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There is now a CONTENT FREEZE for Mercury while we switch to a new platform. It began on Friday, March 10 at 6pm and will end on Wednesday, March 15 at noon. No new content can be created during this time, but all material in the system as of the beginning of the freeze will be migrated to the new platform, including users and groups. Functionally the new site is identical to the old one. webteam@gatech.edu
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What is the critical load required to crush a soda can or a space rocket shell? Surprisingly, there is no good way to estimate it, because of the high defect-sensitivity of the buckling instability.
Here we measure the response of (imperfect) soda cans to lateral poking and identify a generic stability landscape, which fully characterizes the stability of real imperfect shells in the case where one single defect dominates.
By using this new paradigm, I will show how we can accurately and non-destructively predict the buckling load of real imperfect shell structures, thereby promising drastic reduction of the costs of structural engineering experimental tests.