Seminars

Low-dimensional elastic structures such as thin plates and rods routinely undergo large deformations whereby a complex network of plastic zones emerges as an outcome of the conjunction between the extreme deformations and the physical self-avoidance. Examples of such situations in living world encompass the folding of insect wings and petal leaves, biological membranes and DNA packaging in viral capsids. In man-made systems, the question of fold formation is of paramount importance as it arises in a wide spectrum of, apparently disconnected, situations ranging from art to space exploration. Can we describe the geometrical and mechanical properties of these objects using a general framework? I will present various experimental and theoretical studies on thin sheet crumpling and folding in order to give preliminary answers to these questions..