Solitary waves in diatomic chains

Solitary waves in diatomic chains.

We consider the mechanism of formation of isolated localized wave structures in the diatomic Fermi-Pasta-Ulam (FPU) model. Using a singular multiscale asymptotic analysis in the limit of high mass mismatch between the alternating elements, we obtain the typical slow-fast time scale separation and formulate the Fredholm orthogonality condition approximating a sequence of mass ratios supporting t...

Periodic Traveling Waves in Diatomic Granular Chains

Nonlinear waves in disordered diatomic granular chains.

We investigate the propagation and scattering of highly nonlinear waves in disordered granular chains composed of diatomic (two-mass) units of spheres that interact via Hertzian contact. Using ideas from statistical mechanics, we consider each diatomic unit to be a "spin," so that a granular chain can be viewed as a spin chain composed of units that are each oriented in one of two possible ways...

Highly nonlinear solitary waves in chains of ellipsoidal particles.

We study the dynamic response of a one-dimensional chain of ellipsoidal particles excited by a single compressive impulse. We detail the Hertzian contact theory describing the interaction between two ellipsoidal particles under compression, and use it to model the dynamic response of the system. We observe the formation of highly nonlinear solitary waves in the chain, and we also study their pr...

Highly nonlinear solitary waves in periodic dimer granular chains.

We investigate the propagation of highly nonlinear solitary waves in heterogeneous, periodic granular media using experiments, numerical simulations, and theoretical analysis. We examine periodic arrangements of particles in experiments in which stiffer and heavier beads (stainless steel) are alternated with softer and lighter ones (polytetrafluoroethylene beads). We find good agreement between...