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SUMMARY:IGM Colloquium: Functional interpretation for transverse arches of
  human foot
DTSTART:20180529T121500
DTEND:20180529T131500
DTSTAMP:20260407T112406Z
UID:3238a1cfea3dd1ac02a4c69f62fe48ae77a49809d94a3aa651689a63
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Shreyas Mandre\, Professor in the School of Engineering at Bro
 wn University\nAbout 8 million years ago\, the common ancestor of the huma
 n and chimpanzee lineages had feet without arches and with a structure sim
 ilar to our hands. In this talk\, we consider the function of the transver
 se arch of the human foot as a structural element and juxtapose the result
 s in the context of fossilized feet from human ancestors.\nThe fossil reco
 rd indicates that the emergence of arches in human ancestral feet coincide
 d with a transition from an arboreal to a terrestrial lifestyle. Propulsiv
 e forces exerted during walking and running load the foot under bending\, 
 which is distinct from those experienced during arboreal locomotion. I wil
 l present mathematical models with varying levels of detail to illustrate 
 a simple function of the transverse arch. Just as we curve a dollar bill i
 n the transverse direction to stiffen it while inserting it in a vending m
 achine\, the transverse arch of the human foot stiffens it for bending def
 ormations. A fundamental interplay of geometry and mechanics underlies thi
 s stiffening -- curvature couples the soft out-of-plane bending mode to th
 e stiff in-plane stretching deformation. In addition to presenting a funct
 ional interpretation of the transverse arch of the foot\, this study also 
 identifies a classification of flat feet based on the skeletal geometry an
 d mechanics.\n\nBio:\nDr. Mandre is an Assistant Professor in the School o
 f Engineering at Brown University. He has a Bachelors degree in Mechanical
  Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay\, a Masters in
  Mechanical Engineering from Northwestern University\, a PhD from the Univ
 ersity of British Columbia in Mathematics. Like his degrees\, Dr. Mandre's
  research straddles engineering and mathematics\, including on esoteric to
 pics such as the waving of grass\, the splashing of droplets\, and the str
 ucture of fish fins and human feet.\n 
LOCATION:MED 0 1418 https://plan.epfl.ch/?room==MED%200%201418
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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