Abstract
Thin objects are easy to deform, as we see in everyday life: a piece of paper crumples, while bridges may vibrate in the wind. It is also clear that such thin structures choose to bend, rather than compress, whenever possible. Gauss’ "Remarkable Theorem” has a lot to say about how such bending deformations can happen, and its consequences are everywhere from pizza slices to the domed roofs of buildings. Nevertheless, I’ll show how Gauss’ Theorem can be subverted by thin sheets and how finite thickness can cause a surprisingly slow snap-through.
About the Speaker
After undergraduate study at Cambridge, a year at Harvard and a PhD back in Cambridge, Dominic worked in Paris as a post-doc supported by the Royal Commission of 1851. He returned briefly to Cambridge, before moving to Oxford to take up his current position in 2011. He works to develop mathematical models of a range of physical problems including floating objects (the 'Cheerios effect’), the wrinkling of thin elastic objects and snap-through instabilities; his current research is supported by the EPSRC and the Leverhulme Trust.
Host: Professor Sam Tawfick