Abe Clark, Entered 2008/09
Office Location: 092
Office Phone: 660-2558
Email Address: ahc9@phy.duke.edu
Specialties:
Nonlinear dynamics and complex systems
Education:
MSEE, Texas Tech University, 2008
BSEE, Texas Tech University, 2006
Research Categories: Nonlinear Dynamics, Granular Physics
Current projects: Granular Crater Formation, Granular Mixing
Research Description: My research at Duke has been with Dr. Behringer's group, studying granular physics. Our group is perhaps best known for granular experiments which use photo-elastic disks to study force chains in jammed, granular materials. That is, we can see which particles are contacting other particles and bearing force loads as the system evolves (e.g. subject to shear). Personally, I have been studying the dynamics of crater formation by a jet of gas impinging on a two dimensional granular bed, with applications to a retrograde rocket landing on a planetary surface (funded by NASA). In addition to confirming some theoretical predictions made by a collaborator, we observed a horizontal symmetry breaking in the process which, as far as we know, had not previously been observed. I am also studying a granular mixing project, where a central paddle-wheel drives a granular system consisting of the photo-elastic disks. At Texas Tech, my primary research was in charged particle optics and photomultiplier tube design. We used numerical modeling software to study electric fields and electron trajectories inside photomultiplier tubes.
Areas of Interest:
Nonlinear Dynamics
Granular Physics