Related papers: Surface instabilities generated by a slider pulled…
An experimental study of a granular surface submitted to a circular fluid motion is presented. The appearance of an instability along the sand-water interface is observed beyond a critical radius $r_c$. This creates ripples with a spiral…
We investigate the conditions leading to large drag force fluctuations in granular materials. The study is based on a set of experimental drag tests, which involve pulling a plate vertically through a cohesionless granular material. In…
The formation of periodic wrinkles in soft layered materials due to mechanical instabilities is prevalent in nature and has been proposed for use in multiple applications. However, such phenomena have been explored predominantly in…
We investigate the sliding of objects on an inclined granular surface close to the avalanche threshold. Our experiments show that the stability is driven by the surface deformations. Heavy objects generate footprint-like deformations which…
We extend the model of surface granular flow proposed in \cite{bcre} to account for the effect of an external `wind', which acts as to dislodge particles from the static bed, such that a stationary state of flowing grains is reached. We…
We have devised an original laboratory experiment where we investigate the frictional behaviour of a single crystal salt slider over a large number of deformation cycles. Because of its physical properties, salt, a surrogate for natural…
We experimentally study the frictional behavior of a two-dimensional slider pulled slowly over a granular substrate comprised of photoelastic disks. The slider is vibrated at frequencies ranging from 0 to 30 Hz in a direction parallel to…
Planar sliding of objects is modeled and analyzed. The model can be used for non-prehensile manipulation of objects lying on a surface. We study possible motions generated by frictional contacts, such as those arising between a soft finger…
We report a novel and spectacular instability of a fluid surface in a rotating system. In a flow driven by rotating the bottom plate of a partially filled, stationary cylindrical container, the shape of the free surface can spontaneously…
This paper investigates the dynamic properties of planar slider-pusher systems as a motion primitive in manipulation tasks. To that end, we construct a differential kinematic model deriving from the limit surface approach under the…
We investigate the dynamics of an ensemble of inelastic hard spheres confined between two horizontal plates separated a distance smaller than twice the diameter of the particles, in such a way that the system is quasi-two-dimensional. The…
Shocks in granular media, such as vertically oscillated beds, have been shown to develop instabilities. Similar jet formation has been observed in explosively dispersed granular media. Our previous work addressed this instability by…
The breakup of a fluid jet into droplets has long fascinated natural scientists, with early research dating back to the 19th century. Infinitesimal perturbations to a jet grow because of surface tension, which eventually leads to breakup of…
The Plateau-Rayleigh instability shows that a cylindrical fluid flow can be destabilized by surface tension. Similarly, capillary forces can make an elastic cylinder unstable when the elastocapillary length is comparable to the cylinder's…
We demonstrate the instability of the free surface of a soft elastic solid facing downwards. Experiments are carried out using a gel of constant density $\rho$, shear modulus $\mu$, put in a rigid cylindrical dish of depth $h$. When turned…
Surface and interfacial energies play important roles in a number of instability phenomena in liquids and soft matters, but are rare to play a similar role in solids. Here we report a new type of mechanical instabilities that are controlled…
The stability of copolymer tethers is investigated theoretically. Self-assembly of diblockor triblock copolymers can lead to tubular polymersomes which are known experimentallyto undergo shape instability under thermal, chemical and tension…
Flow of a thin viscous film down a flat inclined plane becomes unstable to long wave interfacial fluctuations when the Reynolds number based on the mean film thickness becomes larger than a critical value (this value decreases as the angle…
The linear stability of rapid granular flow on a slope under gravity against the longitudinal perturbation is analyzed using hydrodynamic equations. It is demonstrated that the steady flow uniform along the flow direction becomes unstable…
The linear instability of a beam tensioned by its own weight is considered. It is shown that for long beams, in the sense of an adequate dimensionless parameter, the characteristics of the instability caused by a follower force do not…