Related papers: An Experimental Characterization of Mechanical Lay…
In a recent publication we established an analogy between the free energy of a hard sphere system and the energy of an elastic network [1]. This result enables one to study the free energy landscape of hard spheres, in particular to define…
We investigate the jamming transition in packings of emulsions and granular materials via molecular dynamics simulations. The emulsion model is composed of frictionless droplets interacting via nonlinear normal forces obtained using…
Soft materials have many important roles in animal locomotion and object manipulation. In robotic applications soft materials can store and release energy, absorb impacts, increase compliance and increase the range of possible shape…
We experimentally study the vicinity of the Jamming transition by investigating the statics and the dynamics of the contact network of an horizontally shaken bi-disperse packing of photo-elastic discs. Compressing the packing very slowly,…
Diverging correlation lengths on either side of the jamming transition are used to formulate a rheological model of granular shear flow, based on the propagation of stress through force chain networks. The model predicts three distinct flow…
From understanding the sand on the beach to the foam on your beer, soft sphere simulations have been crucial to the study of the amorphous world around us. However, many of the materials we interact with on a daily basis aren't comprised of…
Grasping deformable objects is not well researched due to the complexity in modelling and simulating the dynamic behavior of such objects. However, with the rapid development of physics-based simulators that support soft bodies, the…
We investigate experimentally the mechanical response to shear of a 2D packing of grains across the jamming transition. First, we develop a dedicated experimental setup, together with tracking and photoelastic techniques in order to prepare…
The two layer model is a 2+1/2 degrees of freedom non autonomous dynamical system whose lower order expansion exhibits capture in resonance, numerically detected in a previous paper by the authors. In this paper, we reframe the model along…
Rapid acceleration and burst maneuvers in underwater robots depend less on maintaining precise resonance and more on force--velocity phase alignment during thrust generation. In this work, we investigate constrained-layer damping (CLD) as a…
The ubiquitous appearance of regions of localized deformation (shear bands) in different kinds of disordered materials under shear is studied in the context of a mesoscopic model of plasticity. The model may or may not include relaxational…
To design a general-purpose assembly robot system that can handle objects of various shapes, we propose a soft jig that fits to the shapes of assembly parts. The functionality of the soft jig is based on a jamming gripper developed in the…
We compare the structural and mechanical properties of static packings composed of frictionless convex (ellipses) and concave (rigid dimers) particles in two dimensions. We employ numerical simulations to generate static packings and…
Curvature and mechanics are intimately connected for thin materials, and this coupling between geometry and physical properties is readily seen in folded structures from intestinal villi and pollen grains, to wrinkled membranes and…
Optical networks are prone to physical layer attacks, in particular the insertion of high jamming power. In this paper, we present a study of jamming attacks in elastic optical networks (EON) by embedding the jamming into the physical layer…
The structure of polymers at solid interfaces evolves over time, but the corresponding changes in their rheological properties remain poorly understood. Here, using a home-built quartz tuning fork atomic force microscope-based…
Systems driven far from equilibrium often retain structural memories of their processing history. This memory has, in some cases, been shown to dramatically alter the material response. For example, work hardening in crystalline metals can…
Soft robots are known for their ability to perform tasks with great adaptability, enabled by their distributed, non-uniform stiffness and actuation. Bending is the most fundamental motion for soft robot design, but creating robust, and…
The phenomenon of shear-induced jamming is a factor in the complex rheological behavior of dense suspensions. Such shear-jammed states are fragile, i.e., they are not stable against applied stresses that are incompatible with the stress…
Jamming occurs when objects like grains are packed tightly together (e.g. grain silos). It is highly cooperative and can lead to phenomena like earthquakes, traffic jams, etc. In this Letter we point out the paramount importance of the…