Rectification of stress by fiber networks: Manifestation of non-linear screening through self-organized buckling

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Hauptverfasser: Malakar, Kanaya, Countryman, Albert, Chakraborty, Bulbul
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
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author Malakar, Kanaya
Countryman, Albert
Chakraborty, Bulbul
author_facet Malakar, Kanaya
Countryman, Albert
Chakraborty, Bulbul
contents Force transmission at large length scales is crucial for such biological functions as cell motility and morphogenesis. The networks that transmit these forces are malleable, patterned by active forces generated at the microscale by biological motors. In this paper we explore a simple model of a non-linear fiber network which has only two modes of deformation, but exhibits diverse mechanical phases with distinct large-scale response, tuned by the strength of a microscopic force dipole. We demonstrate, via numerical simulations, that the network is remodeled by organized patterns of buckling, which lead to a renormalization of the Poisson ratio. Finally, we show that the emergent behavior at large length scales can be ascribed to "mechanical screening" of the force dipole, analogous to dielectric screening of charges in electrostatics.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2511_20754
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Rectification of stress by fiber networks: Manifestation of non-linear screening through self-organized buckling
Malakar, Kanaya
Countryman, Albert
Chakraborty, Bulbul
Biological Physics
Soft Condensed Matter
Force transmission at large length scales is crucial for such biological functions as cell motility and morphogenesis. The networks that transmit these forces are malleable, patterned by active forces generated at the microscale by biological motors. In this paper we explore a simple model of a non-linear fiber network which has only two modes of deformation, but exhibits diverse mechanical phases with distinct large-scale response, tuned by the strength of a microscopic force dipole. We demonstrate, via numerical simulations, that the network is remodeled by organized patterns of buckling, which lead to a renormalization of the Poisson ratio. Finally, we show that the emergent behavior at large length scales can be ascribed to "mechanical screening" of the force dipole, analogous to dielectric screening of charges in electrostatics.
title Rectification of stress by fiber networks: Manifestation of non-linear screening through self-organized buckling
topic Biological Physics
Soft Condensed Matter
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.20754