Related papers: Experimental study on compression property of rego…
The equilibrium contact angle of a droplet resting on a solid substrate can reveal essential properties of the solid's surface. However, when the motion of a droplet on a surface shows significant hysteresis, it is generally accepted that…
This paper presents the design and development of a Shear and Compression Cell (SCC) for measuring the mechanical properties of granular materials in low-gravity environments. This research is motivated by the increasing interest in…
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…
The tensile strength of small dusty bodies in the solar system is determined by the interaction between the composing grains. In the transition regime between small and sticky dust ($\rm \mu m$) and non cohesive large grains (mm), particles…
Cratering on small bodies is crucial for the collision cascade and also contributes to the ejection of dust particles into interplanetary space. A crater cavity forms against the mechanical strength of the surface, gravitational…
We experimentally study the velocity scaling of granular convection which is a possible mechanism of the regolith migration on the surface of small asteroids. In order to evaluate the contribution of granular convection to the regolith…
We study the average separation between an elastic solid and a hard solid with a nominal flat but randomly rough surface, as a function of the squeezing pressure. We present experimental results for a silicon rubber (PDMS) block with a flat…
Compressive strength is a key to understanding the internal structure of dust aggregates in protoplanetary disks and their resultant bodies, such as comets and asteroids in the Solar System. Previous work has modeled the compressive…
The mechanical response of yield-stress materials below the yield point remains a subject of debate. Two of the most widely used constitutive models for these materials offer fundamentally conflicting views: one permits plastic flow at all…
Friction is fundamental to mechanical stability across scales, from geological faults and architectural structures to granular materials and animal feet. We study the mechanical stability of a minimal friction-stabilized structure composed…
Aggregation of dust through sticking collisions is the first step of planet formation. Basic physical properties of the evolving dust aggregates strongly depend on the porosity of the aggregates, e.g. mechanical strength, thermal…
The consolidation of suspended particulate matter under external forces such as pressure or gravity is of widespread interest. In this work, we derive a constitutive relation to describe the deformation of a {\it two-dimensional} strongly…
The efficiency of soft particles to stabilize emulsions is examined by measuring their desorption free energy, i.e., the mechanical work required to detach the particle from a fluid interface. Here, we consider rubber-like elastic as well…
Spin off events and impacts can eject boulders from an asteroid surface and rubble pile asteroids can accumulate from debris following a collision between large asteroids. These processes produce a population of gravitational bound objects…
Surface roughness is a key factor when it comes to friction and wear, as well as to other physical properties. These phenomena are controlled by mechanisms acting at small scales, in which the topography of apparently-flat surfaces is…
We present an experimental investigation on the rheological behavior of model granular media made of nearly elastic spherical particles. The experiments are performed in a cylindrical Couette geometry and the experimental device is placed…
We investigate the approach to catastrophic failure in a model porous granular material undergoing uniaxial compression. A discrete element computational model is used to simulate both the micro-structure of the material and the complex…
Gelatin is often used as an analog for studying soft and biological materials in order to understand the mechanics of behavior of biological tissue in events like traumatic brain injuries. The material properties of gelatin change with the…
We present the results of an experimental investigation into buoyant rigid spheres rising through highly concentrated collections of hydrated hydrogel particles. The volume fraction of particles is such that the mechanical properties of the…
We present a new model to describe the unusual elastic properties of compressed emulsions. The response of a single droplet under compression is investigated numerically for different Wigner-Seitz cells. The response is softer than…