Related papers: Transition properties in dynamical and statistical…
We simulate binary soft disk systems in two dimensions, and investigate how the dynamics slow as the area fraction is increased toward the glass transition. The "fragility" quantifies how sensitively the relaxation time scale depends on the…
We perform extensive MD simulations of two-dimensional systems of hard disks, focusing on the \emph{on}-collision statistical properties. We analyze the distribution functions of velocity, free flight time and free path length for packing…
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…
Elastic and dissipative properties of granular assemblies under uniaxial compression are studied both experimentally and by numerical simulations. Following a novel compaction procedure at varying oscillatory pressures, the stress response…
We investigate the effect of fragmentation on the homogeneous free cooling of inelastic hard spheres, using Boltzmann kinetic theory and Direct Monte Carlo simulations. We analyze in detail a model where dissipative collisions may…
We discuss avalanche and finite size fluctuations in a mesoscopic model to describe the shear plasticity of amorphous materials. Plastic deformation is assumed to occur through series of local reorganizations. Yield stress criteria are…
We investigate the formation of spiral crack patterns during the desiccation of thin layers of precipitates in contact with a substrate. This symmetry-breaking fracturing mode is found to arise naturally not from torsion forces, but from a…
The scaling properties of the roughness of surfaces grown by two different processes randomly alternating in time, are addressed. The duration of each application of the two primary processes is assumed to be independently drawn from given…
We investigate fragmentation processes with a steady input of fragments. We find that the size distribution approaches a stationary form which exhibits a power law divergence in the small size limit, P(x) ~ x^{-3}. This algebraic behavior…
The invasion of air into porous systems in drying processes is often localized in soft materials, such as colloidal suspensions and granular pastes, and it typically develops in the form of cracks before ordinary drying begins. To…
We focus on the probability distribution function (pdf) $P(\Delta \gamma; \gamma)$ where $\Delta \gamma$ are the {\em measured} strain intervals between plastic events in an athermal strained amorphous solids, and $\gamma$ measures the…
We investigate a granular gas in a shaken quasi-two-dimensional box in molecular dynamics computer simulations. After a sudden change (quench) of the shaking amplitude, transient density correlations are observed orders of magnitude beyond…
Using numerical simulations, we study the dynamical evolution of particles interacting via competing long-range repulsion and short-range attraction in two dimensions. The particles are compressed using a time-dependent quasi-one…
The energy level statistics of uniform random graphs are studied, by treating the graphs as random tight-binding lattices. The inherent random geometry of the graphs and their dynamical spatial dimensionality, leads to various quantum…
In the context of a classical example of glass-formation in 3-dimensions we exemplify how to construct a statistical mechanical theory of the glass transition. At the heart of the approach is a simple criterion for verifying a proper choice…
A mesoscopic model for shear plasticity of amorphous materials in two dimensions is introduced, and studied through numerical simulations in order to elucidate the macroscopic (large scale) mechanical behavior. Plastic deformation is…
We study experimentally the slow growth of a single crack in a fibrous material and observe stepwise growth dynamics. We model the material as a lattice where the crack is pinned by elastic traps and grows due to thermally activated stress…
We report a study on the static and dynamic properties of several liquid 5$d$ transition metals at thermodynamic conditions near their respective melting points. This is performed by resorting to ab initio molecular dynamics simulations in…
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…
We discuss crack propagation along the interface between two dissimilar materials. The crack edge separates two states of the interface, ``stick'' and ``slip''. In the slip region we assume that the shear stress is proportional to the…