Related papers: Softening of Granular Packings with Dynamic Forcin…
We study theoretically and numerically how hard frictionless particles in random packings can rearrange. We demonstrate the existence of two distinct unstable non-linear modes of rearrangement, both associated with the opening and the…
We investigate dynamical heterogeneities in the collective relaxation of a concentrated microgel system, for which the packing fraction can be conveniently varied by changing the temperature. The packing fraction dependent mechanical…
Granular jamming is a popular soft robotics technology that has seen recent widespread applications including industrial gripping, surgical robotics and haptics. However, to date the field has not fully exploited the fundamental science of…
We investigate the mechanical behavior of a confined granular packing of irregular polyhedral particles under repeated heating and cooling cycles by means of numerical simulations with the Non-Smooth Contact Dynamics method. Assuming a…
Molecular dynamics simulations are performed to investigate the plastic response of a model glass to a local shear transformation in a quiescent system. The deformation of the material is induced by a spherical inclusion that is gradually…
Confined geometries offer useful and experimentally amenable mechanical testing arrangements in which to study the molecular and micro-structural processes which govern plastic yield in stress environments dominated by hydrostatic pressure…
The high susceptibility of ultrathin two-dimensional (2D) material resonators to force and temperature makes them ideal systems for sensing applications and exploring thermomechanical coupling. Although the dynamics of these systems at high…
The hydroelastic response of free floating viscoelastic covers is measured using Faraday waves on the surface of a vertically oscillated fluid layer. We systematically vary the thickness $d$ of the covers to investigate its effect on the…
Studies of random close packing of spheres have advanced our knowledge about the structure of systems such as liquids, glasses, emulsions, granular media, and amorphous solids. When these systems are confined their structural properties…
We experimentally and numerically examine stress-dependent electrical transport in granular materials to elucidate the origins of their universal dielectric response. The ac responses of granular systems under varied compressive loadings…
Frustration arises for a broad class of physical systems where confinement (geometric) or the presence of a perturbation (kinematic) prevents equilibration to a minimum energy state. By varying the diameter ratio and packing fraction in…
We experimentally study linear and nonlinear waves on the surface of a fluid covered by an elastic sheet where both tension and flexural waves take place. An optical method is used to obtain the full space-time wave field, and the…
Motivated by roughness-induced adhesion enhancement (toughening and strengthening) in low modulus materials, we study the detachment of a sphere from a substrate in the presence of both viscoelastic dissipation at the contact edge, and…
Granular materials are ubiquitous in nature and are used extensively in daily life and in industry. The modeling of these materials remains challenging; therefore, finding models with acceptable predictive accuracy that at the same time…
We study here the spontaneous clustering of a submonolayer of grains under horizontal circular shaking. The clustering of grains occurs when increasing the oscillation amplitude beyond a threshold. The dense area travels in a circular…
We report on experiments to measure the temporal and spatial evolution of packing arrangements of anisotropic and weakly confined granular material, using high-resolution $\gamma$-ray adsorption. In these experiments, the particle…
Recent experiments by Baxter et al. showed the existence of density waves in granular material flowing out of a hopper. We show, using Molecular Dynamics Simulations, that this effect is a consequence of static friction and find that these…
We investigate the mechanical response of a compressed monolayer of large and dense particles at a liquid-fluid interface: a granular raft. Upon compression, rafts first wrinkle; then, as the confinement increases, the deformation localizes…
To produce sounds, we adjust the tension of our vocal folds to shape their properties and control the pitch. This efficient mechanism offers inspiration for designing reconfigurable materials and adaptable soft robots. However,…
Dynamic particle-scale numerical simulations are used to show that the shear thickening observed in dense colloidal, or Brownian, suspensions is of a similar nature to that observed in non-colloidal suspensions, i.e., a stress-induced…