Cascade Crack in Chain of Beads

2025/08/02 by Bagheri, Meysam, Pöschel, Thorsten
#FOS: Physical sciences #Pattern Formation and Solitons (nlin.PS) #Soft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft)

paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2508.01288

Abstract

We consider a homogeneous chain of spheres linked by liquid bridges under tension. The rupture of a single liquid bridge leads to a fragmentation cascade driven by the inverse relation between the capillary force and the sphere distances. The initial length of the liquid bridges determines the number and size of the fragments and the velocity of the fragmentation front.

Citations

• Discrete Element Simulations of particles interacting via capillary forces using MercuryDPM
• Approximate Expressions for the Capillary Force and the Surface Area of a Liquid Bridge between Identical Spheres
• Drying of thin colloidal films
• Fragmentation of Rods by Cascading Cracks: Why Spaghetti Does Not Break in Half

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