Related papers: Extraterrestrial sink dynamics in granular matter
An asteroid spun up to its critical limit has unique surface mechanical properties that its gravity and the centrifugal force largely balance, creating a relaxation environment where low-energy events such as mass shedding may trigger…
Granular materials such as sand, powders, and grains are omnipresent in daily life, industrial applications, and earth-science [1]. When unperturbed, they form stable structures that resemble the ones of other amorphous solids like metallic…
The terminology granular matter refers to systems with a large number of hard objects (grains) of mesoscopic size ranging from millimeters to meters. Geological examples include desert sand and the rocks of a landslide. But the scope of…
Planetesimal formation models often invoke the gravitational collapse of pebble clouds to overcome various barriers to grain growth and propose processes to concentrate particles sufficiently to trigger this collapse. On the other hand, the…
The interiors of many planets consist mostly of fluid layers. When these layers are subject to superadiabatic temperature or compositional gradients, turbulent convection transports heat and momentum. In addition, planets are fast rotators.…
We analyse how drag forces modify the orbits of objects moving through extended gaseous distributions. We consider how hydrodynamic (surface area) drag forces and dynamical friction (gravitational) drag forces drive the evolution of orbital…
We report on the differences between colloidal systems left to evolve in the earth's gravitational field and the same systems for which a slow continuous rotation averaged out the effects of particle sedimentation on a distance scale small…
Granular intrusions, such as dynamic impact or wheel locomotion, are complex multiphase phenomena where the grains exhibit solid-like and fluid-like characteristics together with an ejected gas-like phase. Despite decades of modeling…
Gravity currents are a ubiquitous density driven flow occurring in both the natural environment and in industry. They include: seafloor turbidity currents, primary vectors of sediment, nutrient and pollutant transport; cold fronts; and…
In this paper we consider dynamical behavior of astrophysical objects (galaxies and dwarf galaxies) taking into account both gravitational attraction between them and cosmological expansion of the Universe. First, we obtain the general…
Many small bodies in the solar system are believed to be rubble piles, a collection of smaller elements separated by voids. We propose a model for the structure of a self-gravitating rubble pile. Static friction prevents its elements from…
When an object impacts onto a bed of very loose, fine sand, the drag it experiences depends on the ambient pressure in a surprising way: Drag is found to increase significantly with decreasing pressure. We use a modified penetrometer…
The rotation of a planet located in the habitable zone of a solar-type star can be reversed by a smooth process associated with the formation of its atmosphere and the increase of stronger torques, opposite to normal tidal torques. Our…
We investigate the motion of groups of intruders in a two-dimensional granular system by using discrete numerical simulations. By imposing either a constant velocity or a thrusting force on larger disks (intruders) that move within smaller…
Neutron stars, asteroids, comets, cosmic-dust granules, spacecraft, as well as whatever other freely spinning body dissipate energy when they rotate about any axis different from principal. We discuss the internal-dissipation-caused…
We study the tidal interaction between a low-mass companion (e.g., a protoplanet or a black hole) in orbit about a central mass, and the accretion disk within which it is submerged. We present results for a companion on a coplanar orbit…
Atomic crystals with dislocations deform plastically at low stresses via dislocation glide. Whether dislocation glide occurs in macroscopic frictional granular media has remained unknown. The discrete element method is employed to simulate…
We investigate the gravity driven rapid failure of a granular step composed of non-cohesive steel beads. The step is initially held together with electromagnets, and released when the current is switched off. We visualize the surface and…
The frictional instability associated with earthquake initiation and earthquake dynamics is believed to be mainly controlled by the dynamics of fragmented rocks within the fault gauge. Principal features of the emerging seismicity (e.g.…
The results of an extensive numerical study of the orbital dynamics of small bodies ranging from micron-sized dust grains to 1 km objects subject to gas drag and also the gravitational attraction of a non-uniform gaseous nebula are…