arXiv subjects

Raphael Blumenfeld

Publications and source records attributed to Raphael Blumenfeld.

49 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2005

Stress transmission and isostatic states of non-rigid particulate systems

The isostaticity theory for stress transmission in macroscopic planar particulate assemblies is extended here to non-rigid particles. It is shown that, provided that the mean coordination number in $d$ dimensions is $d+1$, macroscopic systems can be mapped onto equivalent assemblies of perectly rigid particles that support the same stress field. The error in the stress field that the compliance introduces for finite systems is shown to decay with size as a power law. This leads to the conclusion that the isostatic state is not limited to infinitely rigid particles both in two and in three dimensions, and paves the way to an application of isostaticity theory to more general systems.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2004

Stresses in isostatic granular systems and emergence of force chains

Progress is reported on several questions that bedevil understanding of granular systems: (i) are the stress equations elliptic, parabolic or hyperbolic? (ii) how can the often-observed force chains be predicted from a first-principles continuous theory? (iii) How to relate insight from isostatic systems to general packings? Explicit equations are derived for the stress components in two dimensions including the dependence on the local structure. The equations are shown to be hyperbolic and their general solutions, as well as the Green function, are found. It is shown that the solutions give rise to force chains and the explicit dependence of the force chains trajectories and magnitudes on the local geometry is predicted. Direct experimental tests of the predictions are proposed. Finally, a framework is proposed to relate the analysis to non-isostatic and more realistic granular assemblies.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2003

Stress in planar cellular solids and isostatic granular assemblies: Coarse-graining the constitutive equation

A recent theory for stress transmission in isostatic granular and cellular systems predicts a constitutive equation that couples the stress field to the local microstructure. The theory could not be applied to macroscopic systems because the constitutive equation becomes trivial upon straightforward coarse-graining. This problem is resolved here for arbitrary planar structures. The solution is based on the observation that staggered order makes it possible to couple the stress to a reduced geometric tensor that can be coarse-grained. The method proposed here makes it possible to apply this idea to realistic systems whose staggered order is generally 'frustrated'. This is achieved by a renormalization procedure which removes the frustration and enables the use of the upscalable reduced tensor. As an example we calculate the stress due to a defect in a periodic solid foam.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2003

Granular entropy: Explicit calculations for planar assemblies

This paper proposes a new volume function for calculation of the entropy of planar granular assemblies. This function is extracted from the antisymmetric part of a new geometric tensor and is rigorously additive when summed over grains. It leads to the identification of a conveniently small phase space. The utility of the volume function is demonstrated on several case studies, for which we calculate explicitly the mean volume and the volume fluctuations.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2003

Stress transmission in planar disordered solid foams

Stress transmission in planar open-cell cellular solids is analysed using a recent theory developed for marginally rigid granular assemblies. This is made possible by constructing a one-to-one mapping between the two systems. General trivalent networks are mapped onto assemblies of rough grains, while networks where Plateau rules are observed, are mapped onto assemblies of smooth grains. The constitutive part of the stress transmission equations couples the stress directly to the local rotational disorder of the cellular structure via a new fabric tensor. An intriguing consequence of the analysis is that the stress field can be determined in terms of the microstructure alone independent of stress-strain information. This redefines the problem of structure-property relationship in these materials and poses questions on the relations between this formalism and elasticity theory. The deviation of the stress transmission equations from those of conventional solids has been interpreted in the context of granular assemblies as a new state of solid matter and the relevance of this interpretation to the state of matter of cellular solids is discussed.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2001

Strange dynamics of domain walls and periodic stripes along classical antiferromagnetic chains

This paper addressses the kinetics and dynamics of a family of domain wall solutions along classical antiferromagnetic Heisenberg spin chains at low energies. The equation of motion is derived and found to have long range position- and velocity-dependent two-body forces. A 'quiescent' regime is identified where the forces between walls are all repelling. Outside this regime some of the interactions are attractive, giving rise to wall collisions whereupon the colliding walls annihilate. The momentum of the system is found to be conserved in the quiescent regime and to suffer discontinuous jumps upon annihilation. The dynamics are illustrated by an exact solution for a double wall system and a numerical solution for a many-wall system. On circular chains the equations support stable periodic stripes that can rotate as a rigid body. It is found that the stripes are more stable the faster they rotate. The periodic structure can be destabilised by perturbing the walls' angular velocity in which case there is a transition to another periodic structure, possibly via a cascade of annihilation events.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2001

Large fluctuations of disentaglement force and implications for polymer dynamics

This paper examines the effect of cooling on disentanglement forces in polymers and the implications for both single chain pullout and polymer dynamics. I derive the explicit dependence of the distribution of these forces on temperature, which is found to exhibit a rich behaviour. Most significantly, it is shown to be dominated by large fluctuations up to a certain temperature $T_0$ that can be determined from molecular parameters. The effects of these fluctuations on chain friction are analysed and they are argued to undermine the traditional melt-based models that rely on a typical chain friction coefficient. A direct implication for first principles calculation of viscosity is discussed. This quantifies the limit of validity of such descriptions, such as Rouse dynamics and the Tube model, and pave the way to model polymer dynamics around the glass transition temperature.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv1996

An Einstein Model of Brittle Crack Propagation

We propose a minimal nonlinear model of brittle crack propagation by considering only the motion of the crack-tip atom. The model captures many essential features of steady-state crack velocity and is in excellent quantitative agreement with many-body dynamical simulations. The model exhibits lattice-trapping. For loads just above this, the crack velocity rises sharply, reaching a limiting value well below that predicted by elastic continuum theory. We trace the origin of the low limiting velocity to the anharmonicity of the potential well experienced by the crack-tip atom.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv1996

Nonequilibrium brittle fracture propagation: Steady state, oscillations and intermittency

A minimal model is constructed for two-dimensional fracture propagation. The heterogeneous process zone is presumed to suppress stress relaxation rate, leading to non-quasistatic behavior. Using the Yoffe solution, I construct and solve a dynamical equation for the tip stress. I discuss a generic tip velocity response to local stress and find that noise-free propagation is either at steady state or oscillatory, depending only on one material parameter. Noise gives rise to intermittency and quasi-periodicity. The theory explains the velocity oscillations and the complicated behavior seen in polymeric and amorphous brittle materials. I suggest experimental verifications and new connections between velocity measurements and material properties.

cond-mat↗

arXiv1995

Pattern Formation in Laplacian Growth: Theory

A first-principles statistical theory is constructed for the evolution of two dimensional interfaces in Laplacian fields. The aim is to predict the pattern that the growth evolves into, whether it becomes fractal and if so the characteristics of the fractal pattern. Using a time dependent map the growing region is conformally mapped onto the unit disk and the problem is converted to the dynamics of a many-body system. The evolution is argued to be Hamiltonian, and the Hamiltonian is shown to be the conjugate function of the real potential field. Without surface effects the problem is ill-posed, but the Hamiltonian structure of the dynamics allows introduction of surface effects as a repulsive potential between the particles and the interface. This further leads to a field representation of the problem, where the field's vacuum harbours the zeros and the poles of the conformal map as particles and antiparticles. These can be excited from the vacuum either by fluctuations or by surface effects. Creation and annihilation of particles is shown to be consistent with the formalism and lead to tip-splitting and side-branching. The Hamiltonian further allows to make use of statistical mechanical tools to analyse the statistics of the many-body system. I outline the way to convert the distribution of the particles into the morphology of the interface. In particular, I relate the particles statistics to the distributions of the curvature and the growth probability along the physical interface and to the fractal dimension. If the pattern turns fractal the latter distribution gives rise to a multifractal spectrum, which can be explicitly calculated for a given particles distribution. A `dilute boundary layer approximation' is discussed, which allows explicit calculations and shows emergence of an algebraically long tail

cond-mat↗

arXiv1994

Formulating a first-principles statistical theory of growing surfaces in two-dimensional Laplacian fields

A statistical theory of two-dimensional Laplacian growths is formulated from first-principles. First the area enclosed by the growing surface is mapped conformally to the interior of the unit circle, generating a set of dynamically evolving quasi-particles. Then it is shown that the evolution of a surface-tension-free growing surface is Hamiltonian. The Hamiltonian formulation allows a natural extension of the formalism to growths with either isotropic or anisotropic surface tension. It is shown that the curvature term can be included as a surface energy in the Hamiltonian that gives rise to repulsion between the quasi-particles and the surface. This repulsion prevents cusp singularities from forming along the surface at any finite time and regularizes the growth. An explicit example is computed to demonstrate the regularizing effect. Noise is then introduced as in traditional statistical mechanical formalism and a measure is defined that allows analysis of the spatial distribution of the quasi-particles. Finally, a relation is derived between this distribution and the growth probability along the growing surface. Since the spatial distribution of quasi-particles flows to a stable limiting form, this immediately translates into predictability of the asymptotic morphology of the surface. An exactly-solvable class of arbitrary initial conditions is analysed explicitly.

cond-mat↗

arXiv1994

Towards a theory of growing surfaces: Mapping two-dimensional Laplacian growth onto Hamiltonian dynamics and statistics

I show that the evolution of a two dimensional surface in a Laplacian field can be described by Hamiltonian dynamics. First the growing region is mapped conformally to the interior of the unit circle, creating in the process a set of mathematical zeros and poles that evolve dynamically as the surface grows. Then the dynamics of these quasi-particles is analysed. A class of arbitrary initial conditions is discussed explicitly, where the surface-tension-free Laplacian growth process is integrable. This formulation holds only as long as the singularities of the map are confined to within the unit circle. But the Hamiltonian structure further allows for surface tension to be introduced as an energetic term that effects repulsion between the quasi-particles and the surface. These results are used to formulate a first-principles statistical theory of pattern formation in stochastic growth, where noise is a key player.

cond-mat↗

arXiv1994

Two-dimensional Laplacian growth can be mapped onto Hamiltonian dynamics

It is shown that the dynamics of the growth of a two dimensional surface in a Laplacian field can be mapped onto Hamiltonian dynamics. The mapping is carried out in two stages: first the surface is conformally mapped onto the unit circle, generating a set of singularities. Then the dynamics of these singularities are transformed to Hamiltonian action-angle variables. An explicit condition is given for the existence of the transformation. This formalism is illustrated by solving explicitly for a particular case where the result is a separable and integrable Hamiltonian.

cond-mat↗