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Friday, November 17, 2006 - 2:00pm

L. Mahadevan

Harvard University

Location

University of Pennsylvania

Berger Auditorium, Skirkanich Hall

The borderlands between elasticity and hydrodynamics lead naturally to a number of moving boundary problems in elastohydrodynamics. I will discuss some phenomena in this rich area involving extreme geometries: the flutter of a slender flag in a breeze (and its relation to fish swimming), the lift on a soft fluid-lubricated solid sliding/rolling near a wall (and its relation to joint lubrication), and the dynamics of fluid-filled tissues (and its relation to rapid movements in some plants).