The supposed low viscosity of serpentine may strongly influence subduction-zone dynamics at all time scales, but until now its role could not be quantified because measurements relevant to intermediate-depth settings were lacking. Deformation experiments on the serpentine antigorite at high pressures and temperatures (1 to 4 gigapascals, 200 degrees to 500 degrees C) showed that the viscosity o...

Particle image velocimetry was used to measure 2D velocity fields in representative regions of interest within flow channels of interdigitated and single-serpentine proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell models. The model dimensions, gas diffusion layer (GDL) permeability, working fluid, and flow rates were selected to be geometrically and dynamically similar to the cathode-side airflow in a ...

Serpentine robots are slender, multi-segmented vehicles designed to provide greater mobility than conventional mobile robots. Serpentine robots are ideally suited for urban search and rescue, military intelligence gathering, and for inspection tasks in hazardous or inaccessible environments. One such serpentine robot, developed at the University of Michigan, is the “OmniTread OT-4.” The OT-4 co...

Serpentine robots are slender, multisegmented vehicles designed to provide greater mobility than conventional wheeled or tracked robots. Serpentine robots are thus ideally suited for urban search and rescue as well as for surveillance and inspection tasks in hazardous and hard-to-reach environments. One such serpentine robot, currently under development at the University of Michigan, is the “Om...

Many industrial applications require inspections and surveillance in hard-to-reach and sometimes even hazardous areas. A relatively new kind of robotic mechanism, called a “serpentine robot,” may be able to provide a solution to some of these applications. Serpentine robots are slender, multisegmented vehicles designed to provide greater mobility than conventional wheeled or tracked robots. Thi...