Dear colleagues,
we organize a symposium Mechanics of Soft Materials and Structures during the European Mechanics of Materials Conferences (EMMC) to be held may 27-29th 2020 in Madrid. The EMMC is a series of biyearly meetings organized under the auspices of the European Mechanics Society, Euromech, that has taken place during the last 25 years. The conference will be a meeting point of researchers with common interests in mechanics of materials from different perspectives including mechanical engineering, physics, biomechanics, applied mathematics, chemistry, etc…
Pedro Reis (EPFL, Swtizerland) pedro.reis@epfl.ch
Benoit Roman (Sorbonne University, France) benoit.roman@espci.fr
Soft mechanical systems can derive their compliance either from the
constitutive nature of the underlying low-modulus materials or from the
slender geometry of their structural members (even with high-modulus
materials). The mechanics of soft materials and structures is currently
the focus of renewed research efforts taking advantage of quickly
evolving experimental techniques for design, fabrication, and
characterization, as well as novel theoretical and computational tools
for analysis. The combination of the development of new materials with
unprecedented mechanical properties, together with modern manufacturing
techniques (e.g., molding, lithography, and 3D printing) to realize
complex architectural layouts, are opening a wide array of
opportunities, both for research and applications. For example, soft
materials may be activated by coupling mechanical deformation with
electrostatic, physical-chemical, magnetic or fluid forces. Such
material systems are, therefore, promising candidates to envision as
active structural components necessary soft robotics, shape-morphing
structures, and compliant energy-harvesting devices. Soft materials also
share comparable mechanical properties and, often, constitutive
composition with biological tissue, therefore, acting as valuable model
systems for their mechanical behavior. Another specificity of soft
mechanical systems is the relative importance of surface forces such as
adhesion, and capillary effects, which may even become dominant.
This session aims at bringing together researchers sharing an
interest in the mechanics and physics of soft materials and structures,
which, despite diverse, share the common fundamental challenges of
nonlinear mechanics (large strains, nonlinear constitutive behavior, and
geometric nonlinearities) coupled with other intricate physical
mechanisms.
Confirmed Plenary Lectures at EMMC17:
- Prof. Samuel Forest (Mines-ParisTech)
- Prof. Daniel Rittel (Technion)
- Prof. Chiara Daraio (Caltech)
Abstract submission :
- October 1, 2019
Beginning of abstract submission - December 3, 2019
Abstract submission deadline - January 30, 2020
Abstract acceptance
Registration :
- Early registration: Feb 25th, 2020
- Last registration for presenting authors with accepted abstract: Mar 30th, 2020
ESPCI web site