Related papers: Stick-slip dynamics in penetration experiments on …
Inelastic collisions occur among regolith particles, such as those in the ejecta curtain from a crater, and may cause clustering or agglomeration of particles and thus produce discrete patterns of ejecta deposits around a crater. Previous…
Rotating the clamped ends of a buckled elastica induces a snap-through instability. Predicting the limit point and determining the equilibria at the start and end of the snap are routine computations in the quasi-static setting. The…
Impact of a solid object onto a small-body surface can be modeled by the solid impact onto a hierarchically structured granular target. Impact drag force model for the hierarchically structured granular target is developed based on the…
The NASA Kepler mission has revealed an abundant class of Systems with Tightly-packed Inner Planets (STIPs). The current paradigm for planet formation suggests that small planetesimals will quickly spiral into the host star due to…
The complex incremental behavior of granular materials is explored with multi-directional loading probes. An advanced discrete element model (DEM) was used to examine the reversible and irreversible strains for small loading probes, which…
Despite their very low surface gravities, asteroids exhibit a number of different geological processes involving granular matter. Understanding the response of this granular material subject to external forces in microgravity conditions is…
The poorly-ionized interior of the protoplanetary disk is the location where dust coagulation processes may be most efficient. However even here, planetesimal formation may be limited by the loss of solid material through radial drift, and…
We study the effect an atmosphere has on pebble orbits and spin build-up on a planet's surface during pebble accretion in the extreme case of a static atmosphere. We numerically integrate the equations of motion of pebbles in a planar,…
We propose an approach to measure surface elastic constants of soft solids. Generally, this requires one to probe interfacial mechanics at around the elastocapillary length scale, which is typically microscopic. Deformations of microscopic…
We present a novel implementation of a soft sphere, discrete elements code to simulate the dynamics of self-gravitating granular materials. The code is used to study the outcome of sub-sonic collisions between self-gravitating rubble piles…
The unjamming transition of granular systems is investigated in a seismic fault model via three dimensional Molecular Dynamics simulations. A two--time force--force correlation function, and a susceptibility related to the system response…
We consider a sheared granular system experiencing intermittent dynamics of stick-slip type via discrete element simulations. The considered setup consists of a two-dimensional system of soft frictional particles sandwiched between solid…
A concept for forced reentry of small orbital debris with characteristic dimension ~ 10 cm from the highly populated sun synchronous orbit by injecting micron scale dust grains to artificially enhance drag is discussed. The drag enhancement…
The stick-slip phenomenon widely exists in contact mechanics, from the macroscale to the nanoscale. During cholesteric-nematic unwinding by external fields, there is controversy regarding the role of planar surface anchoring, which may…
We study particle dynamics in local two-dimensional simulations of self-gravitating accretion discs with a simple cooling law. It is well known that the structure which arises in the gaseous component of the disc due to a gravitational…
Aims. Dust plays a crucial role in the evolution of protoplanetary disks. We study the dynamics and growth of initially sub-$\mu m$ dust particles in self-gravitating young protoplanetary disks with various strengths of turbulent viscosity.…
This dissertation presents a method for simulation of motion of the pebbles in a PBR. A new mechanical motion simulator, PEBBLES, efficiently simulates the key elements of motion of the pebbles in a PBR. This model simulates gravitational…
Design of robots at the small scale is a trial-and-error based process, which is costly and time-consuming. There are few dynamic simulation tools available to accurately predict the motion or performance of untethered microrobots as they…
Understanding the dynamics of drops on polymer-coated surfaces is crucial for optimizing applications such as self-cleaning materials or microfluidic devices. While the static and dynamic properties of deposited drops have been well…
We study the effect of atomic scale surface-lubricant interactions on nanoscale boundary-lubricated friction, by considering two example surfaces - hydrophilic mica and hydrophobic graphene - confining thin layers of water in molecular…