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Characterization and modeling of granular jamming: models for mechanical design

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Abstract

The use of granular jamming is proposed for designing structures with tunable rigidity of their tools (with the ability of being flexible devices for shaping and deformation but rigid for shape-locking and force transmission). The granular jamming consists in modifying the apparent rigidity of a structure by controlling the vacuum in a membrane filled with granular material. When the difference of pressure is low, the grains are free to move with respect to each other and the structure is flexible. When the vacuum in the membrane is increased, the grains are blocked and the structure is more rigid. Different mechanical characterizations of the granular jamming have been performed (triaxial compression and tension and cantilever beam bending tests) for different glass bead sizes ranging between 100 \({\upmu }{\hbox {m}}\) and 1 \(\hbox {mm}\) (used as granular material) at different vacuum levels (between 0 \(\hbox {kPa}\) and 90 \(\hbox {kPa}\)). The grain size slightly influences the stiffness while the pressure difference is the main parameter to tune the stiffness of the structure. Based on these experiments, analytical models have been developed and validated. The tension characteristics can be directly deduced from the compression behavior and the bending modulus can be obtained by a combination of the tension and compression moduli. The proposed analytical models present the advantage of a simple formulation and are suitable for estimating the performance of other structures based on the granular jamming. The models can estimate and predict satisfactorily the results of granular jamming and can be used for designing mechanical structures based on this mechanism.

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Availability of data and material

The datasets generated during and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique (FRS-FNRS) through an F.R.I.A. (Fonds pour la Formation à la Recherche dans l’Industrie et dans l’Agriculture) grant, a C.D.R (Crédit de Recherche) J.0098.19 and a Research Project P.D.R. (Projet de Recherche) T1002.14. L. Blanc would like to thank the Fonds David et Alice Van Buuren and the Fondation Jaumotte-Demoulin.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. TIPs Department, CP165/67, Université Libre de Bruxelles, av.FD Roosevelt 50, 1050, Brussels, Belgium

    Loïc Blanc & Pierre Lambert

  2. BATir Department, CP194/2, Université Libre de Bruxelles, av.FD Roosevelt 50, 1050, Brussels, Belgium

    Bertrand François

  3. BEAMS Department, CP165/56, Université Libre de Bruxelles, av.FD Roosevelt 50, 1050, Brussels, Belgium

    Loïc Blanc & Alain Delchambre

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  1. Loïc Blanc
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  2. Bertrand François
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  4. Pierre Lambert
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Loïc Blanc, with the help and under the supervision of Bertrand François, Alain Delchambre and Pierre Lambert. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Loïc Blanc and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Loïc Blanc.

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Blanc, L., François, B., Delchambre, A. et al. Characterization and modeling of granular jamming: models for mechanical design. Granular Matter 23, 6 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10035-020-01071-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10035-020-01071-5

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