Related papers: Facilitating a 3D granular flow with an obstructio…
The abundance of data has given machine learning considerable momentum in natural sciences and engineering, though modeling of physical processes is often difficult. A particularly tough problem is the efficient representation of geometric…
We present a unified approach for constraint displacement problems in which a robot finds a feasible path by displacing constraints or obstacles. To this end, we propose a two stage process that returns locally optimal obstacle…
Creep mechanisms in uniaxially compressed 3D granular solids comprised of faceted frictionless grains are studied numerically using a constant pressure and constant stress simulation method. Rapid uniaxial compression followed by slow…
Flows through porous media can carry suspended and dissolved materials. These sediments may deposit inside the pore-space and alter its geometry. In turn, the changing pore structure modifies the preferential flow paths, resulting in a…
The paper presents a numerical method for simulating flow and mechanics in fractured rock. The governing equations that couple the effects in the rock mass and in the fractures are obtained using the discrete fracture-matrix approach. The…
We create a mechanical digger able to move within 2D densely-packed granular media, in a manner intrinsically different from the existing biomimic diggers. The characteristics of our design include that the average grain size is about one…
We present a numerical model for a two dimensional (2D) granular assembly, falling in a rectangular container when the bottom is removed. We observe the occurrence of cracks splitting the initial pile into pieces, like in experiments. We…
Asymmetric obstacles can be exploited to direct the motion and induce sorting of run-and-tumbling particles. In this work, we show that flocking particles which follow the Vicsek model aligning rules experience a collective trapping in the…
Finding the Time-Optimal Parameterization of a Path (TOPP) subject to second-order constraints (e.g. acceleration, torque, contact stability, etc.) is an important and well-studied problem in robotics. In comparison, TOPP subject to…
An accurate algorithm is proposed to improve the prediction of a particle in collision with a moving wall within the direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) framework for the simulation of unsteady rarefied flows. This algorithm is able to…
Controlling flow-induced segregation in a granular mixture is highly relevant to many industrial settings. To enhance mixing or promote segregation, the continuous gravity flow of a bidisperse granular mixture through a series of narrow…
The study of vortex flows in the vicinity of multiple solid obstacles is of considerable theoretical interest and practical importance. In particular, the case of flows past a circular cylinder placed above a plane wall has attracted a lot…
Let $\mathcal{D}$ be a set of $n$ disks in the plane. The disk graph $G_\mathcal{D}$ for $\mathcal{D}$ is the undirected graph with vertex set $\mathcal{D}$ in which two disks are joined by an edge if and only if they intersect. The…
A crossing-free morph is a continuous deformation between two graph drawings that preserves straight-line pairwise noncrossing edges. Motivated by applications in 3D morphing problems, we initiate the study of morphing graph drawings in the…
Modern micromanipulation techniques typically involve trapping using electromagnetic, acoustic or flow fields that produce stresses on the trapped particles thereby precluding stress-free manipulations. Here, we show that by employing…
We experimentally investigate the clogging and jamming of interacting paramagnetic colloids driven through a quenched disordered landscape of fixed obstacles. When the particles are forced to cross a single aperture between two obstacles,…
Segregation patterns of size-bidisperse particle mixtures in a fully-three-dimensional flow produced by alternately rotating a spherical tumbler about two perpendicular axes are studied over a range of particle sizes and volume ratios using…
Bioclogging, the clogging of pores with living particles, is a complex process that involves various coupled mechanisms such as hydrodynamics and particle properties. This article explores bioclogging at the microscale level. At this scale,…
For the task of moving a set of indistinguishable agents on a connected graph with unit edge distance to an arbitrary set of goal vertices, free of collisions, we propose a fast distance optimal control algorithm that guides the agents into…
This work puts forward a form finding problem of designing a least-volume vault that is a surface structure spanning over a plane region, which via pure compression transfers a vertically tracking load to the supporting boundary. Through a…