Mechanics and Computation / View source

for Mechanical and Chemical Effects in the Adhesion of Shells

=John Bassani, Ph.D.=

==April 29, 2010==

The adhered state of shells, including thin films and biological cells, is strongly influenced by a variety of mechanical factors, which include chemistry-dependent adhesive interactions at interfaces.  Transitions between bistable snapped-in and snapped-out configurations are predicted from a model that includes nonlinear shell kinematics coupled with elastic material response and an adhesion law.  Non-uniform energy and traction fields are a general signature of adhered states.  Coupling between these spatially non-uniform fields can result in segregation of chemical species that directly affects equilibrium states. One example occurring in biology is the enhanced adhesion of closed vesicles (e.g., cells) via integrin segregation in membranes. Surface topography is found to have a strong influence on adhered configurations including the distributions of adhesive species and tractions.

Biosketch:

John L. Bassani is the Richard H. and S. L. Gabel Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania.  He is also a Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, a member of the Laboratory for Research on the Structure of Matter, and a member of the Institute of Medicine at Penn.

Professor Bassani earned his BS in Mechanical Engineering from Lehigh University and his PhD in Engineering from Harvard University.  He spent two years at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as an Assistant Professor before joining Penn, where he has served as chair of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics for eight years.  He has been a Visiting Professor at the University of California at Santa Barbara, Harvard University and Brown University.  He received the NSF Presidential Young Investigator Award, is a Fellow of ASME, has served on several editorial boards, and is currently the President of the Society of Engineering Science.  Professor Bassani’s research interests include: the relationship between properties of discrete and continuous media, adhesion and interfacial mechanics, formation and properties of nanostructures, mechanics of living cells, plastic deformation of crystals and polycrystals, and mechanics of fracture and fatigue.

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