MechE Colloquium: Buffering by buckling: New wrinkles on Gauss’ Pizza Theorem
Event details
| Date | 10.12.2019 |
| Hour | 12:15 › 13:15 |
| Speaker | Prof. Dominic Vella, Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford |
| Location | |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
Abstract:
The deformations of thin elastic objects are familiar from everyday life, from a piece of paper or clothes crumpling, to vibrations of bridges and other structures. A guiding principle of such deformations is that the material chooses to bend, rather than change its length, whenever possible. I will describe some of the consequences of this desire to avoid stretching and Gauss’ Remarkable Theorem, which include everyday examples like the geometrical rigidification of pizza slices by curving the crust. However, I will show that these consequences can be subverted by buckling instabilities such as wrinkling. Finally, I will talk about how fast these deformations happen.
Bio:
Dominic Vella is a Professor of Applied Mathematics at the Mathematical Institute in the University of Oxford, as well as a tutorial fellow at Lincoln College. Within the Mathematical Institute, he is affiliated to both OCCAM and OCIAM. In earlier lives, he studied at Trinity College, Cambridge and did post-docs in Paris (supported by the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851) and in Cambridge. His research is concerned with various aspects of solid and fluid mechanics in general but with particular focus on the wrinkling of thin elastic objects and surface tension effects.
The deformations of thin elastic objects are familiar from everyday life, from a piece of paper or clothes crumpling, to vibrations of bridges and other structures. A guiding principle of such deformations is that the material chooses to bend, rather than change its length, whenever possible. I will describe some of the consequences of this desire to avoid stretching and Gauss’ Remarkable Theorem, which include everyday examples like the geometrical rigidification of pizza slices by curving the crust. However, I will show that these consequences can be subverted by buckling instabilities such as wrinkling. Finally, I will talk about how fast these deformations happen.
Bio:
Dominic Vella is a Professor of Applied Mathematics at the Mathematical Institute in the University of Oxford, as well as a tutorial fellow at Lincoln College. Within the Mathematical Institute, he is affiliated to both OCCAM and OCIAM. In earlier lives, he studied at Trinity College, Cambridge and did post-docs in Paris (supported by the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851) and in Cambridge. His research is concerned with various aspects of solid and fluid mechanics in general but with particular focus on the wrinkling of thin elastic objects and surface tension effects.
Practical information
- General public
- Free