The role of self-organization during confined comminution of granular materials

Author(s):  
Oded Ben-Nun ◽  
Itai Einav

During confined comminution of granular materials a power-law grain size distribution (gsd) frequently evolves. We consider this power law as a hint for fractal topology if self-similar patterns appear across the scales. We demonstrate that this ultimate topology is mostly affected by the rules that define the self-organization of the fragment subunits, which agrees well with observations from simplistic models of cellular automata. There is, however, a major difference that highlights the novelty of the current work: here the conclusion is based on a comprehensive study using two-dimensional ‘crushable’ discrete-element simulations that do not neglect physical conservation laws. Motivated by the paradigm of self-organized criticality, we further demonstrate that in uniaxial compression the emerging ultimate fractal topology, as given by the fractal dimension, is generally insensitive to alteration of global index properties of initial porosity and initial gsd. Finally, we show that the fractal dimension in the confined crushing systems is approached irrespective of alteration of the criteria that define when particles crush.

Entropy ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (11) ◽  
pp. 1055
Author(s):  
Bogatov ◽  
Podgursky ◽  
Vagiström ◽  
Yashin ◽  
Shaikh ◽  
...  

The paper investigates the variation of friction force (Fx) during reciprocating sliding tests on nanocrystalline diamond (NCD) films. The analysis of the friction behavior during the run-in period is the focus of the study. The NCD films were grown using microwave plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (MW-PECVD) on single-crystalline diamond SCD(110) substrates. Reciprocating sliding tests were conducted under 500 and 2000 g of normal load using Si3N4 balls as a counter body. The friction force permanently varies during the test, namely Fx value can locally increase or decrease in each cycle of sliding. The distribution of friction force drops (dFx) was extracted from the experimental data using a specially developed program. The analysis revealed a power-law distribution f-µ of dFx for the early stage of the run-in with the exponent value (µ) in the range from 0.6 to 2.9. In addition, the frequency power spectrum of Fx time series follows power-law distribution f-α with α value in the range of 1.0–2.0, with the highest values (1.6–2.0) for the initial stage of the run-in. No power-law distribution of dFx was found for the later stage of the run-in and the steady-state periods of sliding with the exception for periods where a relatively extended decrease of coefficient of friction (COF) was observed. The asperity interlocking leads to the stick-slip like sliding at the early stage of the run-in. This tribological behavior can be related to the self-organized criticality (SOC). The emergence of dissipative structures at the later stages of the run-in, namely the formation of ripples, carbonaceous tribolayer, etc., can be associated with the self-organization (SO).


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roxana Zeraati ◽  
Viola Priesemann ◽  
Anna Levina

Self-organized criticality has been proposed to be a universal mechanism for the emergence of scale-free dynamics in many complex systems, and possibly in the brain. While such scale-free patterns were identified experimentally in many different types of neural recordings, the biological principles behind their emergence remained unknown. Utilizing different network models and motivated by experimental observations, synaptic plasticity was proposed as a possible mechanism to self-organize brain dynamics toward a critical point. In this review, we discuss how various biologically plausible plasticity rules operating across multiple timescales are implemented in the models and how they alter the network’s dynamical state through modification of number and strength of the connections between the neurons. Some of these rules help to stabilize criticality, some need additional mechanisms to prevent divergence from the critical state. We propose that rules that are capable of bringing the network to criticality can be classified by how long the near-critical dynamics persists after their disabling. Finally, we discuss the role of self-organization and criticality in computation. Overall, the concept of criticality helps to shed light on brain function and self-organization, yet the overall dynamics of living neural networks seem to harnesses not only criticality for computation, but also deviations thereof.


Fractals ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 11 (03) ◽  
pp. 221-231 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah F. Tebbens ◽  
Stephen M. Burroughs

Cumulative frequency-size distributions associated with many natural phenomena follow a power law. Self-organized criticality (SOC) models have been used to model characteristics associated with these natural systems. As originally proposed, SOC models generate event frequency-size distributions that follow a power law with a single scaling exponent. Natural systems often exhibit power law frequency-size distributions with a range of scaling exponents. We modify the forest fire SOC model to produce a range of scaling exponents. In our model, uniform energy (material) input produces events initiated on a self-similar distribution of critical grid cells. An event occurs when material is added to a critical cell, causing that material and all material in occupied non-diagonal adjacent cells to leave the grid. The scaling exponent of the resulting cumulative frequency-size distribution depends on the fractal dimension of the critical cells. Since events occur on a self-similar distribution of critical cells, we call this model Self-Similar Criticality (SSC). The SSC model may provide a link between fractal geometry in nature and observed power law frequency-size distributions for many natural systems.


Complexity ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrey Dmitriev ◽  
Victor Dmitriev ◽  
Stepan Balybin

Recently, there has been an increasing number of empirical evidence supporting the hypothesis that spread of avalanches of microposts on social networks, such as Twitter, is associated with some sociopolitical events. Typical examples of such events are political elections and protest movements. Inspired by this phenomenon, we built a phenomenological model that describes Twitter’s self-organization in a critical state. An external manifestation of this condition is the spread of avalanches of microposts on the network. The model is based on a fractional three-parameter self-organization scheme with stochastic sources. It is shown that the adiabatic mode of self-organization in a critical state is determined by the intensive coordinated action of a relatively small number of network users. To identify the critical states of the network and to verify the model, we have proposed a spectrum of three scaling indicators of the observed time series of microposts.


2018 ◽  
Vol 618 ◽  
pp. A183
Author(s):  
A. Shapoval ◽  
J.-L. Le Mouël ◽  
M. Shnirman ◽  
V. Courtillot

Context. The hypothesis stating that the distribution of sunspot groups versus their size (φ) follows a power law in the domain of small groups was recently highlighted but rejected in favor of a Weibull distribution. Aims. In this paper we reconsider this question, and are led to the opposite conclusion. Methods. We have suggested a new definition of group size, namely the spatio-temporal “volume” (V) obtained as the sum of the observed daily areas instead of a single area associated with each group. Results. With this new definition of “size”, the width of the power-law part of the distribution φ ∼ 1/Vβ increases from 1.5 to 2.5 orders of magnitude. The exponent β is close to 1. The width of the power-law part and its exponent are stable with respect to the different catalogs and computational procedures used to reduce errors in the data. The observed distribution is not fit adequately by a Weibull distribution. Conclusions. The existence of a wide 1/V part of the distribution φ suggests that self-organized criticality underlies the generation and evolution of sunspot groups and that the mechanism responsible for it is scale-free over a large range of sizes.


Fractals ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 03 (02) ◽  
pp. 351-370 ◽  
Author(s):  
GIANFRANCO DURIN ◽  
GIORGIO BERTOTTI ◽  
ALESSANDRO MAGNI

The main physical aspects and the theoretical description of stochastic domain wall dynamics in soft magnetic materials are reviewed. The intrinsically random nature of domain wall motion results in the Barkhausen effect, which exibits scaling properties at low magnetization rates and 1/f power spectra. It is shown that the Barkhausen signal ν, as well as the size Δx and the duration Δu of jumps follow distributions of the form ν−α, Δx−β, Δu−γ, with α=1−c, β=3/2−c/2, γ=2–c, where c is a dimensionless parameter proportional to the applied field rate. These results are analytically calculated by means of a stochastic differential equation for the domain wall dynamics in a random perturbed medium with brownian properties and then compared to experiments. The Barkhausen signal is found to be related to a random Cantor dust with fractal dimension D=1−c, from which the scaling exponents are calculated using simple properties of fractal geometry. Fractal dimension Δ of the signal v is also studied using four different methods of calculation, giving Δ≈1.5, independent of the method used and of the parameter c. The stochastic model is analyzed in detail in order to clarify if the shown properties can be interpreted as manifestations of self-organized criticality in magnetic systems.


1995 ◽  
Vol 50 (9-10) ◽  
pp. 739-740 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Babinec ◽  
Melánia Babincová

Abstract We have shown that the distribution of lengths of site nucleated microtubules obey an algebraic power law relationship D(s) = As-τ, where D(s) is relative number of microtubules with length 5, A and τ are constants. This relationship indicates the possibility of a self-organized criticality in the dynamic instability of microtubule growth


1996 ◽  
Vol 458 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Kendall ◽  
P. J. Cote ◽  
D. Crayon ◽  
F. J. Bonetto

ABSTRACTAcoustic emission (AE) events were recorded during the peeling of pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) tape from a silicate glass surface. The distributions of AE event durations and energies are found to have the form of power laws. Power-law dependencies (hyperbolic distributions) are recognized as a consequence of self-organized criticality (SOC), resulting from the absence of any characteristic length or time scales. In these studies, standard optical microscopy was used to characterize the fractal nature of the PSA-glass interface. The present results suggest that it is the inherent static structural features found at the fractal PSA-glass interface which produce the observed hyperbolic distributions in AE events, rather than a true SOC process.


1993 ◽  
Vol 07 (01n03) ◽  
pp. 934-937 ◽  
Author(s):  
PAUL J. COTE ◽  
LAWRENCE V. MEISEL

An investigation of the possibility that the Barkhausen effect in amorphous and polycrystalline ferromagnets is an example of self-organized criticality is described. Since the theory of self-organized criticality was introduced by Bak, Tang, and Weisenfeld to explain the behavior of spatially extended, dissipative, dynamical systems the Barkhausen effect is a natural candidate for such a description. The data are consistent with self-organized critical behavior: the power spectral densities depend on frequency f as 1/fa and the distribution of pulse energies are well described by a power law analogous to the Gutenberg-Richter law for earthquakes. Alternative explanations for power law dependences are also presented.


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