arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Hans J. Herrmann.
We introduce a lattice model, in which frustration plays a crucial role, to describe relaxation properties of granular media. We show Monte Carlo results for compaction in the presence of vibrations and gravity, which compare well with experimental data.
We present a model of solids made from polygonal cells connected via beams. We calculate the macroscopic elastic moduli from the beam and cell parameters. This modellisation is particularly suited for the simulation of fragmentation processes. We study the effects of an explosion inside a circular disk and the impact of a projectile and obtain the fragment size distribution. We find that if breaking only happens under tensile forces a layer on the free wall opposed to impact is first ejected. In that case the distribution follows a power-law with an exponent that in most cases is around two.
We simulate the granular flow in a narrow pipe with a lattice-gas automaton model. We find that the density in the system is characterized by two features. One is that spontaneous density waves propagate through the system with well-defined shapes and velocities. The other is that density waves are so distributed to make the power spectra of density fluctuations as $1/f^α$ noise. Three important parameters make these features observable and they are energy dissipation, average density and the rougness of the pipe walls.
We introduce a simple model for DNA evolution. Using the method of Peng et al.$^1$, we investigate the fractal properties of the system. For small chains and chains of intermediate size we find a fractal exponent that indicates the existence of long-range correlations, as in real DNA sequences. However, when very large chains are studied the fractal exponent asymptotically converge to the value of a random sequence. We verify that the mutations are responsible for the apparent existence of long-range correlations.
The change of the friction law from a mesoscopic level to a macroscopic level is studied in the spring-block models introduced by Burridge-Knopoff. We find that the Coulomb law is always scale invariant. Other proposed scaling laws are only invariant under certain conditions.}
The change of the friction law from a mesoscopic level to a macroscopic level is studied in the spring-block models introduced by Burridge-Knopoff. We find that the Coulomb law is always scale invariant. Other proposed scaling laws are only invariant under certain conditions.}
We study several deterministic one-dimensional traffic models. For integer positions and velocities we find the typical high and low density phases separated by a simple transition. If positions and velocities are continuous variables the model shows self-organized criticality driven by the slowest car.
We investigate cellular automata where some global quantity varies periodically or quasiperiodically with time. We find that these systems are highly predictable, and can be rather well described by a set of mean-field variables. We conclude that this is not a collective phenomenon - where different subsystems are supposed to synchronize - but rather like many very weakly coupled oscillators fluctuating around one exact frequency. The global quantity measured is a mean taken over all these subsystems, and gets more precise the larger the system is.
We calculate the eigenspectrum of random walks on the Eden tree in two and three dimensions. From this, we calculate the spectral dimension $d_s$ and the walk dimension $d_w$ and test the scaling relation $d_s = 2d_f/d_w$ ($=2d/d_w$ for an Eden tree). Finite-size induced crossovers are observed, whereby the system crosses over from a short-time regime where this relation is violated (particularly in two dimensions) to a long-time regime where the behavior appears to be complicated and dependent on dimension even qualitatively.
We present an implementation of realistic static friction in molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of granular particles. In our model, to break contacts between two particles, one has to apply a finite amount of force, determined by the Coulomb criterion. Using a two dimensional model, we show that piles generated by avalanches have a {\it finite} angle of repose $θ_R$ (finite slopes). Furthermore, these piles are stable under tilting by an angle smaller than a non-zero tilting angle $θ_T$, showing that $θ_R$ is different from the angle of marginal stability $θ_{MS}$, which is the maximum angle of stable piles. These measured angles are compared to a theoretical approximation. We also measure $θ_{MS}$ by continuously adding particles on the top of a stable pile.