Related papers: Anomalous Creep as a Precursor to Failure in Granu…
In this letter, structural rigidity concepts are used to understand the origin of instabilities in granular aggregates. It is shown that: a) The contact network of a noncohesive granular aggregate becomes exactly isostatic in the limit of…
We present an experimental study of the deformation inside a granular material that is progressively tilted. We investigate the deformation before the avalanche with a spatially resolved Diffusive Wave Spectroscopy setup. At the beginning…
We present the results of large scale molecular dynamics simulations aimed at understanding the origins of high friction coefficients in pure metals, and their concomitant reduction in alloys and composites. We utilize a series of targeted…
Predicting the alignment of non-spherical particles in dense granular flows under shear remains a central challenge in soft matter physics. We demonstrate that the first-order behavior of granular fabric,the anisotropic distribution of…
We investigate a gas of wet granular particles, covered by a thin liquid film. The dynamic evolution is governed by two-particle interactions, which are mainly due to interfacial forces in contrast to dry granular gases. When two wet grains…
Dense granular flows are often unstable and form inhomogeneous structures. Although significant advances have been recently made in understanding simple flows, instabilities of such flows are often not understood. We present experimental…
Previous studies demonstrate that grain-boundary sliding could accelerate creep rate and give rise to large internal stresses that can lead to damage development, e.g. formation of wedge cracks. The present study provides more insight into…
We study the crushing strength of brittle materials whose internal structure (e.g., mineral particles or graining) presents a layered arrangement reminiscent of sedimentary and metamorphic rocks. Taking a discrete-element approach, we probe…
A systematic torque from anisotropic radiation can rapidly spin up irregular grains to the point of breakup. We apply the standard theory of rotational disruption from radiative torques to solar system grains, finding that grains with radii…
Biomaterials such as protein or polysaccharide gels are known to behave qualitatively as soft solids and to rupture under an external load. Combining optical and ultrasonic imaging to shear rheology we show that the failure scenario of a…
The mechanical properties of soft matter are of great importance in countless applications, in addition of being an active field of academic research. Given the relative ease with which soft materials can be deformed, their non-linear…
Granular systems present surprisingly complicated dynamics. In particular, nonlinear interactions and energy dissipation play important roles in these dynamics. Usually, constant coefficients of restitution are introduced phenomenologically…
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…
It is difficult to imagine a planet formation model that does not at some stage include a gravitationally unstable disc. Initially unstable gas-dust discs may form planets directly, but the high surface density required has motivated the…
Very soft grain assemblies have unique shape-changing capabilities that allow them to be compressed far beyond the rigid jammed state by filling void spaces more effectively. However, accurately following the formation of these systems by…
In this article, we review some of our approaches to granular dynamics, now well known to consist of both fast and slow relaxational processes. In the first case, grains typically compete with each other, while in the second, they…
Aeolian sand beds exhibit regular patterns of ripples resulting from the interaction between topography and sediment transport. Their characteristics have been so far related to reptation transport caused by the impacts on the ground of…
Natural faults often contain a fluid-saturated, granular fault-gouge layer, whose failure and sliding processes play a central role in earthquake dynamics. Using a two-dimensional discrete element model coupled with fluid dynamics, we…
Grain boundary roughness can affect electronic and mechanical properties of two-dimensional materials. This roughness depends crucially on the growth process by which the two-dimensional material is formed. To investigate the key mechanisms…
Granular materials are heterogenous grains in contact, which are ubiquitous in many scientific and engineering applications such as chemical engineering, fluid mechanics, geomechanics, pharmaceutics, and so on. Granular materials pose a…