Related papers: Moisture induced Ageing in Granular Media
We observed the appearance of capillary bridges in a granular medium consisting of glass beads after adding small amounts of liquid. We found the initial bridge formation depending on the bead roughness. Furthermore we obtained a statistics…
The mechanical properties of a disordered heterogeneous medium depend, in general, on a complex interplay between multiple length scales. Connecting local interactions to macroscopic observables, such as stiffness or fracture, is thus…
Liquid infused surfaces (LIS) exhibit unique properties that make them ideal candidates for a wide range of applications, from anti-fouling and anti-icing coatings to self-healing surfaces and controlled wetting. However, when exposed to…
The random first order transition theory of the dynamics of supercooled liquids is extended to treat aging phenomena in nonequilibrium structural glasses. A reformulation of the idea of ``entropic droplets'' in terms of libraries of local…
The power spectrum of displacement fluctuation of beads in the air-fluidized granular system is measured by a novel NMR technique of modulated gradient spin-echo. The results of measurement together with the related spectrum of the velocity…
Experiments with acoustic waves guided along the mechanically free surface of an unconsolidated granular packed structure provide information on the elasticity of granular media at very low pressures that are naturally controlled by the…
The stability of sand castles is determined by the structure of wet granulates. Experimental data about the size distribution of fluid pockets are ambiguous about their origin. We discovered that contact angle hysteresis plays a fundamental…
We perform experiments with a granular system that consists of a collection of identical hollow spheres (ping-pong balls). Particles rest on a horizontal metallic grid and are confined within a circular region. Fluidization is achieved by…
We consider a simple model of a structural glass, represented by a lattice gas with kinetic constraints in contact with a particle reservoir. Quench below the glass transition is represented by the jump of the chemical potential above a…
A multiphasic constitutive model of the skin that implicitly accounts for the process of intrinsic (i.e.\ chronological) ageing via variation of the constitutive parameters is proposed. The structurally-motivated constitutive formulation…
Meandering instability is familiar to everyone through river meandering or small rivulets of rain flowing down a windshield. However, its physical understanding is still premature, although it could inspire researchers in various fields,…
Microrheology experiments show that viscoelastic media composed by wormlike micellar networks display complex relaxations lasting seconds even at the scale of micrometers. By mapping a model of patchy colloids with suitable mesoscopic…
We present here the preliminary results obtained for two experiments on randomly agitated granular assemblies using a novel way of shaking. First we discuss the transport properties of a 2D model system undergoing classical shaking that…
Jamming is a common feature of out of equilibrium systems showing slow relaxation dynamics. Here we review our efforts in understanding jamming in granular materials using experiments and computer simulations. We first obtain an estimation…
Multicellular aggregates are known to exhibit liquid-like properties. The fusion process of two cell aggregates is commonly studied as the coalescence of two viscous drops. However, tissues are complex materials and can exhibit viscoelastic…
Using high-speed video and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) we study the motion of a large sphere in a vertically vibrated bed of smaller grains. As previously reported we find a non-monotonic density dependence of the rise and sink time of…
We propose that there exists a generic class of glass forming systems that have competing states (of crystalline order or not) which are locally close in energy to the ground state (which is typically unique). Upon cooling, such systems…
Although species longevity is subject to a diverse range of selective forces, the mortality curves of a wide variety of organisms are rather similar. We argue that aging and its universal characteristics may have evolved by means of a…
The physical mechanism of elasticity of liquid surfaces coated with colloidal particles is proposed. It is suggested that particles are separated by water clearings and the capillary interaction between them is negligible. The case is…
The distribution of liquid water in ice-free clouds determines their radiative properties, a significant source of uncertainty in weather and climate models. Evaporation and turbulent mixing cause a cloud to display large variations in…