Geometric Charges and Nonlinear Elasticity of Two-Dimensional Elastic Metamaterials
Geometric charges and nonlinear elasticity of two-dimensional elastic metamaterials Yohai Bar-Sinai ( )a , Gabriele Librandia , Katia Bertoldia, and Michael Moshe ( )b,1 aSchool of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138; and bRacah Institute of Physics, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel 91904 Edited by John A. Rogers, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, and approved March 23, 2020 (received for review November 17, 2019) Problems of flexible mechanical metamaterials, and highly A theoretical analysis of the elastic problem requires solv- deformable porous solids in general, are rich and complex due ing the nonlinear equations of elasticity while satisfying the to their nonlinear mechanics and the presence of nontrivial geo- multiple free boundary conditions on the holes’ edges—a seem- metrical effects. While numeric approaches are successful, ana- ingly hopeless task from an analytic perspective. However, direct lytic tools and conceptual frameworks are largely lacking. Using solutions of the fully nonlinear elastic equations are accessi- an analogy with electrostatics, and building on recent devel- ble using finite-element models, which accurately reproduce the opments in a nonlinear geometric formulation of elasticity, we deformation fields, the critical strain, and the effective elastic develop a formalism that maps the two-dimensional (2D) elas- coefficients, etc. (6). The success of finite-element (FE) simula- tic problem into that of nonlinear interaction of elastic charges. tions in predicting the mechanics of perforated elastic materials This approach offers an intuitive conceptual framework, qual- confirms that nonlinear elasticity theory is a valid description, itatively explaining the linear response, the onset of mechan- but emphasizes the lack of insightful analytical solutions to ical instability, and aspects of the postinstability state.
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