Publications related to Dynamic fragmentation of a brittle plate under biaxial loading: strength or toughness controlled?

Influence of model uncertainty and long term deformations in action effects calculation in reinforced concrete structures

Most codes of practice adopt a semi probabilistic design approach for the dimensioning and assessment of structures. Accordingly, structural safety is ensured by performing limit state verifications using design values determined with adequately calibrated ...

EPFL2024

Insights from an extensive triaxial testing campaign on a shale for comparative site characterization of a deep geological repository

Lyesse Laloui, Alessio Ferrari, Eleonora Crisci

Several boreholes were drilled for site comparison of a deep geological repository (DGR) in Northern Switzerland. The main target of the exploration program was the >100m thick Opalinus Clay, the designated host rock encountered at approximately 450 to 100 ...

Elsevier2024

Short-term behavior of glass fiber-polymer composite bending-active elastica beam under service load application

Thomas Keller, Landolf-Giosef-Anastasios Rhode-Barbarigos, Tara Habibi

Bending-active elastica beam is a structural configuration that is based on the elastic deformation of an initially straight beam. This deformation occurs when horizontal displacements are applied to a sliding support, causing the beam to bend into an arch ...

2024

Computational Homogenization for Inverse Design of Surface-based Inflatables

Mark Pauly, Francis Julian Panetta, Uday Kusupati, Yingying Ren, Florin Isvoranu, Seiichi Eduardo Suzuki Erazo

Surface-based inflatables are composed of two thin layers of nearly inextensible sheet material joined together along carefully selected fusing curves. During inflation, pressure forces separate the two sheets to maximize the enclosed volume. The fusing c ...

2024

Modeling friction and wear using an adaptive discrete-continuum coupling

Manon Eugénie Voisin--Leprince

When two objects slide against each other, wear and friction occur at their interface. The accumulation of wear forms what is commonly referred to as a ``third-body''. Understanding third-body evolution has significant applications in industry, where contr ...

EPFL2024

Water weakening and the compressive brittle strength of carbonates: Influence of fracture toughness and static friction

Marie Estelle Solange Violay, Barnaby Padraig Fryer, Corentin Jean-Marie Rémi Noël

Water is ubiquitous within the pore space of rocks and has been shown to affect their physical and mechanical behaviour. Indeed, water can act on the rock strength via mechanical (i.e., reducing the effective stresses) or chemical effects (e.g., mineral di ...

2024

Customized modular multi-material mouthguard and method of making the same

Dominique Pioletti, Martin Broome, Naser Nasrollahzadeh Mamaghani

There is described a mouthguard comprising an externally exposed impact protective region defined by a first material property and configured to cover a front tooth, an internally exposed occlusional cushioning region defined by a second material property ...

2024

Numerical investigation of two-dimensional Mode-II delamination in composite laminates

Thomas Keller, Anastasios Vassilopoulos, Congzhe Wang

Existing standards for delamination tests on composite materials typically employ one-dimensional (1D) beam specimens. However, such specimens may not represent real delamination scenarios in composite structures, where cracks tend to propagate in two dime ...

Elsevier Sci Ltd2024

Micro modeling of irregular stone masonry walls using mathematical programming

Katrin Beyer, Qianqing Wang, Ketson Roberto Maximiano Dos Santos

While understanding the shear strength of stone masonry structures is important for the design and the mainte- nance, we still lack computational tools for predicting the strength as a function of the stone layout. Here we implement an end-to-end image bas ...

Springer2024

Design for demise applied to spacecraft structural panels and experiments for ClearSpace One platform

Alexandre Achille Looten

With growing awareness of the vulnerability of the near-Earth space region and the anticipated surge in satellite objects, efforts are underway to assess and implement various mitigation strategies. These aim to minimize the impact of space activities and ...

EPFL2024

Morphological and Material Programability of a Hall-Effect Based Soft Tactile Sensors

Josephine Anna Eleanor Hughes, Sudong Lee

The different receptors in human skin show not only diversity in the stimuli to which they respond, but also variable sensitivity and directionality. This is often determined by their location or morphology, and can play an important role in filtering or a ...

IEEE2024

Influence of fiber orientation on the tensile behavior of UHPFRC and reinforced UHPFRC under static and fatigue loadings

Jian Zhan

Ultra-high performance fiber reinforced cementitious composite (UHPFRC) is a modern class of cementitious building materials. Because of its superior mechanical properties and durability, it is increasingly used globally to rehabilitate, strengthen and mod ...

EPFL2024

Design of Customized Mouthguards with Superior Protection Using Digital-Based Technologies and Impact Tests

Dominique Pioletti, Martin Broome, Naser Nasrollahzadeh Mamaghani

Background In contact sports, an impact on the jaw can generate destructive stress on the tooth-bone system. Mouthguards can be beneficial in reducing the injury risk by changing the dynamics of the trauma. The material properties of mouthguards and their ...

Springer2024

Adaptive Finite Elements with Large Aspect Ratio. Application to Aluminium Electrolysis

Paride Passelli

The goal of this work is to use anisotropic adaptive finite elements for the numerical simulation of aluminium electrolysis. The anisotropic adaptive criteria are based on a posteriori error estimates derived for simplified problems. First, we consider an ...

EPFL2024

Instabilities in Elastic and Magneto-Elastic Beams and Shells: from Shell Buckling to the Design of a Programmable Braille Reader

Arefeh Abbasi

In this thesis, we conduct a comprehensive investigation into structural instabilities of both elastic and magneto-elastic beams and shells, resulting in a creative proposal to design a programmable braille reader. Methodologically, we combine numerical si ...

EPFL2024

A diversity-driven discovery of potential nanoporous materials for energy-related applications

Sauradeep Majumdar

The design and discovery of potential novel materials is critical for the advancement of climate change mitigation technologies. In this respect, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have received considerable attention over the last two decades. The combinatio ...

EPFL2024

An adaptive phase field approach to 3D internal crack growth in rocks

Tao Xu, Michael Heap, Alexandra Roma Larisa Kushnir

Modeling the 3D internal crack under compression entails complex fracture mechanics (mode I-II-III fracture), resulting in substantial computational costs and challenges in characterizing fracture morphology characterization for Phase Field Method (PFM) si ...

2024

Two-dimensional quasi-static delamination in composite laminates under Mode-I and Mode-II conditions

Congzhe Wang

Fiber-polymer composites consist of a polymer matrix and reinforcing fibers made of various materials. These composites exhibit exceptional properties, such as a high strength-to-weight ratio and excellent corrosion resistance, which has led to their incre ...

EPFL2024

Edible Soft Actuators based on Konjac Glucomannan for Underwater Operation

Dario Floreano, Jun Shintake, Ryo Kanno, Bokeon Kwak, Markéta Pankhurst

Soft robots are being increasingly developed and deployed for underwater applications such as exploration, monitoring, and rescue owing to their innate compliance, mechanical and chemical stability, and waterproof properties. However, they are still predom ...

2024

Ultrahigh-quality-factor micro- and nanomechanical resonators using dissipation dilution

Tobias Kippenberg, Nils Johan Engelsen, Alberto Beccari

Mechanical resonators are widely used in sensors, transducers and optomechanical systems, where mechanical dissipation sets the ultimate limit to performance. Over the past 15 years, the quality factors in strained mechanical resonators have increased by f ...

Nature Portfolio2024