perturbation approach. In particular, after a suitable reformulation of the problem in the Hamiltonian setting, the approach relies on the well-known resonant normal form techniques from Hamiltonian perturbation theory. It is shown how the constructive features of the Lie Series formalism can be exploited in the explicit computation of the approximations of the invariant manifolds. A discussion of the metamaterial dynamic stability, either in the general or in the weak dissipation case, is presented.

We explore the transient evolution of thermo-fluid-dynamics of evaporating sessile droplets over curved substrates in the liquid and gaseous domains. A computational model using the Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian framework is adopted. The governing equations in both liquid and gaseous domains are solved in a fully coupled manner, considering coupled effects of evaporative cooling and heat advection due to bulk fluid motion. This bulk motion in the liquid domain is caused by natural advection due to thermal actuations such as thermal Marangoni flow and buoyancy-driven convection. For the gaseous domain, the additional effects of solutal convection (due to vapour-concentration variation), Stefan flow and interfacial viscous stresses are also considered. To depict a generalized role of substrate curvature, both concave and convex surfaces with curvatures over a wide range are studied. The surface wettability effects are also explored by varying the true contact angle of the droplets. Computational predictions on evaporation rate and internal flow field are validated against experimental results from literature. The interplay of wetting state and substrate curvature is noted to substantially affect the evaporation process and its thermo-fluidics. The convex curvature significantly augments internal advection while the same is weakened over concave substrates due to altered mass loss rate. Consequently, the duration of multi-vortex Marangoni flows in the development stages of evaporation and the advection in the external gaseous domain is markedly different for different curvatures. Further, on superhydrophobic curved surfaces, the effects of re-distributed evaporative fluxes play a major role. In such cases, the reduced mass flux over a large interfacial area near the periphery expedites the stable state Marangoni and external flow features.

We derive the compliance of an elastic cylinder submitted to a line Hertzian contact. The cylinder is maintained in static equilibrium by bulk forces that are proportional to rigid body motions. Displacements are measured by setting integral gauges that amount to prescribing zero net linear and angular momentum, if the problem were to depend upon time. Various cases are covered, representing either infinitesimal or finite contact displacements, including partial slip. The developments are illustrated by revisiting a classical example in what could be called The heavy cylinder on a vibrating soil. The four contact resonances and forced response of the system are given in closed form in the quasi-static approximation, and compared against a reference numerical solution. The formulae can also be used as building blocks to assemble the compliance matrix of a system comprising several cylinders.