Fracture, by design: topology-programmed damage in Maxwell lattices

In this talk, we will discuss a direct correspondence between lattice topology and the damage paths in Maxwell lattices, recasting fracture as a programmable design. We show that topology-protected modes, robust to disorder, concentrate at discontinuities and thereby orchestrate stress redistribution. By tailoring unit-cell geometry and embedding domain walls, we steer load trajectories and initiate repeatable, spatially confined failure. Simulations, complemented by experiments, confirm the predicted mode localization and the resulting, tunable progression of damage. The framework we establish clarifies how topological polarization couples to material nonlinearity to enhance energy dissipation and elevate apparent fracture energy, offering a principled route to architected media with damage tolerance.