Event

Soft materials can display heterogeneous physical structure at the meso-scale, which can constrain mechanical stability and acoustic transmission. The need to understand such bulk properties motivates the development of novel methods for quantitatively identifying and characterizing this meso-scale architecture. I will describe a new set of tools built on the principles of network science to identify meso-scale architecture in soft materials, characterize their topology and shape, and track their reconfiguration during compaction. In addition to describing the tools, I will discuss their use in understanding mechanical properties of granular media and collagen matrix.