CAREER: BuckliOrigami: Soft, Active and Foldable Structures Through Instabilities and Large Deformation

本学院早期职业发展（Career）项目奖的研究目标是利用软结构的非线性行为和有目的的设计模式，创造一种新型的响应式折纸材料，这种材料利用不稳定性引起的大变形和剧烈的几何变化来改变其形状和体积。可能的和令人兴奋的应用包括可逆封装系统，按需药物递送的活性材料，快速扩展的庇护所和可以通过小开口挤进狭窄地方的机器人。尽管不稳定性传统上被认为是一种不便，但该提案将表明，它们可以被利用来创造具有新颖和可切换功能的材料。对于所提出的研究，将采用基于计算分析和实验相结合的方法来深入了解软图案结构的非线性行为。这项工作的中心目标是促进跨学科的研究和教学，并增加机械师，工程师，物理学家和材料科学家之间的互动。这将通过以下方式实现：1)在哈佛自然历史博物馆组织一次展览，向广大观众宣传科学和工程；ii)组织“新英格兰材料与结构力学研讨会”，将新英格兰力学界聚集在一起，促进思想交流和合作；Iii)让各级学生参与积极的研究项目，让他们接触工程、材料科学和应用物理学的概念；iv)开发新的课程，重点是使用强大的数值技术，如有限元法，以创造性的方式接触到更广泛的受众。

The research objective of this Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program award is to exploit the non-linear behavior of soft structures with purposeful design patterns to create a new class of responsive origami-like materials that use their large deformation and dramatic geometric changes induced by instabilities to change their shape and volume. Possible and exciting applications include reversible encapsulation systems, active materials for on-demand drug delivery, rapidly expandable shelters and robots that can squeeze themselves through small openings and into tight places. Although instabilities have traditionally been viewed as an inconvenience, this proposal will show that they can be exploited to create materials with novel and switchable functionalities. For the proposed research an approach based on a powerful combination of computational analyses and experiments will be used to gain deeper insight into the non-linear behavior of soft patterned structures.A central goal of this effort is to promote interdisciplinary research and teaching and to increase the interactions between mechanicians, engineers, physicists and material scientists. This will be accomplished by: i) organizing an exhibition at the Harvard Museum of Natural History to promote science and engineering to a broad audience; ii) organizing the 'New England Workshop on the Mechanics of Materials and Structures' to bring together the New England mechanics community and stimulate exchange of ideas and collaborations; iii) involving students of all levels into active research projects and exposing them to concepts from engineering, material science and applied physics; iv) developing new courses with a focus on using powerful numerical techniques, such as the Finite Element Method, in a creative way to reach a broader audience.