L3

Chemical reaction network (CRN) theory focusses on making claims about dynamical behaviours of reaction networks which are, as far as possible, dependent on the network structure but independent of model details such as functions chosen and parameter values. The claims are generally about the existence, nature and stability of limit sets, and the possibility of bifurcations, in models of CRNs with particular structural features. The methodologies developed can often be applied to large classes of models occurring in biology and engineering, including models whose origins are not chemical in nature. Many results have a natural algorithmic formulation. Apart from the potential for application, the results are often pleasing mathematically for their power and generality. 

This talk will concern some recent themes in CRN theory, particularly focussed on how the presence or absence of particular subnetworks ("motifs") influences allowed dynamical behaviours in ODE models of a CRN. A number of recent results take the form: "a CRN containing no subnetworks satisfying condition X cannot display behaviour of type Y"; but also, in the opposite direction, "if a CRN contains a subnetwork satisfying condition X, then some model of this CRN from class C admits behaviour of type Y". The proofs of such results draw on a variety of techniques from analysis, algebra, combinatorics, and convex geometry. I'll describe some of these results, outline their proofs, and sketch some current challenges in this area. 
 

Cracks in many soft solids behave very differently to the classical picture of fracture, where cracks are long and thin, with damage localised to a crack tip. In particular, small cracks in soft solids become highly rounded — almost circular — before they start to extend. However, despite being commonplace, this is still not well understood. We use a phase-separation technique in soft, stretched solids to controllably nucleate and grow small, nascent cracks. These give insight into the soft failure process. In particular, our results suggest fracture occurs in two regimes. When a crack is large, it obeys classical linear-elastic fracture mechanics, but when it is small it grows in a new, scale-free way at a constant driving stress.

Many fluid flows in natural systems are highly complex, with an often beguilingly intricate and confusing detailed structure. Yet, as with many systems, a good deal of insight can be gained by testing the consequences of simple mathematical models that capture the essential physics.  We’ll tour two such problems.  In the summer melt seasons in Greenland, lakes form on the surface of the ice which have been observed to rapidly drain.  The propagation of the meltwater in the subsurface couples the elastic deformation of the ice and, crucially, the flow of water within the deformable subglacial till.  In this case the poroelastic deformation of the till plays a subtle, but crucial, role in routing the surface meltwater which spreads indefinitely, and has implications for how we think about large-scale motion in groundwater aquifers or geological carbon storage.  In contrast, when magma erupts onto the Earth’s surface it flows before rapidly cooling and crystallising.  Using analogies from the kitchen we construct, and experimentally test, a simple model of what sets the ultimate extent of magmatic intrusions on Earth and, as it turns out, on Venus.  The results are delicious!  In both these cases, we see how a simplified mathematical analysis provides insight into large scale phenomena.

Transformation theory has long been known to be a mechanism for 
the design of metamaterials. It gives rise to the required properties of the 
material in order to direct waves in the manner desired.  This talk will 
focus on the mathematical theory underpinning the design of acoustic and 
elastodynamic metamaterials based on transformation theory and aspects of 
the experimental confirmation of these designs. In the acoustics context it 
is well-known that the governing equations are transformation invariant and 
therefore a whole range of microstructural options are available for design, 
although designing materials that can harness incoming acoustic energy in 
air is difficult due to the usual sharp impedance contrast between air and 
the metamaterial in question. In the elastodynamic context matters become 
even worse in the sense that the governing equations are not transformation 
invariant and therefore we generally require a whole new class of materials.

In the acoustics context we will describe a new microstructure that consists 
of rigid rods that is (i) closely impedance matched to air and (ii) slows 
down sound in air. This is shown to be useful in a number of configurations 
and in particular it can be employed to half the resonant frequency of the 
standard quarter-wavelength resonator (or alternatively it can half the size 
of the resonator for a specified resonant frequency) [1].

In the elastodynamics context we will show that although the equations are 
not transformation invariant one can employ the theory of waves in 
pre-stressed hyperelastic materials in order to create natural elastodynamic 
metamaterials whose inhomogeneous anisotropic material properties are 
generated naturally by an appropriate pre-stress. In particular it is shown 
that a certain class of hyperelastic materials exhibit this so-called 
“invariance property” permitting the creation of e.g. hyperelastic cloaks 
[2,3] and invariant metamaterials. This has significant consequences for the 
design of e.g. phononic media: it is a well-known and frequently exploited 
fact that pre-stress and large deformation of hyperelastic materials 
modifies the linear elastic wave speed in the deformed medium. In the 
context of periodic materials this renders materials whose dynamic 
properties are “tunable” under pre-stress and in particular this permits 
tunable band gaps in periodic media [4]. However the invariant hyperelastic 
materials described above can be employed in order to design a class of 
phononic media whose band-gaps are invariant to deformation [5]. We also 
describe the concept of an elastodynamic ground cloak created via pre-stress 
[6].

[1] Rowley, W.D., Parnell, W.J., Abrahams, I.D., Voisey, S.R. and Etaix, N. 
(2018) “Deepening subwavelength acoustic resonance via metamaterials with 
universal broadband elliptical microstructure”. Applied Physics Letters 112, 
251902.
[2] Parnell, W.J. (2012) “Nonlinear pre-stress for cloaking from antiplane 
elastic waves”. Proc Roy Soc A 468 (2138) 563-580.
[3] Norris, A.N. and Parnell, W.J. (2012) “Hyperelastic cloaking theory: 
transformation elasticity with pre-stressed solids”. Proc Roy Soc A 468 
(2146) 2881-2903
[4] Bertoldi, K. and Boyce, M.C. (2008)  “Mechanically triggered 
transformations of phononic band gaps in periodic elastomeric structures”. 
Phys Rev B 77, 052105.
[5] Zhang, P. and Parnell, W.J. (2017) “Soft phononic crystals with 
deformation-independent band gaps” Proc Roy Soc A 473, 20160865.
[6] Zhang, P. and Parnell, W.J. (2018) “Hyperelastic antiplane ground 
cloaking” J Acoust Soc America 143 (5)

When a liquid drop is deposited over a solid surface whose temperature is sufficiently above the boiling point of the liquid, the drop does not experience nucleate boiling but rather levitates over a thin layer of its own vapor. This is known as the Leidenfrost effect. Whilst highly undesirable in certain cooling applications, because of a drastic decrease of the energy transferred between the solid and the evaporating liquid due to poor heat conductivity of the vapor, this effect can be of great interest in many other processes profiting from this absence of contact with the surface that considerably reduces the friction and confers an extreme mobility on the drop. During this presentation, I hope to provide a good vision of some of the knowledge on this subject through some recent studies that we have done. First, I will present a simple fitting-parameter-free theory of the Leidenfrost effect, successfully validated with experiments, covering the full range of stable shapes, i.e., from small quasi-spherical droplets to larger puddles floating on a pocketlike vapor film. Then, I will discuss the end of life of these drops that appear either to explode or to take-off. Finally, I will show that the Leidenfrost effect can also be observed over hot baths of non-volatile liquids. The understanding of the latter situation, compare to the classical Leidenfrost effect on solid substrate, provides new insights on the phenomenon, whether it concerns levitation or its threshold.

Likely instabilities in stochastic hyperelastic solids

L. Angela Mihai

School of Mathematics, Cardiff University, Senghennydd Road, Cardiff, CF24 4AG, UK

E-mail: @email.uk

Nonlinear elasticity has been an active topic of fundamental and applied research for several decades. However, despite numerous developments and considerable attention it has received, there are important issues that remain unresolved, and many aspects still elude us. In particular, the quantification of uncertainties in material parameters and responses resulting from incomplete information remain largely unexplored. Nowadays, it is becoming increasingly apparent that deterministic approaches, which are based on average data values, can greatly underestimate, or overestimate, mechanical properties of many materials. Thus, stochastic representations, accounting for data dispersion, are needed to improve assessment and predictions. In this talk, I will consider stochastic hyperelastic material models described by a strain-energy density where the parameters are characterised by probability distributions. These models, which are constructed through a Bayesian identification procedure, rely on the maximum entropy principle and enable the propagation of uncertainties from input data to output quantities of interest. Similar modelling approaches can be developed for other mechanical systems. To demonstrate the effect of probabilistic model parameters on large strain elastic responses, specific case studies include the classic problem of the Rivlin cube, the radial oscillatory motion of cylindrical and spherical shells, and the cavitation and finite amplitude oscillations of spheres.

A two-layer shear flow in the presence of surfactants is considered. The flow configuration comprises two superposed layers of viscous and immiscible fluids confined in a long horizontal channel, and characterised by different densities, viscosities and thicknesses. The surfactants can be insoluble, i.e. located at the interface between the two fluids only, or soluble in the lower fluid in the form of monomers (single molecules) or micelles (multi-molecule aggregates). A mathematical model is formulated, consisting of governing equations for the hydrodynamics and appropriate transport equations for the surfactant concentration at the interface, the concentration of monomers in the bulk fluid and the micelle concentration. A primary objective of this study is to investigate the effect of surfactants on the stability of the interface, and in particular surfactants in high concentrations and above the critical micelle concentration (CMC). Interfacial instabilities are induced due to the acting forces of gravity and inertia, as well as the action of Marangoni forces generated as a result of the dependence of surface tension on the interfacial surfactant concentration. The underlying physical mechanism responsible for the formation of interfacial waves will be discussed, together with the complex flow dynamics (typical nonlinear phenomena associated with interfacial flows include travelling waves, solitary pulses, quasi-periodic and chaotic dynamics).