相关论文: Liquid Crystal Elastomer Strips as Soft Crawlers
We present a molecular dynamics study of the motion of cylindrical polymer droplets on striped surfaces. We first consider the equilibrium properties of droplets on different surfaces, we show that for small stripes the Cassie-Baxter…
A huge number of technological and biological systems involves the lubricated contact between rough surfaces of soft solids in relative accelerated motion. Examples include dynamical rubber seals and the human joints. In this study we…
Modern robots embody power and precision control. Yet, as robots undertake tasks that apply forces on humans, this power brings risk of injury. Soft robotic actuators use deformation to produce smooth, continuous motions and conform to…
Elastohydrodynamic lubrication, or simply soft lubrication, refers to the motion of deformable objects near a boundary lubricated by a fluid, and is one of the key physical mechanisms to minimise friction and wear in natural and engineered…
In nature, a variety of limbless locomotion patterns flourish from the small or basic life form (Escherichia coli, the amoeba, etc.) to the large or intelligent creatures (e.g., slugs, starfishes, earthworms, octopuses, jellyfishes, and…
We study by Monte Carlo simulation the compaction dynamics of hard dimers in 2D under the action of gravity, subjected to vertical and horizontal shaking, considering also the case in which a friction force acts for horizontal displacements…
In this article, we construct and analyze models of anisotropic crosslinked polymers employing tools from the theory of liquid crystal elastomers. The anisotropy of these systems stems from the presence of rigid-rod molecular units in the…
Nematic elastomers with a locked-in anisotropy direction exhibit semi-soft elastic response characterized by a plateau in the stress-strain curve in which stress does not change with strain. We calculate the global phase diagram for a…
Digital Image Correlation is used to study the micromechanics of a multi-contact interface formed between a rough elastomer and a smooth glass surface. The in-plane elastomer deformation is monitored during the incipient sliding regime,…
Sliding friction across a thin soft lubricant film typically occurs by stick-slip, the lubricant fully solidifying at stick, yielding and flowing at slip. The static friction force per unit area preceding slip is known from molecular…
Using molecular dynamics based on Langevin equations with a coordinate- and velocity-dependent damping coefficient, we study the frictional properties of a thin layer of "soft" lubricant (where the interaction within the lubricant is weaker…
Molecular dynamics study of a thin (one to five layers) lubricant film between two substrates in moving contact are performed using Langevin equations with an external damping coefficient depending on distance and velocity of atoms relative…
We have devised an original laboratory experiment where we investigate the frictional behaviour of a single crystal salt slider over a large number of deformation cycles. Because of its physical properties, salt, a surrogate for natural…
We study the asymptotic behaviour of a family of dynamic models of crawling locomotion, with the aim of characterizing a gait as a limit property. The locomotors, which might have a discrete or continuous body, move on a line with a…
An elastic rod model for semi-flexible polymers is presented. Theory for a continuum rod is reviewed, and it is shown that a popular discretised model used in numerical simulations gives the correct continuum limit. Correlation functions…
Aging populations and the rising prevalence of neurological and musculoskeletal disorders increase the demand for wearable mobility assistive devices that are effective, comfortable, and anatomically compatible. Many existing systems use…
We investigate Isotropic - Nematic transition in liquid crystal elastomers employing non-Boltzmann Monte Carlo techniques. We consider a lattice model of a liquid elastomer and Selinger-Jeon-Ratna Hamiltonian which accounts for…
Frictional interfaces exhibits a very rich dynamical behavior due to frictional interactions. This work focuses on the transition between spatially localized and propagating stick-slip motion. To overcome the difficulties related to the…
Stick-slip -- the sequence of mechanical instabilities through which a slider advances on a solid substrate -- is pervasive throughout sliding friction, from nano to geological scales. Here we suggest that trapped cold ions in an optical…
Nematic elastomers and glasses deform spontaneously when subjected to temperature changes. This property can be exploited in the design of heterogeneously patterned thin sheets that deform into a non-trivial shape when heated or cooled. In…