1,117 research outputs found
Influence of friction on granular segregation
Vertical shaking of a mixture of small and large beads can lead to
segregation where the large beads either accumulate at the top of the sample,
the so called Brazil Nut effect (BNE), or at the bottom, the Reverse Brazil Nut
effect (RBNE). Here we demonstrate experimentally a sharp transition from the
RBNE to the BNE when the particle coefficient of friction increases due to
aging of the particles. This result can be explained by the two competing
mechanisms of buoyancy and sidewall-driven convection, where the latter is
assumed to grow in strength with increasing friction.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figure
Nucleation in sheared granular matter
We present an experiment on crystallization of packings of macroscopic
granular spheres. This system is often considered to be a model for thermally
driven atomic or colloidal systems. Cyclically shearing a packing of frictional
spheres, we observe a first order phase transition from a disordered to an
ordered state. The ordered state consists of crystallites of mixed FCC and HCP
symmetry that coexist with the amorphous bulk. The transition, initiated by
homogeneous nucleation, overcomes a barrier at 64.5% volume fraction.
Nucleation consists predominantly of the dissolving of small nuclei and the
growth of nuclei that have reached a critical size of about ten spheres
Potential Energy Surface for H_2 Dissociation over Pd(100)
The potential energy surface (PES) of dissociative adsorption of H_2 on
Pd(100) is investigated using density functional theory and the full-potential
linear augmented plane wave (FP-LAPW) method. Several dissociation pathways are
identified which have a vanishing energy barrier. A pronounced dependence of
the potential energy on ``cartwheel'' rotations of the molecular axis is found.
The calculated PES shows no indication of the presence of a precursor state in
front of the surface. Both results indicate that steering effects determine the
observed decrease of the sticking coefficient at low energies of the H_2
molecules. We show that the topology of the PES is related to the dependence of
the covalent H(s)-Pd(d) interactions on the orientation of the H_2 molecule.Comment: RevTeX, 8 pages, 5 figures in uufiles forma
Stationary state volume fluctuations in a granular medium
A statistical description of static granular material requires ergodic
sampling of the phase space spanned by the different configurations of the
particles. We periodically fluidize a column of glass beads and find that the
sequence of volume fractions phi of post-fluidized states is history
independent and Gaussian distributed about a stationary state. The standard
deviation of phi exhibits, as a function of phi, a minimum corresponding to a
maximum in the number of statistically independent regions. Measurements of the
fluctuations enable us to determine the compactivity X, a temperature-like
state variable introduced in the statistical theory of Edwards and Oakeshott
[Physica A {\bf 157}, 1080 (1989)].Comment: published with minor change
Optical bistability in subwavelength apertures containing nonlinear media
We develop a self-consistent method to study the optical response of metallic
gratings with nonlinear media embedded within their subwavelength slits. An
optical Kerr nonlinearity is considered. Due to the large E-fields associated
with the excitation of the transmission resonances appearing in this type of
structures, moderate incoming fluxes result in drastic changes in the
transmission spectra. Importantly, optical bistability is obtained for certain
ranges of both flux and wavelength.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
A cohesive granular material with tunable elasticity
By mixing glass beads with a curable polymer we create a well-defined cohesive granular medium, held together by solidified, and hence elastic, capillary bridges. This material has a geometry similar to a wet packing of beads, but with an additional control over the elasticity of the bonds holding the particles together. We show that its mechanical response can be varied over several orders of magnitude by adjusting the size and stiffness of the bridges, and the size of the particles. We also investigate its mechanism of failure under unconfined uniaxial compression in combination with in situ x-ray
microtomography. We show that a broad linear-elastic regime ends at a limiting strain of about 8%, whatever the stiffness of the agglomerate, which corresponds to the beginning of shear failure. The possibility to finely tune the stiffness, size and shape of this simple material makes it an ideal model system for investigations on, for example, fracturing of porous rocks, seismology, or root growth in cohesive porous media
Onset of mechanical stability in random packings of frictional spheres
Using sedimentation to obtain precisely controlled packings of noncohesive
spheres, we find that the volume fraction of the loosest
mechanically stable packing is in an operational sense well defined by a limit
process. This random loose packing volume fraction decreases with decreasing
pressure and increasing interparticle friction coefficient . Using
X-ray tomography to correct for a container boundary effect that depends on
particle size, we find for rough particles in the limit a new lower
bound, .Comment: significantly revised, published versio
Chapter Conceptual Frameworks of Vulnerability Assessments for Natural Disasters Reduction
Horticultur
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