Related papers: Granular chains with soft boundaries: Slowing the …
Solitary waves (SWs) are generated in monoatomic (homogeneous) lightly contacting spherical granules by an applied input force of any time-variation and intensity. We consider finite duration shock loads and focus on the transition regime…
Initially far out-of-equilibrium self-gravitating systems form, through a collisionless relaxation dynamics, quasi-stationary states (QSS). These may arise from a bottom-up aggregation of structures or in a top-down frame; their…
A systematic investigation is presented of grain boundaries and grain boundary networks in two dimensional flexible membranes with crystalline order. An isolated grain boundary undergoes a buckling transition at a critical value of the…
We investigate the dynamical and structural properties of absorbing phase transitions (APTs) within granular systems. Specifically, we examine a model for vibrofluidized systems of spherical grains, which undergo a transition from a state…
Constraints can affect dramatically the behavior of diffusion processes. Recently, we analyzed a natural and a technological system and reported that they perform diffusion-like discrete steps displaying a peculiar constraint, whereby the…
Characterizing microstructural effects on the dynamical response of materials is challenging due to the extreme conditions and the short timescales involved. For example, little is known about how grain boundary characteristics affect spall…
Quasi-crystals formed by charged mesoscopic dust grains (dust lattices), observed since hardly a decade ago, are an exciting paradigm of a nonlinear chain. In laboratory discharge experiments, these quasi-lattices are formed spontaneously…
Dry granular materials such as sand, gravel, pills, or agricultural grains, can become rigid when compressed or sheared. At low density, one can distort the shape of a container of granular material without encountering any resistance.…
From understanding the sand on the beach to the foam on your beer, soft sphere simulations have been crucial to the study of the amorphous world around us. However, many of the materials we interact with on a daily basis aren't comprised of…
The complex arrangements of atoms near grain boundaries are difficult to understand theoretically. We propose a phenomenological (Ginzburg-Landau-like) description of crystalline phases based on symmetries and fairly general stability…
Soft or weakly-consolidated sand refers to porous materials composed of particles (or grains) weakly held together to form a solid but that can be easily broken when subjected to stress. These materials do not behave as conventional…
Confined granular fluids, placed in a shallow box that is vibrated vertically, can achieve homogeneous stationary states thanks to energy injection mechanisms that take place throughout the system. These states can be stable even at high…
In granular media, the characterization of the behavior of solitary waves around interfaces is of importance in order to look for more applications of these systems. We study the behavior of solitary waves at both interfaces of a symmetric…
Boundary effect is a widespread idea in many-body theories. However, it is more of a conceptual notion than a rigorously defined physical quantity. One can quantify the boundary effect by comparing two ground states of the same physical…
We investigate the ability of a multi-order parameter phase field model with obstacle potentials to describe grain boundary premelting in equilibrium situations. In agreement with an energetic picture we find that the transition between dry…
Granular materials demonstrate a strongly nonlinear behavior influencing the wave propagation in the medium. We report the first experimental observation of impulse energy confinement and the resultant disintegration of shock and solitary…
We perform numerical simulations of a two-dimensional bidisperse granular packing subjected to both a static confining pressure and a sinusoidal dynamic forcing applied by a wall on one edge of the packing. We measure the response…
We study the responses of fluid-immersed soft hydrogel spheres that are sheared under controlled volume fractions. Slippery, deformable particles along with the density-matched interstitial fluid are sandwiched between two opposing rough…
In light of the race towards macroscale superlubricity of graphitic contacts, the effect of grain boundaries on their frictional properties becomes of central importance. Here, we elucidate the unique frictional mechanisms characterizing…
Structural transformations at interfaces are of profound fundamental interest as complex examples of phase transitions in low-dimensional systems. Despite decades of extensive research, no compelling evidence exists for structural…