Universal relations for solitary waves in granular crystals under shocks with finite rise and decay times
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 21, 2026

Rapid Repetition Rate Fluctuation Measurement of Soliton Crystals in a Microresonator
Published on: December 15, 2021
M Arif Hasan1, Sia Nemat-Nasser1
1Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Center of Excellence for Advanced Materials, Jacobs School of Engineering, University of California, San Diego, California 92093-0416, USA.
Abstract:
We focus on solitary waves generated in arrays of lightly contacting spherical elastic granules by shock forces of steep rise and slow decay durations and establish a priori: (i) whether the peak value of the resulting solitary wave would be greater than, equal to, or less than the peak value of the input shock force; (ii) the magnitude of the peak value of the solitary waves; (iii) the magnitude of the linear momentum in each solitary wave; (iv) the magnitude of the linear momentum added to the remaining granules if the first granule is ejected; and (v) a quantitative estimate of the effect of the granules' radius, density, and stiffness on force amplification or mitigation. We have supported the analytical results by direct numerical simulations.
More Related Videos
11:03An Analog Macroscopic Technique for Studying Molecular Hydrodynamic Processes in Dense Gases and Liquids
Published on: December 4, 2017
09:00Visualization of Failure and the Associated Grain-Scale Mechanical Behavior of Granular Soils under Shear using Synchrotron X-Ray Micro-Tomography
Published on: September 29, 2019
Related Concept Videos
Shock Waves
When the source's speed approaches the speed of sound, constructive interference between successive wavefronts emitted by the source occurs immediately behind it. Initially, scientists believed that this constructive interference would result in such high...
Travelling Waves
Water waves, sound waves, and seismic waves are some examples of mechanical waves. For water waves, the wave propagation medium is...
Standing Waves
Wave Parameters
Standing Waves in a Cavity
Modes of Standing Waves - I