Frustrated Bearings

In a bearing state, touching spheres (disks in two dimensions) roll on each other without slip. Here we frustrate a system of touching spheres by imposing two different bearing states on opposite sides and search for the configurations of lowest energy dissipation. If the dissipation between contact...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review letters 2020-09, Vol.125 (10), p.1-104301, Article 104301
Main Authors: Pires, R. S., Moreira, A. A., Herrmann, H. J., Andrade, J. S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Angular momentum
Coefficient of friction
Contact angle
Coulomb friction
Damping
Disks
Energy dissipation
Mechanics
Physics
Spheres
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:In a bearing state, touching spheres (disks in two dimensions) roll on each other without slip. Here we frustrate a system of touching spheres by imposing two different bearing states on opposite sides and search for the configurations of lowest energy dissipation. If the dissipation between contacts of spheres is viscous (with random damping constants), the angular momentum continuously changes from one bearing state to the other. For Coulomb friction (with random friction coefficients) in two dimensions, a sharp line separates the two bearing states and we show that this line corresponds to the minimum cut. Astonishingly, however, in three dimensions intermediate bearing domains that are not synchronized with either side are energetically more favorable than the minimum-cut surface. Instead of a sharp cut, the steady state displays a fragmented structure. This novel type of state of minimum dissipation is characterized by a spanning network of slipless contacts that reaches every sphere. Such a situation becomes possible because in three dimensions bearing states have four degrees of freedom.
ISSN:0031-9007
1079-7114
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.125.104301