Bharti | Searcharxiv

arXiv2024

Plateau-Rayleigh instability of a soft layer coated on a rigid cylinder

We study the Plateau-Rayleigh instability of a viscoelastic soft solid layer coated on a rigid cylinder i.e., a soft fibre with a rigid core. The onset of instability is examined using a linear stability analysis. We find that increasing the rigid cylinder radius reduce the growth rate of the fastest growing mode. For each rigid cylinder radius, a critical elastocapillary number is found below which all wavelengths of disturbances are stable. The critical value for a soft fibre with a thick rigid cylindrical core can be several orders of magnitudes larger than that for a totally soft fibre (no rigid core), which highlights the strong stabilizing effect of the rigid core on the system. Increasing the relaxation timescale of the viscoelastic material also slows down the growth of disturbance, but has no effect on the critical elastocapillary number. Interestingly, the wavelength of the fastest growing mode is independent of the rigid cylinder radius for the purely elastic case.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2023

Computational Orbital Mechanics of Marble Motion on a 3D Printed Surface -- 1. Formal Basis

Simulating curvature due to gravity through warped surfaces is a common visualization aid in Physics education. We reprise a recent experiment exploring orbital trajectories on a precise 3D-printed surface to mimic Newtonian gravity, and elevate this analogy past the status of a mere visualization tool. We present a general analysis approach through which this straightforward experiment can be used to create a reasonably advanced computational orbital mechanics lab at the undergraduate level, creating a convenient hands-on, computational pathway to various non-trivial nuances in this discipline, such as the mean, eccentric, and true anomalies and their computation, Laplace-Runge-Lenz vector conservation, characterization of general orbits, and the extraction of orbital parameters. We show that while the motion of a marble on such a surface does not truly represent a orbital trajectory under Newtonian gravity in a strict theoretical sense, but through a proposed projection procedure, the experimentally recorded trajectories closely resemble the Kepler orbits and approximately respect the known conservation laws for orbital motion. The latter fact is demonstrated through multiple experimentally-recorded elliptical trajectories with wide-ranging eccentricities and semi-major axes. In this first part of this two-part sequence, we lay down the formal basis of this exposition, describing the experiment, its calibration, critical assessment of the results, and the computational procedures for the transformation of raw experimental data into a form useful for orbital analysis.

physics.ed-ph↗