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The coefficient of static friction between solids generally depends on the time they have remained in static contact before the measurement. Such frictional aging is at the origin of the difference between static and dynamic friction…
Energy functionals serve as the basis for different models and methods in quantum and classical many-particle physics. Arguably, one of the most successful and widely used approaches in material science at both ambient and extreme…
Density Functional Theory (DFT) is one of the most widely used methods for "ab initio" calculations of the structure of atoms, molecules, crystals, surfaces, and their interactions. Unfortunately, the customary introduction to DFT is often…
Two different theories are used to understand the liquid-vapor interfaces: the Van der Waals theory and the capillary waves theory. But comparing both come up a problem of interpretation of the interface density profiles obtained, for…
Multiphase flows are commonly found in chemical engineering processes such as distillation columns, bubble columns, fluidized beds and heat exchangers. The physical boundaries of domains in numerical simulations of multiphase flows are…
We study the lubrication of fluid-immersed soft interfaces and show that elastic deformation couples tangential and normal forces and thus generates lift. We consider materials that deform easily, due to either geometry (e.g. a shell) or…
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 dynamics of a driven interface in a medium with random pinning forces is analyzed. The interface undergoes a depinning transition where the order parameter is the interface velocity $v$, which increases as $v \sim (F-F_c)^\theta$ for…
One of the most unique physical features of cell adhesion to external surfaces is the active generation of mechanical force at the cell-material interface. This includes pulling forces generated by contractile polymer bundles and networks,…
Thermal welding of polymer-polymer interfaces is important for integrating polymeric elements into devices. When two different polymers are joined, the strength of the weld depends critically on the degree of immiscibility. We perform…
We investigate liquid layers adsorbed at spherical and corrugated cylindrical substrates. The effective Hamiltonians for the liquid-gas interfaces fluctuating in the presence of such curved substrates are derived via the mean-field density…
Force-driven chemical reactions have emerged as an attractive platform for diverse applications in polymeric materials. However, the network topologies necessary for efficiently transducing macroscopic forces to the molecular scale are not…
Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations of electrode material properties in high energy density storage devices like lithium batteries have been standard practice for decades. In contrast, DFT modelling of explicit interfaces in…
Lubrication forces depend to a high degree on elasticity, texture, charge, chemistry, and temperature of the interacting surfaces. Therefore, by appropriately designing surface properties, we may tailor lubrication forces to reduce…
We study the effective forces acting between colloidal particles trapped at a fluid interface which itself is exposed to a pressure field. To this end we apply what we call the ``force approach'', which relies solely on the condition of…
The shape of a liquid-air interface advancing on a heterogeneous surface was studied experimentally, together with the force induced by the pinning of the contact line to surface defects. Different surfaces were considered with circular…
Deformable colloids and macromolecules adsorb at interfaces, as they decrease the interfacial energy between the two media. The deformability, or softness, of these particles plays a pivotal role in the properties of the interface. In this…
This article presents a multi-physics methodology for the numerical simulation of physical systems that involve the non-linear interaction of multi-phase reactive fluids and elastoplastic solids, inducing high strain-rates and high…
Highly concentrated or 'dense" particle suspensions can undergo a sharp increase in viscosity, or shear thickening, under applies stress. Understanding the fundamental features leading to such rheological changes in dense suspensions is…
The impact of a liquid drop on a solid surface involves many intertwined physical effects, and is influenced by drop velocity, surface tension, ambient pressure and liquid viscosity, among others. Experiments by Kolinski et al. (2014b) show…