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Fracture in quasi-statically driven systems is studied by means of a discrete spring-block model. Developed from close comparison with desiccation experiments, it describes crack formation induced by friction on a substrate. The model…
Predicting the large-amplitude deformations of thin elastic sheets is difficult due to the complications of self-contact, geometric nonlinearities, and a multitude of low-lying energy states. We study a simple two-dimensional setting where…
Impacted with sufficiently large stress, a dense, initially liquid-like suspension can be forced into a solid-like state through the process of shear jamming. While the onset of shear jamming has been investigated extensively, less is known…
The properties of slow crack growth in brittle materials are analyzed both theoretically and experimentally. We propose a model based on a thermally activated rupture process. Considering a 2D spring network submitted to an external load…
When a jet of gas impinges vertically on a granular bed and forms a crater, the grains may be moved by several different mechanisms: viscous erosion, diffused gas eruption, bearing capacity failure, and/or diffusion-driven shearing. The…
The turbulent diffusion of Lagrangian tracer particles has been studied in a flow on the surface of a large tank of water and in computer simulations. The effect of flow compressibility is captured in images of particle fields. The velocity…
Using molecular dynamics simulation we examine dynamics in sheared polycrystal states in a binary mixture containing 10% larger particles in two dimensions. We find large stress fluctuations arising from sliding motions of the particles at…
We report a study of the structure of droplets of colloidal gels containing dissolved sodium chloride. The components segregate and form intricate patterns. The salt crystalizes in fractal and multi-fractal dendritic forms which are…
We study the outflow dynamics and clogging phenomena of mixtures of soft, elastic low-friction spherical grains and hard frictional spheres of similar size in a quasi-two-dimensional (2D) silo with narrow orifice at the bottom. Previous…
The growth dynamics of a single crack in a heterogeneous material under subcritical loading is an intermittent process; and many features of this dynamics have been shown to agree with simple models of thermally activated rupture. In order…
Starch solutions, which are strongly non-Newtonian, show a surface instability, when subjected to a load. A droplet of the fluid is sandwiched between two glass plates and a weight varying from 1 to 5 kgs. is placed on the top plate. The…
We study the genesis and the selective propagation of complex crack networks induced by thermal shock or drying of brittle materials. We use a quasi-static gradient damage model to perform large scale numerical simulations showing that the…
The design and development of a parallel plate shear cell for the study of large scale shear flows in granular materials is presented. The parallel plate geometry allows for shear studies without the effects of curvature found in the more…
Grain rotation and grain boundary (GB) sliding are two important mechanisms for grain coarsening and plastic deformation in nanocrystalline materials. They are in general coupled with GB migration and the resulting dynamics, driven by…
Strain hardening is a key feature observed in many rocks deformed in the so-called ``semi-brittle'' regime, where both crystal plastic and brittle deformation mechanisms operate. Dislocation storage has long been recognised as a major…
During brittle crack propagation, a smooth crack front curve frequently becomes disjoint, generating a stepped crack and a material ligament that unites the newly formed crack fronts. These universal features fundamentally alter the…
In fracture mechanics, polyacrylamide hydrogels have been widely used as a model material for experiments, benefited from its optical transparency, fracture brittleness, and low Rayleigh wave velocity. To describe the brittle fracture in…
Localized deformation patterns are a common motif in morphogenesis and are increasingly finding widespread applications in materials science, for instance as memory devices. Here we describe the emergence of spatially localized deformations…
Static friction induced by moir\'e superstructure in twisted incommensurate finite layered material interfaces reveals unique double periodicity and lack of scaling with contact size. The underlying mechanism involves compensation of…
We present a thorough study of the plastic response of a granular material progressively loaded. We study experimentally the evolution of the plastic field from a homogeneous one to an heterogeneous one and its fluctuations in term of…