Related papers: Periodically fighting shake, rattle and roll
A famous and thoroughly investigated instability set-up, susceptible to wrinkling and creasing, consists of an elastic half-space being prestressed under a dead load, applied at infinity and, possibly, on its surface. We consider the case…
Physicists are very familiar with forced and parametric resonance, but usually not with self-oscillation, a property of certain dynamical systems that gives rise to a great variety of vibrations, both useful and destructive. In a…
Characterizing the interaction between water and microscopic defects is one of the long-standing challenges in understanding a broad range of cracking processes. Different physical aspects of microscopic events, driven or influenced by…
The combination of fast propagation speeds and highly localized nature has hindered the direct observation of the evolution of shock waves at the molecular scale. To address this limitation, an experimental system is designed by tuning a…
All attempts of aeroelastic explanations for the torsional instability of suspension bridges have been somehow criticised and none of them is unanimously accepted by the scientific community. We suggest a new nonlinear model for a…
In experimental study of very high Reynolds number turbulence, we found evidences that there are distinguished vortex structures in the intermediate range, that is, between the Kolmogorov and Taylor microscales, where they are indeed…
Cracks are the major vehicle for material failure, and often exhibit rather complex dynamics. The laws that govern their motion have remained an object of constant study for nearly a century. The simplest kind of dynamic crack is a single…
Motivated by a biased diffusion of molecular motors with the bias dependent on the state of the substrate, we investigate a random walk on a one-dimensional lattice that contains weak links (called "bridges'') which are affected by the…
Crack growth is the basic mechanism leading to the failure of brittle materials. Engineering addresses this problem within the framework of continuum mechanics, which links deterministically the crack motion to the applied loading. Such an…
The high occupancy rates in urban multi-story buildings, combined with present safety concerns, necessarily prompt a reassessment of performance goals. Given the notable seismic damage and instances of weak-story failures that have been…
We consider a thin and narrow rectangular plate where the two short edges are hinged whereas the two long edges are free. This plate aims to represent the deck of a bridge, either a footbridge or a suspension bridge. We study a nonlocal…
It has been proposed to make practical use of chaos in communication, in enhancing mixing in chemical processes and in spreading the spectrum of switch-mode power suppies to avoid electromagnetic interference. It is however known that for…
The breakup dynamics of viscous liquid bridges on solid surfaces is studied experimentally. It is found that the dynamics bears similarities to the breakup of free liquid bridges in the viscous regime. Nevertheless, the dynamics is…
Many new models of wave turbulence -- frozen, mesoscopic, laminated, decaying, sand-pile, etc. -- have been developed in the last decade aiming to solve problems seemingly not solvable in the framework of the existing wave turbulence theory…
We model the roadway of a suspension bridge as a thin rectangular plate and we study in detail its oscillating modes. The plate is assumed to be hinged on its short edges and free on its long edges. Two different kinds of oscillating modes…
A number of simplified dynamical problems is studied in an attempt to clarify some of the mechanisms leading to turbulence and the existing proposals to control this transition. A simplified set of boundary layer equations displays a…
Diverting, and controlling, elastic vibrations impacting upon infrastructure is a major challenge for seismic hazard mitigation, and for the reduction of machine noise and vehicle vibration in the urban environment. Seismic metamaterials…
A general linear stability analysis of simple metal nanowires is presented using a continuum approach which correctly accounts for material-specific surface properties and electronic quantum-size effects. The competition between surface…
Modern pedestrian and suspension bridges are designed using industry-standard packages, yet disastrous resonant vibrations are observed, necessitating multi-million dollar repairs. Recent examples include pedestrian induced vibrations…
Using continuum elasticity theory, we describe the elastic behavior of helical coils with an asymmetric double-helix structure and identify conditions, under which they become very rigid. Theoretical insight gained for macro-structures…