Self-propulsion of a grain-filled dimer in a vertically vibrated channel.

ABSTRACT: Steady dissipation of energy is a crucial property that distinguishes active particles from Brownian particles. However, it is not straightforward to explicitly model the dissipative property of existing active particles driven by a vibrating plate. We present a novel active particle that can be explicitly modeled by Newtonian dynamics of a conservative force field plus two asymmetrical dissipative terms. The particle is a dimer consisting of two ping-pong balls connected by a rigid rod, and its two balls are filled with granular particles of the same total mass but of different grain size. This dimer placed on a vibrating plate exhibits 3 types of motion - by tuning the frequency and the amplitude of the vibration, the dimer undergoes either a directed motion toward the small (or large) g

SUBMITTER: Xu C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5660184 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature