Related papers: Non-contact linear slider for cryogenic environmen…
We present a feasible homopolar dynamo design consisting of a flat, multi-arm spiral coil, which is placed above a fast-spinning metal ring and connected to the latter by sliding liquid-metal electrical contacts. Using a simple,…
Position and speed control of the torpedo present a real problem for the actuators because of the high level of the system non linearity and because of the external disturbances. The non linear systems control is based on several different…
Using molecular dynamics (MD) we study the dependency of the contact mechanics on the sliding speed when an elastically soft slab (block) is sliding on a rigid substrate with a ${\rm sin} (q_0 x)$ surface height profile. The atoms on the…
Contactless bearings based on both permanent magnets and superconducting magnetic levitation are interesting to avoid all the tribological problems associated with contact at very low temperature. Superconducting magnetic bearings (SMBs)…
We demonstrate successful operation of a continuous flow liquid helium magnetic cryostat (Oxford Instruments, Microstat MO) in closed cycle operation using a modular cryocooling system (ColdEdge Technologies, Stinger). For the system…
We present an experimental investigation of the non stationary frictional properties of multicontact interfaces between rough elastomers and rough hard glass at low velocities (<= 200 mu m s^{-1}). These systems, for which the deformation…
A beam-slider system is considered whose passive self-adaption relies on an intricate locomotion process involving both frictional and unilateral contact. The system also exploits geometric nonlinearity to achieve broadband efficacy. The…
Based on the superposition of incremental frictional surface tractions that, in the case of an incompressible elastic half-space, correspond to a rigid tangential translation of a circular contact domain, the stress and displacement fields…
In this paper, we speculate on a possible application of Liquid Crystal Elastomers to the field of soft robotics. In particular, we study a concept for limbless locomotion that is amenable to miniaturisation. For this purpose, we formulate…
Recent advances in material synthesis made it possible to realize two-dimensional monolayers of candidate materials for a quantum spin liquid (QSL) such as $\alpha$-RuCl$_3$,1T-TaSe$_2$ and 1T-TaS$_2$. In this work, we propose an…
Lubrication flows between two solid surfaces can be found in a variety of biological and engineering settings. In many of these systems, the lubricant exhibits viscoelastic properties, which modify the associated lubrication forces. Here,…
We study the nonlinear evolution of the magnetic Rayleigh-Taylor instability using three-dimensional MHD simulations. We consider the idealized case of two inviscid, perfectly conducting fluids of constant density separated by a contact…
We perform exact Statistical Mechanics calculations for a system of elongated objects (hard needles) that are restricted to translate along a line and rotate within a plane, and that interact via both excluded-volume steric repulsion and…
Lubricated sliding contact between soft solids is an interesting topic in biomechanics and for the design of small-scale engineering devices. As a model of this mechanical set-up, two elastic nonlinear solids are considered jointed through…
The nonlinear mechanics of a flexible elastic rod constrained at its edges by a pair of sliding sleeves is analyzed. The planar equilibrium configurations of this variable-length elastica are found to have shape defined only by the…
We study the aerodynamic response of a pre-stressed curved aileron. Whilst the fluid flow is standard (high Reynolds air flow undisturbed at infinity), the structure is designed to have a peculiar nonlinear behavior. Specifically, the…
This paper proposes a sliding mode controller with smooth control effort for a class of nonlinear plants. The proposed controller is created by allowing some constant parameters of the earlier smooth sliding control (SSC) to vary as a…
Recent model simulations discovered unexpected non-monotonic features in the wear-free dry phononic friction as a function of the sliding speed. Here we demonstrate that a rather straight- forward application of linear-response theory,…
With materials of anisotropic electrical conductivity, it is possible to generate a dynamo with a simple velocity field, of the type precluded by Cowling's theorems with isotropic materials. Following a previous study by Ruderman and…
Sliding friction between two dry surfaces is reasonably described by the speed-independent Amonton-Coulomb friction force law. However, there are many situations where the frictional contact points between two surfaces are "active" and may…