Flowrate behavior and clustering of self-driven robots in a channel

In this paper, the collective motion of self-driven robots is studied experimentally and theoretically. In the channel,the flowrate of robots increases with the density linearly, even if the density of the robots tends to 1.0. There is no abrupt drop in the flowrate, similar to the collective motion of ants. We find that the robots will adjust their velocities by a serial of tiny collisions. The speed-adjustment will affect both robots involved in the collision, and will help to maintain a nearly uniform velocity for the robots. As a result, the flowrate drop will disappear. In the motion, the robots neither gather together nor scatter completely. Instead, they form some clusters to move together. These clusters are not stable during the moving process, but their sizes follow a power-law-alike distribution. We propose a theoretical model to simulate this collective motion process, which can reproduce these behaviors well. Analytic results about the flowrate behavior are also consistent with experiments.     

颗粒流的动力学模型和实验研究进展

首先叙述了颗粒流研究的背景和基本概念,接着概述了颗粒流动力学研究的三种基本数学力学模型:颗粒动理论(kinetic theory)模型、摩擦塑性模型和离散元模拟模型.介绍了它们的基本原理,并分析了各个模型的优缺点和适用范围.随之,对颗粒流的实验研究情况作了简要的介绍,列举了研究中几种常用的试验方法和观测手段,以及观测到的一些典型现象.最后,我们简述了颗粒流研究的主要困难,并提出了某些有待解决的研究课题.      

Complex force network in marginally and deeply jammed solids

This paper studies the force network properties of marginally and deeply jammed packings of frictionless soft particlesfrom the perspective of complex network theory. We generate zero-temperature granular packings at different pressures by minimizing the inter-particle potential energy. The force networks are constructed as nodes representing particles and links representing normal forces between the particles. Deeply jammed solids show remarkably different behavior from marginally jammed solids in their degree distribution, strength distribution, degree correlation, and clustering coefficient. Bimodal and multi-modal distributions emerge when the system enters the deep jamming region. The results also show that small and large particles can show different correlation behavior in this simple system.     

Spurious symmetry-broken phase in a bidirectional two-lane ASEP with narrow entrances

As one of the paradigmatic models of non-equilibrium systems, the asymmetric simple exclusion process(ASEP) has been widely used to study many physical, chemical, and biological systems. The ASEP shows a range of nontrivial macroscopic phenomena, among which, the spontaneous symmetry breaking has gained a great deal of attention. Nevertheless,as a basic problem, it has been controversial whether there exist one or two symmetry-broken phases in the ASEP. Based on the mean field analysis and current minimization principle, this paper demonstrates that one of the broken-symmetry phases does not exist in a bidirectional two-lane ASEP with narrow entrances. Moreover, an exponential decay feature is observed,which has been used to predict the phase boundary in the thermodynamic limit. Our findings might be generalized to other ASEP models and thus deepen the understanding of the spontaneous symmetry breaking in non-equilibrium systems.     

Size Segregation in a Vibrated Tilted Compartmentalized Granular Chamber

A bidisperse granular mixture in a slightly tilted compartmentalized chamber is experimentally found to show size segregation when vertically vibrated.A surface slope develops and large particles congregate to the lower side.Particles right upon the upper tip of the dividing wall behave in a competitive way,i.e.,they can go to either compartment depending on the force exerted on them.     

Traffic resource allocation for complex networks

In this paper, an optimal resource allocation strategy is proposed to enhance traffic dynamics in complex networks. The network resources are the total node packet-delivering capacity and the total link bandwidth. An analytical method is developed to estimate the overall network capacity by using the concept of efficient betweenness (ratio of algorithmic betweenness and local processing capacity). Three network structures (scale-free, small-world, and random networks) and two typical routing protocols (shortest path protocol and efficient routing protocol) are adopted to demonstrate the performance of the proposed strategy. Our results show that the network capacity is reversely proportional to the average path length for a particular routing protocol and the shortest path protocol can achieve the largest network capacity when the proposed resource allocation strategy is adopted.     

Packing induced bistable phenomenon in granular flow:analysis from complex network perspective

The effects of packing configurations on the phase transition of straight granular chute flow with two bottlenecks axe studied. The granular flow shows a dilute- to-dense flow transition when the channel width is varied, accompanied with a peculiar bistable phenomenon. The bistable phenomenon is induced by the initial packing config- uration of particles. When the packing is dense, the initial flux is small and will induce a dense flow. When the packing is loose, the initial flux is large and will induce a di- lute flow. The fabric network of granulax packing is analyzed from a complex network perspective. The degree distribution shows quantitatively different characteristics for the configurations. A two-dimensional （2D） packing clustering coefficient is defined to better quantify the fabric network.     

A Realistic Cellular Automaton Model for Synchronized Traffic Flow

A cellular automaton model is proposed to consider the anticipation effect in drivers＇ behavior. It is shown that the anticipation effect can be one of the origins of synchronized traffic flow. With anticipation effect, the congested traffic flow simulated by the model exhibits the features of synchronized flow. The spatiotemporal patterns induced by an on-ramp are also consistent with the three-phase traffic theory. Since the origin of synchronized flow is still controversial, our work can shed some light on the mechanism of synchronized flow.     

An exclusion process with dynamic roadblocks

We study an exclusion process with multiple dynamic roadblocks.Each roadblock can move diffusively forward or backward with different rates,as well as unbind from/rebind to a free site.By Monte Carlo simulations,the two moving types are investigated in combination of roadblock number.The case of only diffusive roadblocks shows an asymmetric current-density relation.The case of only long-range jumping roadblocks presents that flux decreases with increasing roadblock number.     

Effect of incubation period on epidemic spreading in complex networks

We study the effect of incubation period on epidemic spreading in the Barabasi--Albert scale-free network and the Watts--Strogatz small world network by using a Suspectable-Incubated-Infected-Suspectable model. Our analytical investigations show that the epidemic threshold is independent of incubation period in both networks, which is verified by our large-scale simulation results. We also investigate the effect of incubation period on the epidemic dynamics in a supercritical regime. It is found that with the increase of incubation period Ω , a damped oscillation evolution of ρ_T(the ratio of persons in incubated state) appears and the time needed to reach a saturation value increases. Moreover, the steady value of ρ_T increases and approaches to an asymptotic constant with the value of {\it\Omega} increasing. As a result, the infected ratio ρ_I decreases with the increase of Ω according to a power law.