Buckling Induced Functionality in Soft Structures

Abstract

A variety of instabilities can be triggered when elastic structures are subjected to mechanical loadings. While such instabilities have traditionally been considered as a failure, a new trend is emerging in which the dramatic geometric changes induced by them are harnessed to enable new functionalities. In this thesis, I report a systematic study on the morphology and functionality changes induced by buckling in soft structures. Using a combination of theoretical, numerical and experimental analyses, I investigate the non-linear response of a variety of one dimensional, two dimensional and three dimensional systems, with particular emphasis on their stability. The results show that the deformation induced by buckling can be rather complex even if the undeformed geometry is simple. Moreover, I demonstrate that a wide range of morphologies can be obtained by carefully controlling the geometric, material and loading parameters. Such tunability may open venues for the design of structures with adaptive and switchable properties.