Prediction and control of slip-free rotation states in sphere assemblies

Abstract

We study fixed assemblies of touching spheres that can individually rotate. From any initial state, sliding friction drives an assembly toward a slip-free rotation state. For bipartite assemblies, which have only even loops, this state has at least four degrees of freedom. For exactly four degrees of freedom, we analytically predict the final state, which we prove to be independent of the strength of sliding friction, from an arbitrary initial one. With a tabletop experiment, we show how to impose any slip-free rotation state by only controlling two spheres, regardless of the total number.

References in corpus (2)

• Self-similar disk packings as model spatial scale-free networks
• Optimal synchronizability of bearings

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Experimentally measuring rolling and sliding in three-dimensional dense granular packings
• Memory in 3D cyclically driven granular material
• Rotational transport via spontaneous symmetry breaking in vibrated disk packings
• Effects of interparticle friction on the response of 3D cyclically compressed granular material